Epiphany III (John 2:1-11) “Do whatever he tells you to do.”

 Marriage is a symbol of God’s relationship to humanity.

 It was no accident that Jesus performed his first public miracle at a wedding feast. It was also no accident that holy mother Mary was there and played a pivotal role in the miracle.

 It is important to have an understanding of the place of a wedding feast in the ancient world. Marriages were arranged by the parents when the children were very young. People believed that love was a choice that produced an action. They believed marriage was too important to the family and wider community to leave to the whims of infatuation.

Because marriage involved the extended family and the wider community, marriage feasts involved that wider community. The feasts would last for several days. In a world troubled by high taxes. periodic famines, rampant crime and threat of war, such celebrations gave people hope.

 From this passage we can discern that the families involved were Pharisees and were financially well off. The indicator for this conclusion is the stone water jars used for ritual purification. In a part of the world where water was scarce, only the relatively wealthy families could afford to maintain the luxury of large quantities of water for ritual purification.

 This water could not be used for washing or drinking. It could only be used in the religious rituals the Pharisees had developed over the centuries following the destruction of King Solomon’s Temple. This practice was not authorized by Moses or the prophets. It had become an essential aspect of religious practice and cultural identity for the Pharisees. It was an essential element in discerning who was righteous and who was not righteous, who could legitimately claim God’s favor and who could not. It was a mark of religious pride and exclusivity.

 Despite the apparent wealth of the families, they ran out of wine. The passage gives no hint as to why. It really doesn’t matter. The lack of wine for such an important occasion shows at least poor planning and at worst a disregard for laws and customs of sacred hospitality. This wasn’t just a social embarrassment for the families- it was a social and religious disaster.

 All people in the ancient world had a concept of sacred hospitality. In brief it is based on the belief that from time to time the realm of the divine tests the world of mankind in certain key areas. One area is hospitality. The test is very simple. A god or an angel visits you. If you treat them well,. If you offer food and drink and protection then you prove yourself worthy to survive the encounter. If you fail to offer hospitality in any form then… well then you and your family and your entire town die.

There is a contrast in the story between the extravagance of six large stone water jars set aside and maintained for a ritual Moses never commanded and the penury of hospitality. For, in fact at his wedding feast it was not just a pagan deity or angel of God who visited. It was God himself in Jesus Christ.

 As Jesus responds to his mother’s intercession everyone learns a valuable lesson about God. God is not condemnation. God is the abundance of love who transforms human produced scarcity by grace through faith.

 Mary did not tell Jesus what to do. She only presented her son with the need. As a faithful daughter of the Old Covenant Mary understood the signs and symbols and implications of the situation. She had faith that her son, who at his baptism had been anointed by the Holy Spirit and proclaimed The Beloved by God the Father could and would do the right thing.

 As with most miracles Jesus performed there are the elements of grace (God’s gift) and faith (human response). As with most miracles Jesus performed this first miracle is very understated. Mary shows the way by directing the servants to do whatever Jesus tells them to do.

 The servants act on Mary’s direction. Jesus tells them to fill the six stone water pots with water. They obey. Then Jesus tells them to draw from the jars. They obey. And, what they draw is no longer water it is wine. It just isn’t any wine. It is the best wine.

 At Mary’s request, Jesus reveals God the Father’s plan and purpose by transforming the old rites and rituals of the Pharisees into the new rites of the sacraments. Jesus restores and fulfills the sacred rites of hospitality, the joy of marriage, and the image of the marriage feast as a symbol of the Kingdom of God.

 This miracle informs the miracle of the Mass. At the altar of sacrifice God the Father sends God the Holy Spirit to transform ordinary bread and wine into the very body and blood of God the Son. The Mass is the new symbol of the rite of sacred hospitality and the celebrations of the Kingdom of God manifesting in the here and now of daily life.

 The key is in the pattern. Mary intercedes with Jesus. Mary instructs us: do whatever he tells you. Jesus uses the ordinary things of our lives and gives simple directions anyone can fulfill. The result is the miraculous transformation of human scarcity into divine abundance. The result is the reality of Divine Love made tangible in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ.