“They have no wine.” Those are the first words that we hear come out of Mary’s mouth in John’s Gospel today. So often, we see Mary noticing something that the others don’t. Mary always displays a great openness to God’s will in her life and in the lives of others. So, it is Mary’s willingness to be open to God and to be attuned to God’s will, that allows her to notice that they are out of wine at this joyful wedding feast. Of all the people at the wedding, Mary was the only one who knew about Jesus and what he was capable of. At this point, Jesus had not performed any miracle or healing, he hadn’t proclaimed God’s kingdom yet to the people of Israel. So, logically, when Mary discovers that they are out of wine, she turns to her son, Jesus.
But Jesus’ response might surprise us: How does your concern affect me? This is not my hour yet. We sense that he is telling Mary to mind her own business. Yet, Mary doesn’t give up, does she? Mary, strong and tenacious, trusts that Jesus would solve the problem. Mary trusts in God. She knows that the hour has come for Jesus. She knows that her son might need a little shove from his mother in order to get started.
That takes us to Mary’s second line in today’s Gospel, as she turns to the wine steward and says: “Do whatever my son tells you.” Could anyone give better advice than that? Do whatever Jesus tells you to do. As always, Mary points us to Jesus. She never draws attention to herself. She never wants accolades or honor or glory. She quietly yet courageously points us to her son. We cannot go to Mary in our prayer petitions, we cannot pray the rosary, we cannot celebrate a Marian holy day in our Church without realizing that it will all be directed to Jesus, that he is at the center of whatever we bring to Mary. The more we grow in our love and devotion to Mary, the more we grow in our faith in Jesus.
There is only one other appearance of Mary in John’s Gospel besides the Wedding of Cana. John next shows Mary at the foot of her son’s cross as he is being crucified, as his other disciple had fled in fear for their own lives. From the cross, Jesus makes Mary the spiritual mother of his beloved disciple, John. In that same action, Jesus symbolically makes Mary the mother of all who believe in him. Through Mary’s concern and prayers, we Catholics believe that she helps encourage the work of her Son, that work that he first began at the Wedding of Cana.
Ultimately, we can see this Gospel story of the Wedding of Cana as a story of transformation. Just as Jesus transformed the water into wine, we're transformed on our journey of faith. We're transformed into sacramental beings, into a life-giving presence in our world, just as the wine was transformed to give joy and life to the wedding guests. But, we must be willing to change. We must be willing to trust and risk transformation, just as Mary trusted Jesus to take care of this situation at the wedding.
The miracle at the Wedding at Cana is such a marvelous story for us to share together as a community of faith. It calls us to joyfully re-commitment ourselves to live the Good News of Jesus Christ each day of our lives. It calls us to be open to transformation and renewal. Our lives are like the water that was transformed by Jesus. Indeed, our lives are a gift from God that will be continuously transformed into the finest wine along our journey of faith.
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