The Wedding at Cana

WEDDING AT CANA YEAR C              2013            DEACON JOHN MCMULLEN

The wine gave out. The wine failed. The wine ran short.

The wine gave out. 

The wine failed. 

The wine ran short.

We all give out or fail or run short sometimes, don’t we?

We are crushed - sometimes by life, loss of a job, a broken relationship, loss of a friend, failure at love, an illness, death, or tragedy.  

We just can’t seem to get all of our things accomplished. We are stretched thin and finally there is nothing left to give. We are empty. We fall short.

When we are crushed we sometimes fail. Even newly married couples find themselves quickly out of the wine of bliss shortly after their honeymoon. We give out and run short of God’s grace and then the party’s over.

We know how wine is made. The grapes have to be crushed. And they are crushed together. It hurts. The grapes have to die in order to give life to a bottle of wine.

And this is where we find ourselves with Jesus today.

    

And in the midst of this wedding feast the Mother of Jesus sees the immediate need of the married couple before the headwaiter does! 

Mary recognized the needs of others and decided to do something about it.

Now when Mary says they have no wine, at first Jesus seems as if he isn’t interested. But there is no disrespect. 

He calls her WOMAN, the Mother of all the living. And Mary being a good Jewish Mother perhaps gave Jesus “the look” because the very next thing that she says is: “Do whatever he tells you.”

Mary’s message to us is to “DO WHATEVER HE TELLS YOU.”

We should imitate Mary. We should always be ready to serve others. As Mary kept her eyes open for opportunities to help others, we too should seize those opportunities.

Mary teaches us that having an attitude of service towards others is key to being a true disciple of Christ. 

So too for us we are changed just as the water is into fine wine. As we allow the baptismal waters to fill us, then the ordinary water of our lives can give way to God’s grace and bear great fruit, and we will become the fine, delicious wine of the Holy Spirit's gifts. We are to be transformed into the most extraordinarily exquisite wine of love and compassion, the richest divine wine of grace.

And when we open ourselves to God, the Holy Spirit will enable us to do the work of God to benefit our church and our world. The superabundance of God’s grace is ours to share!

Think of all those who are rejected, marginalized, and pushed aside by society. They long for a festive banquet because they yearn for love and community!

The wedding at Cana reveals the deepest thirst in each of us: The desire and need to be loved and to love!

Jesus is calling us forth to the wedding feast, the Supper of the Lamb.

The feast is NOW

Jesus reveals that he wants to change the waters of our broken humanity into wine of joy!

So as we celebrate the Eucharist together, we do whatever he tells us – and we become better.

May we be transformed into the wine of compassion to our neighbors, and be willing to pour ourselves out in service so that the world may believe.