A sign always points us to something. It can offer us direction or give instruction. In his Gospel John uses “signs” to point to Jesus. These signs reveal his identity to his disciples and, as they are woven into the Gospel passage, make it clear for the reader of the text of who Jesus is and what his mission means for us.
The appearance of the First Sign – that of changing of water into wine at the Wedding Feast of Cana provides the first insight in understanding Jesus and his mission. While we saw a few weeks ago on the Feast of the Holy Family, a 12-year old Jesus ready to be about his father’s business, the conversation between Jesus and his mother at Cana begins as a curt rejection of her suggestion that he do something about the lack of wine at the wedding.
Wine is itself integral to the life of the ancient Jewish society. Water was not always available or potable, while wine was more abundant. Family celebrations, such as we see at Passover, included the ritual blessing and drinking of wine.
There was also a deeper theological meaning to wine. In the Jewish eschatological imagination, wine flowed in abundance at the great feasts at the table of the Lord.
Jesus is at a wedding with his mother. As the events here are happening on the third day, our focus is drawn to the revelation of the covenant to the Israelites on Mount Sinai. Now, at the urging of his Mother, Jesus is about to reveal himself as the Son of God, and he shows us the promise of the new covenant to be manifest in him.
Jesus’ rebuke to his mother in some ways reminds us of the demands for secrecy that we see in the Synoptic Gospels. Jesus is not ready to reveal himself because he cannot be fully revealed until the Paschal Mystery has been realized.
While she ignores Jesus’ rebuke and does not even respond to him, Jesus’ mother still moves the moment forward and compels Jesus to act. Her instruction to the waiters, “Do whatever he tells you” places an expectation on Jesus and allows him to show clearly who he is and to foreshadow what it to come.
One might say that in this moment Jesus multiplies the wine, just as he shall later multiply the bread. He is pouring out and foreshadowing the covenant – a covenant realized in bread and wine – that he will inaugurate through the Paschal Mystery. As he turned water into wine here, it is water and blood that flows from his side as he died on the Cross. This is the means of our salvation – this is the inauguration of Jesus’ mission, and the first sign pointing to eternal life.
This covenant, this promise, is gradually revealed through the seven signs of Jesus’ ministry expressed throughout the Gospel. Each of these signs points towards their ultimate fulfillment in the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus.
At this wedding feast, Jesus knows he is not yet ready to fulfill the mission, yet his mother knows that it is time for the mission to begin. Her simple instruction to the waiters: “do whatever he tells you” hearkens us back to the covenant at Sinai. The Israelites are challenged with keeping the covenant and they respond with enthusiasm and will do what the Lord commands. Now, these waiters, in their silence, respond with the certainty of knowing that what he tells them will be fulfilled.
How, we must wonder, did they think that Jesus could solve the crisis over a lack of wine with six jars of water? Clearly the mother of Jesus commanded some respect in this place. We presume she was just a guest at the wedding feast. They were not her servants, this was not her feast. Yet, the servants heed her instruction and then respond to the instruction that Jesus gives to them.
We have much to learn from this moment in the life of Jesus. We clearly see here the beginning and the promise of what is yet to come. We are filled with hope. The hope that in this covenant – a new covenant inaugurated by Jesus – that the promise of eternal life will indeed be fulfilled.
Father Garry Koch is pastor of St. Benedict Parish, Holmdel.