The changing of water into wine by Jesus at the wedding feast at Cana is the first “sign” or “miracle” that is performed by Jesus; we’ve all heard the story time and time again, and we should be very familiar with it. But it’s unfortunate (at least in my opinion) that the lectionary omits the first part of the first verse of this story. Instead of saying “There was a wedding at Cana in Galilee”, it actually begins “On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee.” This should tell us that we need to go back to the beginning of John’s Gospel to see what he means by “the third day.” And when we do this we find that there are some striking parallels and connections to the book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible.
The first verse of the Gospel of John says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” There is only one other book in the Bible that begins with “In the beginning”: the book of Genesis. So John is making an immediate connection between his gospel and the book of Genesis, telling us that the coming of Jesus is a new beginning, a new creation. John continues to tell us in the first chapter that Jesus is the light that comes to shine in the darkness. What is it that God says on the first day of creation? “Let there be light” (Gn 1:3) and he separates the light from the darkness.
Then later in the first chapter of John’s gospel John suddenly says “The next day” (v 29), which puts us at day two, then he says it again two more times, which puts us at day four. So when John says in today’s passage “On the third day,” that gives us a total of seven days. (How many days of creation were there in Genesis?) So according to John, this is the week of the new creation in Jesus! And how is it completed? With a wedding! In the book of Genesis, Adam is made on the sixth day, God puts him into a deep sleep, and then builds Eve from one of Adam’s ribs. When Adam wakes from his sleep, presumably on the seventh day, God presents Eve to him. The covenant of marriage, then, is created and established by God.
This is one of the reasons why Marriage is considered a sacrament in the Church. There is something sacred about it. Remember what the formal definition of a sacrament is: an outward sign of grace instituted by Christ, and entrusted to the Church by which divine life is dispensed to us through the work of the Holy Spirit. A sacrament is an encounter with the divine. We are touched by God. And what makes marriage so special as a sacrament, is that it’s not a sacrament that we experience just at one time. Marriage is a sacrament that is meant to be lived out and be permanent, just like baptism. And through marriage, a husband and wife give glory to God, because they allow God to be present in every aspect of their lives. It’s about letting God into their relationship with each other, and let His love for them be their love for each other and everyone else at the same time. The goal of the Christian life, then, is not social harmony, but union with God.
We are so precious to God that he wants us to be that close to Him. He wants the same kind of intimacy with us that should be present in a marriage. He chooses to love us unconditionally. God’s love never fades or goes away, but grows always stronger—despite our straying from him and despite our sins. This type of love means that God chooses to belong to us, and that he desires our belonging to him in return. To be loved by God as a spouse means that God has made us, in a sense, on the same level with Him. God wants to be our partner in life, and for life.
This image of a marriage as the relationship between God and his Church would be what the first Christians would come to understand, and it’s also what we see in the Gospel reading today. John is telling us in this passage that God became one of us, to be united with us in a unique and special way, so that we might become one with Him. It’s a relationship that is totally intimate, totally giving and forgiving – what we should understand to be the relationship in a marriage. And this image of marriage as our relationship with God, and heaven as a wedding feast is found throughout the Scriptures, especially in the prophets. This is just what we heard in the first reading from Isaiah: “you shall be called ‘My Delight,’ and your land ‘Espoused.’ For the Lord delights in you and makes your land his spouse. As a young man marries a virgin, your Builder shall marry you; and as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride, so shall your God rejoice in you.”
And so by being present at this wedding feast and performing the first of his signs, or miracles, Jesus is telling us how important and beautiful marriage is to his plan of salvation. Marriage is not something that we humans invented. Marriage was invented by God. Marriage was put in place on the seventh day of creation between Adam and Eve. God designed the relationship between husband and wife to reflect and image the covenant relationship between God himself and his people. That’s what came first: the covenant relationship between God and his people, and then God designed marriage to reflect and imitate that. Marriage is something that God ultimately puts in place as a symbol, an icon, if you will, of Christ and His Church.
So God designed and defined marriage, which is why we can’t change it. This is why we as Catholics believe that we cannot redefine what marriage is. We can’t redefine it because we didn’t define it in the first place. Our government officials and lawmakers can make just about anything legal, but they cannot change the truth. Marriage was established by God to reflect the nature of his relationship with us, and we don’t have the power (or authority) to change it. Because it’s not about us; it’s about God and us. It’s a fact of reality that is revealed to us by God in the Scriptures and through the Church: one man and one woman that reflects the divine relationship between God and his people. This is why we have to believe that situations such as premarital sex, living together outside of marriage, and “same sex marriage” are not just wrong, but they are sinful, because they all distort the image of what true marriage really is, and that is the ultimate union between God and his people.
But John is not just looking back to the beginning of creation with this passage of the wedding at Cana. He is also looking forward to the glorification of Jesus. What else happens “On the third day?” The resurrection of Jesus.
Jesus tells his mother in today’s passage that his “hour” had not yet come. In the Gospel of John, the “hour” of Jesus is mentioned seventeen times. To John, Jesus’ “hour” would be the time of his death, resurrection and ascension into heaven. His “hour” is the time when he comes into his glory. So John is also making a connection between marriage (with Jesus’ participation at the wedding) and the cross. The wedding at Cana and the cross are connected by many things. The first mention of Jesus’ “hour”, his glorification, is at the wedding. It’s the only two places in the Gospel of John where the mother of Jesus is present. It’s the only two places in the Gospel of John where wine is present. He provides an abundance of wine here at Cana, and he provides wine at the cross. At the beginning of his public ministry, and at the end.
The key to this is who provides the wine? In Jewish tradition, it is the bridegroom who has the duty and responsibility for providing the wine for the wedding. But Jesus is the one who provides the wine, and he does it in abundance. And not just any wine, but the best wine. Jesus has just performed the responsibility of the bridegroom, and he has performed it magnificently! Jesus is the abundant bridegroom. This is what Jesus came to do for us. Overabundance! Later in John’s Gospel, Jesus says “I came that they might have life, and have it abundantly.” Not just enough to get by, but abundantly! When Jesus fed the 5000, he didn’t ration out the portions so that everyone would have a little. No—everyone ate until they were full. And there were twelve wicker baskets left over! Overabundance! Grace upon Grace!
So Jesus’ “hour,” his glorification, is like a wedding banquet. And his relationship with us, God’s relationship with us, is one of total self-giving, complete and unselfish. And the last words of Jesus on the cross were “It is finished.” In Latin: “Consumatum est.” “It is consummated.”
The depth of God’s love for us is so deep that he wants to espouse us; He is the divine bridegroom and the Church (which is us) is His bride. So if we are to enjoy that personal, intimate, spousal relationship with God, with Jesus, we must allow ourselves to change, to be transformed, just as the Eucharistic bread and wine are transformed into the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ. Jesus, the divine bridegroom, gives himself to us completely and unconditionally. As His bride, we can do no less.