Water into Wine

  
Second Sunday after the Epiphany, C

January 20, 2013

John 2:1-11

Introduction

We must remember that today we are still even in the season of Epiphany (even if the title of the day is “Sunday after the Epiphany” or “Ordinary Time”). Today we have the opportunity to read and meditate on the first of Jesus’ “miraculous signs” (σημειον, sēmeion, ‘sign’): the turning of water into wine at a wedding feast at Cana (John 2:1-11). Originally (and still is in among the Eastern Orthodox Churches), the turning of the water into wine was celebrated on the Feast of the Theophany (‘the Manifestation of God’) on January 6; along with the Nativity, the Adoration of the Magi, and the Baptism of the Lord. We have an Epiphany sermon by St. Peter Chrysologus (the ‘golden-worded’) which contain all these events:

In the mystery of our Lord’s incarnation there were clear indications of his eternal Godhead. Yet the greatest events we celebrate today disclose and reveal in different ways the fact that God himself took a human body. Mortal man, enshrouded always in darkness, must not be left in ignorance, and so be deprived of what he can understand and retain only by grace.

In a recent movie, Life of Pi (2012), the main character, Piscene Molitor “Pi” Patel, survived being shipwrecked for more than two hundred days sharing a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger. In an interview, Pi Patel said, “We cannot know God unless he reveals himself to us.” He revealed how he became a Christian: When he was a child, his older brother dared him to drink holy water from a church. At the church, Pi met the priest and, pointing to a picture of Jesus being nailed to the cross, asked why God can let his Son die on the cross. It is because so that God can make himself understood by man, the priest answered, because God loves us.

The Epiphany (or Theophany) is God revealing himself to us through Jesus Christ. In the miracle of turning water into wine, how did God manifest himself in Jesus Christ? What does this tell us about Jesus?

I. Jesus is God with us. (John 2:1-2)

The Gospel reading opens with Mary, referred to here as “the mother of Jesus”, and Jesus and his disciples were invited to a wedding feast at Cana of Galilee. (According to John Wesley, there were two other places named Cana.) The Orthodox Churches have a tradition that the groom was Simon the Zealot, one of Jesus’ disciples.

What is the significance of “the third day”? According to the Mishnah, a virgin is wed on Wednesday, the third day of the week.

A virgin is married on Wednesday, and a widow on Thursday. ‘For twice weekly are the courts in session in the towns, on Monday and on Thursday. ‘So if he [the husband] had a complaint as to virginity, he goes early to court. (Tractate Ketubot 1:1)

Marriages are contracted that the city gates, where the elders meet (see Ruth 4). The council meets on the first and fourth day (Monday and Thursday). A man who wants to marry a virgin goes to the council on Monday but the wedding itself is on Wednesday to give the man time (that is, on a Tuesday) to file any complaints if the bride is found not a virgin.

Jesus and his disciples, and his mother attend a wedding feast at Cana of Galilee. This shows he is part of the human family. John Wesley notes, “Christ does not take away human society, but sanctifies it.” By his presence in the wedding, the Church sees Jesus sanctifying human marriage. Jesus’ attendance at the wedding at Cana of Galilee illustrates that Jesus is “the Word [that] became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

II. Man is a creature in need. (John 2:3-5)

When we see God in Jesus being “full of grace and truth”, we also see human wantedness. Here, human wantedness is illustrated by the wine running out (v. 3). Human resources are always limited.

We see Mary, the mother of Jesus interceding in behalf of the family: “They have no more wine” (v. 3). This does not give Mary any unique office of intercession; that is to say that we need to pray to her for intercession. Jesus puts his mother in her place by calling her, “Woman” (γυνη, gunē). (Most fortunately, the Tagalog word sounds familiar: the Magandang Balita Biblia renders this word as “Ginang”). By all accounts, this is a title of respect (cf. John 19:26). But Jesus puts Mary in her rightful place: “What do I have to do with you?” (In Greek, τι εμοι και σοι, ti emoi kai soi, ‘What is I with you?’) Furthermore, Jesus says, “My time (or hour) is not yet come”—that is, it is not yet time for him to reveal his glory (cf. John 12:23-ff.).

Mary’s response is worthy of emulation: She said to the servants, “Whatever he says, you shall do” (v. 5). Mary must have anticipated that Jesus will do something extraordinary.

III. Jesus sanctifies and glorifies human nature. (John 2:6-11)

When human need and divine power meet, the human condition cannot remain unchanged. Jesus often uses what is ordinary in order to do what is extraordinary. Put it another way, Jesus takes what is creaturely, and by his grace, makes it divine. In the Feeding of the Five Thousand (John 6), he takes a young boy’s lunch of five loaves and two fish and uses it to feed five thousand men (and an unnumbered number of women and children).

Here, he uses six stone waterpots—the kind that the Jews use for ritual purification (v. 6). He commanded the servants to fill the pots with water and to take the water-turned-wine into the “governor of the feast” (αρκιτρικληνος, architriklēnos, ‘master of the three couches’, that is, the couches used to recline on during feasts). After the governor tasted the wine, he commented to the groom that this one is good,  when it was practice to serve cheap wine after the guests were all drunk (vv. 9-10). Jesus can transform the ordinary into the extraordinary.

Conclusion: Jesus shows his glory. (John 2:11)

At this point, I cannot but help but think of the Holy Eucharist. Just as Jesus turned water into wine, Jesus took ordinary bread and wine (in the sense of “creaturely”: since it was Pesach, the matzah and wine would be kosher for Passover) and turned them into signs of his flesh and blood. Whenever we gather for Holy Communion, we do not just “remember him”. Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of me”, that is, we are to remember him through the breaking of the bread and the drinking of the cup. In the Holy Eucharist, just as in the miracle of turning water into wine, “he manifested his glory” and strengthens our faith as his disciples.