This coming Sunday is the 2nd Sunday of Ordinary Time. 1 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.”
The very sparse opening of this narrative calls a host of questions to mind. Who is getting married? Why is it that Mary, Jesus, and the disciples are all there? How is it that the wine runs short? […with only good humor intended, some suggest that as soon as the disciples showed up the wine ran out!] All these points and questions are important to the modern mind, but John is interested in the sign (semieon) of the story: water miraculously transformed into wine.
The problem is simply stated: “They have no more wine.” This unfortunate turn of events brings to the fore several problems. The obvious and stated problem in our text is that the wine gives out. Bruce Malina and Richard Rohrbaugh (Social-Science Commentary on the Gospel of John) suggest the great dishonor this creates:
The fact that the family hosting the wedding has run out of wine threatens a serious loss of honor. Friends, especially those from the inner group of wedding celebrants, usually sent gifts such as wine ahead of time to be available for the wedding celebration. Lack of wine thus implies lack of friends. [66]
and later
By providing wine for the wedding celebration, Jesus rescues the honor of the bridegroom. Traditional Western theological comment that Jesus here usurps the role of host (thus turning this into a sacramental story) misses a key point in the story. By providing wine for this threatened family, Jesus honors the bridegroom. [69]
In the face of all this, Mary approaches Jesus with the information of the situation
Perhaps less obvious is the problem that Jesus’ hour has not yet come.
Image credit: The Marriage Feast at Cana | Bartolomé Estebán Murillo, 1672 | The Barber Institute of Fine Art | PD-US | Photograph by DeFacto – Wiki Commons | CC-SA-4.0
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