3rd
Epiphany
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| Wedding at Cana, Giotto |
January 25, 2015
John 2: 1 -11
On the third day a wedding took place in Cana in Galilee
and the mother of Jesus was there. And Jesus and his disciples were also
invited to the wedding.
When the wine ran out, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They
have no more wine.”
And Jesus answered her, “Something still weaves between
me and you, o Woman. The hour when I can work out of myself alone has not yet
come.”
Then his mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he
tells you.”
There were six stone jars set up there for the Jewish
custom of ceremonial washing, each containing twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus
said to them, “Fill the jars with fresh water.”
And they filled them to the brim. And he said, “Now draw
some out and take it to the Master of the feast. And they brought it to him.
Now when the Master of the feast tasted the water that
had become wine, not knowing where it came from—for only the servants who had
drawn the water knew—he called the bridegroom aside and said to him, “Everyone
serves the choice wine first, and when the guests have drunk, then the lesser;
but you have saved the best until now.”
This, the beginning of the signs of the spirit which
Jesus performed among men happened at Cana in Galilee and revealed the creating
spiritual power that worked through Him. The disciples’ hearts opened, the
power of faith began to stir in them, and they began to trust in him.
3rd
Epiphany
January 25, 2015
John 2: 1 -11
Wine of course comes from grapes. The vine draws the earth’s water up and
transforms it via sunlight into the strength of juice and the sweetness of sugars.
Fermented, it becomes ‘spirits’. In large amounts these spirits can displace our
own spirit, our selfhood. It diminishes our capacity to make decisions, to
control our impulses, to be in charge of ourselves.
At the wedding, Christ became the vine. He had water
drawn up from the earth. He transformed it into wine. But this wine was
different. Those attending took in the good wine, the best. Instead of robbing them
of their selfhood, His wine enhanced it.
Christ, the True Vine, gives life and strength to our
spirits. He enhances our ability to experience and act out of our true
selfhood. At the wedding, Christ says,’ fill the jars’, and then ‘draw some
out.’ Fill and draw. The wedding at Cana is a signpost, pointing to a
fulfillment at the Last Supper. Then
Christ will pour his blood’s vitality, its very life, into the wine. He will
say of it, ‘This is my blood’, my vitality, my life offered to you.
In the Act of Consecration, the communion service, we
fill the chalice with water and the (unfermented) juice of the vine. We offer
them along with our feelings of love for Christ. They are transformed. And in
communion we are filled with the strength of his vitality, his blood. We fill
and we draw. Give and take; offer and receive. And one day we will recognize
that what we have been given is our true self. As the poet says:
The time will come
when, with elation,
…You will love again the
stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back
your heart
to itself, to the stranger who
has loved you
all your life, whom you have
ignored
for another, who knows you by
heart…. [1]
[1] Derek
Walcott "Love After Love", in Collected Poems 1948-1984, New York, Farrar Straus
Giroux, 1986.
