January 14^th, 2007                                                        Second Sunday of the Year (C)

The Wedding Feast at Cana

Fresh out of the desert, dry now from the baptism of John, having gathered a few followers, Jesus attends a wedding feast. “This first miracle took place at Cana in Galilee and his disciples came to believe in Him.”

            But before we look at this opening event in Jesus’ ministry, we have to look ahead at how he later commissions his followers to go out in their ministry. He tells them to take very little with them, to offer peace to those they meet, to find those who are accepting of that peace, to announce the Good News, the nearness of God’s kingdom and to “eat what is set before them.”  Jesus did not just make up these guidelines on the spur of the moment. He  learned quickly to adopt them for himself and he learned at this wedding feast. How was He going to initiate his mission? The devil had already offered three ways: large, flashy, public events. Jesus had turned that down. But now His mother sets something before him: a wedding reception that is about to bomb – they have no wine.

            You can hear young husbands tell their wives, ‘Pinch the baby!’  Their wives look quizzically, ‘What?’ ‘Pinch the baby! They’re out of wine; we’re going home.’

Other young men, uncomfortable in suits and ties, straining to watch the game on a small set behind the bar, begin to wish they were somewhere else: at the game, in comfortable clothes, with lots of beer. Guests are leaving!

            It may not have been the moment Jesus wanted to begin his mission, but it was “set before him.” And so He acted. Water becomes wine. We need to see this event as Eucharistic in its overtones as we do for the multiplication of loaves. We seldom rave about bread. We might, if we go to the new Panera, or if we’re at Buckhead’s or Texas Roadhouse (but that’s the butter). For the most part we take bread for granted. It’s there to keep our fingers dry when we eat a sandwich. Sometimes it’s cold cornbread and salty gravy. Sometimes we go without the meat and curse the bread. Bread, our daily bread, becomes the enduring presence of Jesus in our Eucharist. The steady, reassuring presence of God with us: our food, our nourishment.

            But wine exhilarates! It’s for special moments: weddings, toasts, celebrations, putting our feet up after a hard day’s work. For the peak moments in our lives, for the uplift, for the specialness of our lives, at our Eucharist, Jesus invests himself totally into wine. He is present for us at those peak moments or lifting us up to those peak moments that are always possible and frequently experienced.

            At this Eucharist, the steady presence of Jesus, the uplifting presence of Jesus reassures us that we are His people, that we share His grace, His life, His mission. For us, our commissioning is the same as Jesus learned, as the disciples were taught. We take little with us beyond our own limited resources. We are to carry peace with us and to share that with any who will receive it. We are to speak the closeness of God’s kingdom. We are to ‘eat what is set before us.’ This means that as we leave here today, the next person we meet, the next call we receive, the next customer, the next client, the next situation (whether it’s a family dinner or a family disaster), that is where we find the work committed to us that we may build up God’s kingdom and be the presence of Christ for others.