Epiphany 2C – By George Yandell
Weddings in Palestine were major celebrations with extended family and friends. They typically lasted a week or more. In today’s gospel reading about the marriage feast there is more than meets the eye.
As today’s Gospel passage opens, Jesus’ mother is attending a wedding at Cana in Galilee to which Jesus and his disciples also have been invited. Food and wine were plentiful at such festivities. When the supply of wine runs out it was a social disaster for the host family. Jesus’ mother informs him of the shortage. Jesus replied to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come”. That seems harsh and abrupt, doesn’t it? Referring to his mother as “woman” is not an indication of a lack of affection or respect, but rather is how Jesus often addressed women. (Throughout John’s Gospel, Mary is not called by name but is referred to as the mother of Jesus.) [Adapted from “Synthesis, a Weekly Resource for Preaching and Worship following the Revised Common Lectionary” for this Sunday.]
Symbolically, a marriage feast points to the banquet associated with the coming messianic era as Isaiah portrays it in that passage for today. It was a joyful and extravagant event. When Jesus says, “Fill the jars with water”, the ordinary event of a wedding takes on cosmic proportions, as water becomes wine. The words of Jesus accomplished it. Acceptance of Jesus’ words is a crucial theme in John’s Gospel, as seen in Mary’s faith in her son: “Do whatever he tells you”.
An extraordinary amount of wine was produced—as much as 120-150 gallons. It draws attention to the extravagant abundance of the age of the messiah, beyond what humans can comprehend or expect. This abundance is exemplified again in the feeding of the five thousand later in John’s gospel. In the prophetic tradition, abundant wine is a sign of the restoration of Israel. [ibid] Notice the wine steward (probably as fussy as a good sommelier today) pronounced to the groom, “You have kept the best wine until now!” Jesus saved the celebration and the marriage- the guests at the wedding probably recalled the taste of that wine many times over the ensuing years.
The ‘chief steward’ in Greek is actually ‘governor of the feast.’ This is the only time the word is used in this sense in the Bible-all the other times it refers to a governor of a kingdom or a region. When John’s original readers heard this title they would have thought- “Why does this character have this title? Certainly he was a person in charge of catering or tending the wine, but governor?” Archi-trik’-linos. Literally, the ‘architect of the feast’. He presides at the feast, but is not a servant, nor the best man, but a guest chosen to run the affair because he is on close terms with the bridegroom. He is the one on whom all the action turns- a ‘fifth business’. I believe the gospel writer meant for his readers to realize the importance of that office in their ongoing ministry in Jesus’ name.
Marcus Borg, now of blessed memory, gives insight into the miracle of the water into wine. As the opening scene of public activity in John’s gospel, it discloses what the entire gospel is all about. It frames the story of Jesus. He says, “Big things happen on the 3rd day: in the Bible: notably the resurrection of Jesus.” [Jesus: Uncovering the Life, Teachings, and Relevance of a Religious Revolutionary, 2006 Harper Collins, p. 58]
“The beginning of the gospel anticipates its climax. ‘There was a wedding’ are words equally important in framing Jesus’ ministry: Marriage was a rich religious metaphor in Judaism and early Christianity: the marriage of God and Israel, the wedding of heaven and earth, the mystical marriage between an individual and God, the church as the bride of Christ….The [whole] story of Jesus is about a wedding. And more, it is a wedding at which the wine never runs out….. where the best is saved for last.” [ibid]
That’s the metaphor for us–following Jesus marries us humans to the divine. The feast keeps on going. The wine never runs out. Disciples of Jesus are continually amazed and included in God’s work. We are the ‘archi-trik’-linos.’ Through our baptisms, we architects have pledged “to seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving neighbor as self.” That supreme commitment means we engineer the ongoing feast that marries ordinary humans to God. And like the wine steward, we stand to be amazed at the abundance of joy that overflows- to be thrilled at the intoxicating love that results from those marriages. Sometimes a distressing event pushes us beyond our comfort zones to bond people together.
I was in ninth grade. My parish had begun to offer after-school tutoring to children in the neighborhood around our Church. It was a pocket of poverty with poor housing and lots of single-parent families. The youth group leaders pressed us to sign up to do one afternoon a week of tutoring to elementary school students in the neighborhood center. I didn’t want to sign up, but did, because they told us it was Christ’s work we would be doing.
I would walk over from the Church with other kids from our youth group on Wednesday afternoons. I got to know two of the kids who were siblings-boys in grades 3 & 5. The younger needed help with math, the older with reading and writing. I became fond of those boys over the months we worked together.
Then came an afternoon when they didn’t show up. The center director told me their mother was in the hospital and the boys were with their grandmother across town. I was distressed. I walked back to the church and went to the rector’s office- Mr. Garner let me in and I told him what had happened. He immediately got on the phone and called the neighborhood center, got the mother’s name and the hospital she was in. He said he was immediately going to see her. I waited until the other tutors walked back, and one of their mothers drove us home.
Just after dinner Mr. Garner called and asked to talk with me. He said, “George, I’m glad you let me know about those boys’ mother. She was startled to see me. She said she had a flare-up of her heart condition, but would recover. And she said the boys were worried about missing their time with you. She asked if you would come back next week. I told her I was pretty sure you would. Thank you for letting me know she was ill. God needs us all to pull together to make Jesus present to those in distress.” When I hung up, I was sort of bowled over.
I got back with the boys the next week. We were glad to be together. Then the following Sunday they showed up at Church with their mother. And they kept coming. When I graduated from high school, the older boy had started serving as an acolyte, the younger was singing in the choir. I’ll never forget Mt. Garner’s words- we have to pull together to make Jesus present to others. For me that’s the message of the marriage feast- do you see the progression? Someone told Mary about the wine running out. Mary told Jesus. Jesus instructed the servants to fill the water jars, then told them to take some of the contents to the chief steward. The steward tasted the wine, then gave credit to the groom for saving the best till last. He didn’t know where it had come from, but the servants knew. That’s the real message of the marriage feast for me. The servants of Jesus recognize where the abundance comes from, even though others don’t. Jesus marries us humans to the divine. The feast keeps on going. The wine never runs out. Disciples of Jesus are continually amazed and included in God’s work. That’s heady stuff, isn’t it?