First Reading: Is 62:1-5; Psalm: 96. R. v. 3; Second Reading: 1 Cor 12:4-11; Gospel: Jn 2:1-11 

CHRIST THE NEW WINE

BY FR VALENTINE NNAMDI EGBUONU, MSP   

I’d like to share a joke. Sister Mary Ann who worked for a home health agency, was out making her rounds visiting home-bound patients when she ran out of gas. As luck would have it, a gasoline station was just a block away. She walked to the station to borrow a gas can and buy some gas. The attendant told her the only gas can he owned had been loaned out. Since Sister Mary Ann was on the way to see a patient, she decided not to wait and walked back to her car. She looked for something in her car that she could fill with gas and spotted the bedpan she was taking to the patient. Always resourceful, Sister Mary Ann carried the bedpan to the station, filled it with gasoline, and carried the full bedpan back to her car. As she was pouring the gas into her tank, two Baptists watched from across the street. One of them turned to the other and said, ‘If it starts, I’m turning Catholic!’

Jesus’ first miracle at the wedding in Cana is a very familiar passage. A careful reflective read of this passage could raise some questions. Why was the best wine served last? Why did Jesus improvise with water in stone jars used for the Jewish ceremonial washing to perform this miracle? Supposedly, the invitees to this wedding must have drunk the couple’s wine to an average satisfaction before it ran out; why then should Jesus make a surplus provision of wine thereafter? Six stone jars, each with a capacity of about 20 to 30 gallons (80 to 120 litres) was obviously superfluous. The invitees could get tipsy or totally drunk, and we can be sure Jesus would not want that.

To answer these questions, we need to look beyond this miracle to see the signs it communicates and the new reality it reveals. John, the author of this gospel called this remarkable event a sign instead of a miracle (v. 11). When a miracle becomes a sign, the sign and the reality the miracle reveals takes precedence over the miracle. So, in this reflection, we shall not be looking at the miracle of the wine per se, but the meaning it communicates. 

Although the steward of the feast complained that the good wine came last; but the timing of this miracle suggests that Jesus came to make our lives better. Jesus came that we might become new; and that our old ways might give way to the new way he was about to inaugurate. This also explains why he told the servants to fill with water the stone jars used for ceremonial washing. In every Jewish home, this jar was kept to perform the prescribed ceremonial washing (ablution) before and after meal. If this ritual was omitted, one is considered unclean in the sight of God and man. This was why the stone jars were kept there that the wedding invitees might perform this religious rite.

But when Jesus changed the water in these jars into wine, he revealed that he came to establish a new way to salvation, and a new understanding of what true spirituality should be. Ritual washing will no longer be necessary because it does not make one clean in the sight of God. Christ is the one who truly makes us clean. New wine, new skin (Mk 2:22). The old understanding has to change. Christ would go on to offer us this wine at his Last Supper transforming it into his blood. The blood he sacrificially poured out on Calvary for the forgiveness of sins. This was the culmination of this revelation. The superfluous supply of wine at the Cana wedding reveals the generosity of Christ’s mission of salvation. As the wine will never run out again, Christ’s merciful love can never run out.

The holy Mass we celebrate each day is the wedding banquet of Christ. Just as Israel was regarded as the beloved spouse of God in our first reading of today, the New Testament visualises the Christian faithful as the beloved bride of Christ to whom Christ gave up himself (Heb 5:25-27). When we gather for Mass, God renews our love and trust in him through this holy celebration. Christ’s spousal unfailing love gives us the hope that though we may be in our low moments, he will always be there to support us and make our lives better. So long as we have Christ, new and beautiful things will come our way. We will grow is spirituality. We will enjoy the abundance of his love and mercies, and he will never forsake us for he is always faithful.

Of course, there will come a time when we shall lack some wine; that time of setbacks and despair. In moments like this, we should heed the advice of Mary – “Do whatever he tells you.” And what did Christ command the stewards to do? – “Fill the jars with water.” In every setback in life, there is definitely something we can do to keep hope alive even when results are not in sight. If we are sick and dying, we should never give up on medical care and the love of those around us. If we can’t find our dream job, we can improvise one from the available resources we have. If our marriage is becoming bland, we can try to spice it up by choosing to love differently. If we are always full of hate and bitterness, we can begin by seeing ourselves and others as God’s own image to be loved. If the celibate life is becoming wearisome, a spiritual retreat and counselling could help. The efforts we make to remedy our challenges is our own little way of filling the jars with water. We can then wait and hope on God to play his part.     

At the end of the day, God could come through for us or not contingent on if the time is ripe or not. But however it turns out, does not measure the love of God for us. God loves us unreservedly regardless. If the hour has not yet come for God to attend to our case, we can appeal to the maternal help of Mary our mother. But if after this and nothing changes, God loves us still. His silence could just be the best answer we need at that moment.

PRAYER FOR THE DAY

Lord Jesus, grant us the grace to trust in you in all situations; and strengthen our belief on the truth that you came to make life new and better for us. Amen.