Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

 Lectionary: 66

Jesus did this as the beginning of his signs at Cana in Galilee

and so revealed his glory,

and his disciples began to believe in him.

 T he Gospel of John begins with a head waiter scolding a befuddled groom for serving cheap wine first and saving the best for last. Only an idiot would do that! But neither the head waiter nor the groom know what has happened. Only the servants, the wait staff, who have not been drinking, heard Mary’s command – Do whatever he tells you – and Jesus’s instruction. The wedding guests were happy to have 180 gallons of new wine to drink but, besotted as they were, they could not notice its extraordinary quality; nor could they see what was really happening. 

Today’s gospel is about a wedding but it’s not about a wedding in Cana. It concerns the marriage of God and his people, of Jesus and his Church. We should call this the original wedding, the ur-marriage, for it concerns the impossible union, the astonishing mismatch of God the most holy, most powerful, most supreme with our frail humanity. 

If men are from Mars and women are from Venus, and marriage is always difficult; this marriage of divinity and humanity is unimaginably more impossible; and yet it is very real. It is substantial, solid, and dependable as a rock. Upon this rock, I will build my church. This marriage is beautiful beyond anything in the universe. In the words of the poet John Keats, this “thing of beauty is a joy forever.” 

Jesus, who is God and Man, is an everlasting marriage and he will not be cancelled, divorced, annulled, nor forgotten. He is an everlasting delight – what Saint Francis called perfect joy – to everyone who knows him. We see that amazing joy symbolically in six enormous water jars of extraordinary wine. 

This story of a wedding in Cana is about happiness, gaiety, and laughter. Something wonderful is happening before our eyes. God’s Kingdom appears like the rising sun after a long, murderously cold winter night . It's what every wedding should be, an infallible sign of God's endless and enduring love for his people. 

We remember the relief and ecstatic joy of the Hebrews as they saw the drowned Egyptian army washed up on the shores of the Red Sea. The Song of Moses recalls that elation and is recorded forever in the Book of Exodus. Their children, a generation later, at the end of their wandering in the desert, after they had captured Jerico and were entering the promised land, were eager to renew that covenant – that marriage of God and his people – when Joshua challenged them.

As they stood in ranks before God at the shrine in Shechem, he said,

If it is displeasing to you to serve the LORD, choose today whom you will serve, the gods your ancestors served beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose country you are dwelling. As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” 

 

But the people answered, “Far be it from us to forsake the LORD to serve other gods.

For it was the LORD, our God, who brought us and our ancestors up out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. He performed those great signs before our very eyes and protected us along our entire journey and among all the peoples through whom we passed.

But Joshua said, “You may not be able to serve the LORD, for he is a holy God; he is a passionate God. If you forsake the LORD and serve strange gods, he will do evil to you and destroy you, after having done you good.”

But the people answered Joshua, “No! We will serve the LORD.”

Joshua therefore said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the LORD.” 

They replied, “We are witnesses!” (Joshua 24:15-22)

But the rest of the Bible attests that the marriage of God and his people was not a happy story. They were sometimes enthusiastic for the Lord, but more often disinterested, distracted, and unfaithful. They were more concerned about security, power, pleasure, money, and hating their enemies. They forgot what God had done for them, and they did not teach their children to worship, much less trust and believe in, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses. 

The prophets called their distraction infidelity and adultery. And they swore the Lord would never let them worship other gods. He would always pursue them and call them back; and if they refused to listen he would punish them by letting their enemies exploit, enslave, and abuse them. His love is that of a jealous husband or wife; he does not surrender; he does not forget. And divorce is unthinkable. He says many times, "I will never forget you, my people." And he means it.  

Jesus has come to restore the covenant of God and his people. And this time it will be once and for all. It will be as real as a newborn baby; as unforgettable as a crucified man bursting out of his tomb;  and as permanent as the Most Blessed Sacrament. It will last longer than the pyramids of Egypt and the Great Wall of China. It might be called a new covenant but it is the old one restored to newness. It is the New Garden of Eden, with the perfectly restored marriage of Adam, Eve, and God. It is “ever ancient, and ever new.” 

The Church has faithfully kept this covenant, despite the criminal behaviors of some lay people, priests, and bishops; despite the wars of Christian nations against Christian nations. We have kept this Eucharist, the Mass, from the day the Lord told us to, "Do this in memory of me." 

But the wonder is not our fidelity. Rather, it is God working in us and through us, and continually raising a faithful people who keep his covenant. If you or I betray our faith, we’re lost; but God will not forget his word. As Saint Paul said, “He cannot deny himself.” 

As we set out on this new year, and hear the story of the Wedding Feast of Cana we should feel the enthusiasm, willingness, and courage of the bride and groom on their wedding day. And we should also appreciate the anxious worries of those who weep at weddings; they know how difficult the future will be. Our feelings are mixed, but our hearts are set.  

We never forget the Lord’s words to Saint Peter; “Upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.” 

The Covenant is as resilient as the marriage of God and his people. It is rock solid and dependable. It is substantial like the transubstantiation of the water and wine to the flesh  and blood of Jesus. It is substantial like the consubstantial union of the Father and the Son.