The Wedding Feast at Cana is the only Wedding story presented in the Gospels. A Wedding in Scriptures [Old and New] symbolizes, points to God’s relationship with God’s people. Our reading from Isaiah is a metaphor pointing to God’s offer of intimacy.
Many years ago, Johnny Carson hosted The Tonight Show, one night he interviewed an eight-year-old boy. The young man was asked to appear because he had rescued two friends in a coalmine outside his hometown in West Virginia. Johnny asked him if he attended Sunday school; the boy said yes. Johnny Carson then asked, "What are you learning in Sunday school?"
The boy replied, "Last week our lesson was about Jesus going to a wedding & turning water into wine." The audience roared, then Johnny said, "And what did you learn from that story?" The boy replied, "If you're going to have a wedding, make sure you invite Jesus!" [Sermons.com]
On a more serious note, “The wine & the water stand for Baptism and the Eucharist.” [Breaking Open the Lectionary, Cycle C, Margaret Nutting Ralph, p.51] The miracle at Cana reminds us that the Gift of Eucharist, is the Gift of Jesus Himself; the marriage of heaven and earth; reminding us of God’s superabundant love for us. Langston Hughes wrote a beautiful poem, “Dreams.”
“Hold fast to dreams. For if dreams die.
Life is a broken-winged bird. That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams. For when dreams go.
Life is a barren field. Frozen with snow”
Is your Dream to be the best disciple of Jesus Christ that you can be? No matter what is happening around us or in us – Jesus walks with us on our journey.
Maybe this story about “Re-dreaming” can help us focus on what is most important in our lives. A young woman goes on a blind date with a young pediatrician. He is painfully shy and awkward … he spills soup on his tie during dinner…. She is contemplating faking a headache to end the evening. Then, his beeper goes off, and he is called to an emergency. The doctor invited her to go along since it was on the way to her home. As she sees him interact with the sick child, she discovers a tenderness in him that surprises her and she begins to see him in a different light. He might not be the man of her dreams, but maybe her dream needs to change. [Adopted from Table Talk, Cycle C, p.117]
A wedding in the Scriptures both Old and New stands for God’s relationship with His people. The miracle in Cana is not spectacular, it is a simply yet beautiful response to a need.
Pope Benedict XVI said that when Jesus turned water into wine, it was a sign of Jesus' divinity and the beginning of the Church's faith. Jesus worked his first sign by creating spectacular tasting wine in a great amount not to turn faith into an ongoing party – but to reveal the “new wine” of hope. In this Jubilee year of Hope, we should reflect on the “…love of God in our midst, to dare to dream of a life and a world transformed in the compassion and forgiveness of God.” [Connections, 01-19-2025]
Isaiah said you “…shall be called ‘My Delight’” and in our reading from St. Paul we are reminded that God gave us gifts to build up His Kingdom. The Eucharist is beyond our wildest thoughts and dreams yet offered to us to nourish us on our journey.
Today spend time reflecting on the fact that “you are God’s Delight.” Then follow Mary’s advice “Do whatever He tells you.”
May God Be Praised.
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