Homily for the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
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The story about the Lord’s first Miracle is brief in its telling, but there’s more to it than what first meets the ear. Saint John has packed the story about the inauguration of the Lord’s Public Life and Ministry with more clues than a murder mystery, informing us stealthily about:+ who Jesus is+ who His Mother is+ how He will begin His Public Life.So, let’s dig into our inner-Agatha Christie to assist us in discovering what clues St. John is subtly providing. The elements to look into will be:+ the setting+ the cast of Characters+ the Miracle performed+ the Sacrament initiated+ Mary’s parting wordsThe SettingCana in Galilee is modern-day Kafr Kenne, located four miles northeast of Nazareth. I’ve had the opportunity to visit there twice: once, nine years ago, and also forty years ago.Forty years ago it was a dusty little town in the middle of nowhere. Today, it’s a mid-sized, but bustling city, inhabited mostly by Palestinian Muslims, pretty much ignored by the Israeli government. There is a small church there, very likely located atop the site where the Wedding Feast took place. The church there commemorates both:+ the Lord’s first Miracle of water-turned-wine+ the Lord’s Institution of the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony.As we heard, the story unfolds during a Wedding. Beginning, then, the Lord’s ministry at a party, St. John links the Lord’s humanity with His divinity. He also notes the generosity of the gift provided by Our Lord: six stone jars, he tells us, each holding 20-to-30 gallons. Thus, the Lord thus provides around 150 gallons of choice wine — more than 500 bottles — This was going to be some party!The Cast of CharactersNotable in his absence is Saint Joseph. Tradition suggests that he had already died a serene death in the Lord’s presence before the beginning of His Public Ministry. We last hear of him in the story of The Finding of the Boy Jesus in the Temple, in St. Luke’s Gospel, where he waits in the background as Mary chastises her Son. But now, looking at the other members of the cast:+ The Bride and Groom are never directly mentioned, though their Wedding provides the setting for the story.+ The un-named Wine Steward is given a speaking role, but not the equally-nameless servants.+ At the beginning of the story, we learn that the Lord’s Disciples, also unnamed, had accompanied Him, later named: “brethren.”Who were these “brethren?” We find our clue much later, in a different story, in the Gospel of Matthew (MT 12:46-50). Here, Jesus is informed, while He is teaching, that His Mother and His Brethren wished to see Him. He responds, unexpectedly, “Who is my Mother? And who are my brothers? Whoever does the Will of my Father in heaven is brother, and sister, and mother to me.”This is not a dismissal of His closest relatives but an expansion of His identity into the whole of humanity, and especially to those who accept Him as the Son of God.We can include in our study, an understanding that in the Lord’s native language of Aramaic, the words “brothers” and “brethren” are used more inclusively and interchangeably than we use them in modern English. The words were used to describe not only siblings, but those belonging to the same extended family… clan… or tribe. The Church has consistently professed that Jesus had no blood brothers or sisters, and it is Church dogma that proclaims Mary’s perpetual Virginity.And Now we come to Mary Herself.Did you notice that Saint John gives Mary top-billing in this story, rather than Jesus? John tells us: “There was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the Mother of Jesus was there.” Only thereafter does he expand to: “Jesus was also invited… with His disciples.”This alerts the Reader or Listener to the clue that Mary is being introduced for the first time, — for John’s Gospel contains no Infancy Narrative, — and that she will have a significant role, not only in this story, but in the Lord’s Public Ministry.This point being made, however, it is important to note that in John’s Gospel Mary appears only twice:+ here, at the Wedding Feast+ and later, at the foot of the CrossShe is present, then, like bookends at the beginning and the ending of the Lord’s Public Ministry.And did you notice that the Evangelist doesn’t give us Mary’s name, either, but refers to her three times merely as “the Mother of Jesus”? I’ve never found a Biblical commentary on this absence of the name of Our Blessed Mother, while her name is provided for us in the other Gospels. It remains for me a curiosity, especially since Mary lives out her post-Pentecost life with the Evangelist Saint John, who is relating this story.But, now introduced in this unexpected manner, we begin to learn of Mary’s role as+ central to the story+ central to the nascent Church.The story of the Wedding Feast reveals a new dimension of Mary’s motherhood. There will now be a motherhood in the spiritual realm and not just the physical motherhood in which she bore Our Lord.Beginning at this moment we will come to know Mary’s solicitude as well, not only for the Bride and Groom here, but blossoming into her care for all mankind, and her willingness to bring our concerns to her Son, Our Lord.Mary places herself, beginning now, between her Son and Mankind. In doing so, she acts as Mediatrix, that is, not simply as a messenger, but as a Mother, a provider. Think back to your childhood: Sometimes when we wanted something from our father, did we not ask Mother to intercede?And now, although Jesus is among the cast of characters, and we know him well as Redeemer, these millennia later, we will look at Him, for the moment, primarily as miracle-worker.The MiracleTwo elements arise here in the conversation between Mother and Son:+ Jesus addresses her, saying, “Woman, how does your concern affect me?”+ Jesus obediently performs His miracle, though silently, unseen.
Addressing His Mother as “Woman,” and then completing the question: “how does your concern affect me?” might sound disrespectful to us. Why would Jesus address His Mother as “Woman” instead of “Mother” or the Aramaic “Amma”?
The Gospel was written in Greek, not the Lord’s native Aramaic. The word for woman in this context in the original Greek is spoken as a term of respect, higher in stature than the more intimate “Mother.” The Lord will address His Mother in this manner a second time at the foot of the Cross when He speaks to her of Saint John, “Woman, behold your son.”Returning now to the Wedding Feast, when Jesus says to His Mother, “How does your concern affect me?” the question reflects a Middle-eastern idiom with various shades of meaning.The Lord’s question seems to imply that although in principle it was not part of God’s plan to use His power to solve a minor crisis, Our Lady’s request moves Him to act. His “hour,” as He says, which means the emanation of His divine power to others, is thrust upon Him, unprepared, by no less than His earthly Mother.The Lord then uses no words or gestures to enact His first miracle. Though He gives some instructions to the servants, no one witnesses the miracle itself. With nothing outward or showy, the miracle takes place within the unseen darkness of the stone jugs. For both Mary and Jesus, this moment is not about them; it is a moment of concern for the well-being of others.Institution of the Sacrament of Holy MatrimonyOur Lord was a guest at this Wedding, not the officiating Rabbi. Even so, the Church regards Our Lord’s presence at the wedding as highly significant, reading it as confirmation of the goodness and sanctity of marriage, as well as an assurance that from here on, marriage will be an effective sign of the presence of Christ within the most intimate of relationships… and also within the Church, who must model fidelity to the world.Among the seven Sacraments, Marriage — or Holy Matrimony — is unique. While the other six sacraments are conferred by a priest, a bishop, or deacon, in marriage, the man and woman confer the sacrament upon each other in the presence of the ordained. Every sacrament contains two elements: matter… and form. In marriage, the “Matter” is the spoken vows. The “Form” is the exchange of these vows in the presence of the Priest who receives them in persona Christi.+++So, in summary, as we string our clues together, we see that Saint John packed quite a bit into this story, that we might be well-informed:+ a meaningful setting+ a stellar cast of characters+ the Lord’s First Miracle+ a Sacrament institutedIt all has meaning for us, but if we take away only one thought from all of this, it might be to enact the words The Blessed Mother spoke to the servants concerning Jesus: “Do whatever He tells you.”