+ Among the first stops of Jesus in his travels in his new public
ministry was at the wedding of some
friends of the family at a little town called Cana in Galilee. It was not too
far from Nazareth, hence the couple being married was known by Jesus and his
mother and their friends.
And so it was there, at Mary’s
request, that Jesus performs his first miracle a little ahead of schedule – at
least not when he was planning on it: but out of respect for and obedience to
his mother he did what she asked: he
turned a large amount of ordinary water into a choice variety of festive wine,
so as not do embarrass the groom who apparently did not calculate the amount
needed for the feast. This is significant for two reasons: Jesus did it because his mother
asked; he did it because he could do it.
This therefore set up two
precedents early in his public ministry: asking Mary to intercede for us and
our needs will always win some kind of a hearing; and Jesus has the power to do
actually anything that he wants to do, and changing water into wine was not an
extraordinary thing for him, although it was pretty amazing for those who witnessed
it! Jesus can make changes in our lives too (he can change the ordinary into
the extraordinary) – sometimes pretty spectacularly and widely known – but
sometimes, most often, it is only he and us who know about it.
The theme of marriage is also
to be emphasized here today: in the first reading we hear Isaiah, as always,
poetically and beautifully speaking of the restoration of God’s sinful, wayward
people, the Forsaken and the Desolate who by his good favor, grace and
mercy would soon be renamed his Delight and
their land his Espoused. As a young man marries a virgin, your
Builder shall marry you; and as a bridegroom rejoice in his bride so shall your
God rejoice in you.
These are beautiful sentiments
and they stand by themselves as a testimony of God’s love for his people, but
they also stand as a wonderful explanation of what the marriage of a man and a
woman is supposed to symbolize and be comprised of: a couple who have eyes only
for each other, and who would sacrifice their very lives for one another to
prove their love!
In the second reading we see
how the Holy Spirit distributes gifts not only to married couples to help them
carry out their duties of fidelity and sacrificial love, but he also gives
gifts to everyone in the family of God so that we are fully equipped to help
one another out in our oft times difficult journey through life!
If we but recall that we are
called to possess the very glory of God
(the perfect wine of today’s miracle), as Jesus himself was, (he was the new wine) – then nothing will
be too difficult in our married states and all the others states of life we
find ourselves in. God will provide exactly what we need when we need it – if
we but trust him unconditionally and unquestioningly.
Let us
all sing to the Lord a new song and bless his name who
continues to do such great things for us! Amen.
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