John 2:1-11 17 January 2010

John 2:1-11

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’ And Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.’ His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ Now standing there were six stone water-jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, ‘Fill the jars with water.’ And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, ‘Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.’ So they took it. When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom and said to him, ‘Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.’ Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Our lectionary reading for this week dovetails with last weeks, Luke 3:15-22. Recall that in Luke Jesus was baptized, but not by John the Baptist, who was already imprisoned by Herod. This week’s reading, from The Gospel of John, who by the way was not John the Baptist, begins “On the third day there was a wedding in Cana.” That is three days after John the Baptist first sees Jesus and declares him the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Note that in John’s Gospel Jesus is not baptized. Why should he? In John he is the Son of God, fully aware of his divine status and in control of his life and his death.

The synoptic Gospels do not record the wedding at Cana. However, Christian tradition holds that this is the first public miracle of Jesus. In John it has considerable symbolic importance: it is the first of the seven miraculous “signs” by which Jesus's divine status is attested.

When John refers to Jesus as the “Lamb of God”, nobody thinks of a quadrupedal, ruminant mammal. John is using metaphorical language. Indeed, John often uses terms drawn from common experience¬¬- lamb, bread, water, light, life, son, wine, way-to make the significance of Jesus clear. I do not take “Son of God” and more literally than “Lamb of God.”

It will surprise no one that I prefer a metaphorical rather than a literal interpretation of this story. The good news and hope implied by the story is in the words of the Governor of the Feast when he tasted the good wine, "Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.” Jesus, who has just started his public ministry, is: the good wine, the Lamb of God, the Bread of Life, the way and the truth and the life, the living water.
In Reading Between the Lines Bill Dols asks: “What do you suppose the story has to say about making marriage vows and entering into such a new relationship? How might the promise or threat of transormation-plain lifeless water being turned into lively spirited wine-be part of marriage?”