Last Sunday the Gospel brought us to a Baptism at the Jordan. Today the Gospel takes us to a wedding at Cana—no ordinary baptism and no ordinary wedding to be sure! While weddings focus on the bride and groom, Saint John provides no details about them, not even their names! For St. John, the extraordinary aspect of this wedding is found “behind the scenes” where we discover a pending catastrophe. To have the wine run out, so vital to the celebration, would be a great humiliation to the couple and their families. But this Gospel is not a lesson on the need for proper party planning but of a theophany, a manifestation of God at work. It is the first of Our Lord’s signs that prefigures his Resurrection. Notice that St. John begins the passage with “on the third day.” It is a sign revealed through the characters working behind the scenes.
A principal character at work is Mary. Unlike the other wedding guests, Our Lady is attentive, interested in everything and everyone around her. She is concerned for the joy of her friends on their special day! No one knows there is no wine but Mary, who has kept her eye on the wait staff. No one asks Mary’s help, but she acts. Her maternal instinct “kicks in” and she goes to Jesus.
Listen to her prayer: “They have no wine.” Simple and direct, no? She doesn’t beg to be heard. She doesn’t need to get Jesus’ attention. She doesn’t get specific. She doesn’t say, “Do something about this and make sure there is enough of both red and white wine.” Nor does she say, “Hurry to the merchant’s (Cana Costco just opened)! Mary knows her Son and places the situation squarely in his hands. St. John reminds us that the Mother of Jesus is a Mother to us all.
Our Lord entrusted Mary to him at Calvary. Taking her into his home, he came to know Mary, not as a passive house guest, but an interested, compassionate, and loving mother. It is seen at Cana when she acted to save her newly married friends from shame.
St. John also sees Mary’s prayer as a model for our own—simple and direct. Our prayers can be rather complicated, providing God with many details and conditions. We often want God to answer our prayers according to our specifications. “Lord, this is how you have to change my husband, my wife, my mother-in-law, my kids, my parents.” “Dear God, my pastor needs to be more like I will now describe.” St. Pio of Pietrelcina reminds us too that “We cannot give God deadlines” and we often do! In prayer, like Mary, we should give God some room to maneuver. Today, Our Lady reminds us that her Son knows more than we do and knows what is best for us.
Our Lord’s reply to his mother can be off-putting, almost rude. In the culture of that time, “Woman” was a respectful title and basically Jesus’ response is “What does this concern have to do with me and you?” Mary does not respond. She takes another course of action. Confident that her Son will act, she goes to the waiters and says, “Do whatever he tells you.” Amazingly, they listen to her for at this frantic juncture, they need all the help they can get. Seeking a solution to a wine crisis, Jesus asks for water…not a glass but enough to fill six stone water jars...180 gallons! No easy task since they had to run to and fro from a well. (Imagine their remarks!)
When Jesus tells them to take some to the head waiter, they all go to see his reaction. They were astonished since the water had changed to wine—not ordinary wine but the absolute best wine.
Here is yet another Johannine lesson: The miraculous occurs, what is the best for us occurs when we heed Mary’s counsel, the final words she speaks in Scripture: “Do whatever he tells you.”
The next time the Gospel is proclaimed at Mass, and we trace the cross on our forehead, over our lips and over our heart, let us think of Our Lady’s counsel…that the Lord’s words fill our thoughts, be on our lips and so cherished in my heart so that we can do whatever he tells us and expect the miraculous!
