FROM THE PULPIT SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – YEAR C SCRIPTURE: Isaiah 62: 1-5; Psalm 96; 1 Corinthians 12: 4-11; John 2: 1-11. REFLECTION: SIGN OF THE WINE Fr. Benoit Mukamba, CSSp.
The Evangelist John calls all the miracles that the Lord Jesus performed as “Signs”. What happened at the wedding feast at Cana in John’s earliest days of discipleship marked John very deeply. At this wedding John witnessed the changing of water into wine. Mother Mary was present at that wedding. This wedding was heading toward becoming an embarrassment with supply running out. She noticed and expressed a great concern on the shortage of wine. The lack of wine would have transformed a joyous moment into a sad gathering, a successful wedding into a failure. It would have shortened the wedding party and disappointed the newly wedded. Jesus transforms water into wine bringing joy and showing his Father’s kindness and concern for people.
The sign of the wine, not just wine, but best wine stands, according to John the Evangelist, as the first of all signs that Jesus did accomplish. Prophet Isaiah 25: 6-8 describes the coming of the Lord as “A feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure, choice wine…” may help us understand the full meaning of this sign of wine at Cana. The quoted passage of Isaiah is interpreted as an inauguration of the Kingdom of God. The banquet is an enthronement ceremony of the King of the universe. In the same line of thoughts, Paul wrote to the Ephesians 5:32 about marriage but concluded that “This is a great ministry, but I speak in reference to Christ and the Church.” Paul presents Christ as the bridegroom of the Church. Marriage is a sacrament of God’s love witnessed by the couple to the world. Marriage is also a sign of God’s love to his people.
Hence, the changing of water into choice wine reveals the transformative power of God present at that wedding. Jesus’s intervention at the wedding in Cana and his use of the image of the wedding banquet to explain the Kingdom of God in the synoptic gospels point to the meaning of his presence amongst us and the reality of the life yet to be revealed to us – the wedding feast of the lamb (Revelation 19: 7). The wedding at Cana is indeed a sign of the heavenly banquet where God our savior will fill us with joy and happiness. At Cana, He provided the best wine, sparing the wedding parties from shame and increasing the joy of the celebrants. In the Church at Corinth, He distributed spiritual gifts to the disciples empowering them to build up their community. The sign of Cana strengthened the faith of the early disciples and apostles. John remembered and made sure that we too may come to know this sign that changed his life. He placed it as the first of the signs of the presence of the Kingdom of God.
Finally beloved, God cares for us and grants us both temporal and eternal favors. The intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary for all Christians is efficacious as experienced at Cana. Her concerns for the Church can be testified throughout the Christian centuries in her apparitions. She is the most dedicated member of the Church just as she lived with the Apostles and disciples in the Early Church.