Across the Christian political spectrum, following Christ is too often reduced to maintaining moral purity or marching toward worldly justice without a deeper understanding of what is the ultimate point of being in right relationship with God and with each other. Jesus’s miracle at the wedding at Cana reveals what God really wants for humankind – joy and abundance. 

We encounter Jesus, his mother Mary, and his disciples at a country wedding. This is not the wedding of anyone particularly important. The fact that Mary, her son, and his friends were invited probably indicates that they were relatives or familiar members of the greater community. When Mary finds out something at the wedding is going wrong she enlists Jesus’s help, despite his initial hesitance. After he gets to work the rest of the celebration turns out greater than anyone could have dreamed. The dilemma Mary discovered of course was no serious transgression, but rather that quotidian fear that has haunted many the host of a large gathering – there was not enough wine! The first public miracle of Jesus’s ministry – the one that sets the stage and the tone of the rest to come – involved no trumpets, no trembling, no awe-inspiring display of glory or power or mercy. It was a beautiful blessing, simple yet profound – he brought a bunch of really great wine to a party, wine that was so good the banquet went down in history. 

The account of the miracle at the wedding in Cana is unique to John’s Gospel, which is known for its heightened mystical and schematic literary qualities. These features make it especially important to understand materials from John in terms of their symbolic meaning. The wedding miracle is the first of seven miracles recorded in chapters 2-12 of John, a section traditionally known as the Book of Signs. Dallas Theological Seminary Professor Dr. Stephen S. Kim considers multiple meanings of the idea of “signs” in his article “The Significance of Jesus’ First Sign-Miracle in John” – a sign may be how something is known, an indication of something abnormally holy or unholy, or a symbol of the last days and the apocalypse (202). The wedding miracle encompasses all three meanings of signs. Through creating choice wine as a representation of joy and abundance, Jesus makes known God’s will for humankind through carrying out a holy work, and in doing so shows God’s will as both embodied in the present and promised to us at end times when humanity and material reality are transformed.

The holy nature of the transformed wine is best understood in the context of the water from which it originated. Jesus chose to use the water from stone water jars used for Jewish ritual washings, which unfortunately is often interpreted by Christians as indicating Jesus is replacing old or insufficient Jewish rituals with new Christian practices (The Significance of Jesus, 210). Not only does this diminish the wisdom and good news present in the Jewish theology and spirituality, it also prevents us from understanding water and wine in conversation with one another. Had Jesus selected regular drinking water instead of water set aside for ceremonial purposes, we would have a less complete understanding of the sacramentality of the wine produced through this miracle.

Historically, weddings were enormous affairs spanning days or even weeks, often involving your whole village, and attended by practically everyone you ever met (207). The wine Jesus provides is enjoyed by all present at the wedding, not just the bride and bridegroom – in other words the blessing is bestowed to the whole community rather than only those directly involved in the marriage. From this I extrapolate that choice wine is also for us, as we too are Jesus’s disciples, village, and kin. Joy and abundance is for everyone; this is an eternal truth. We see this indicated in the past, as symbolized by the account at Cana. We also encounter it in the present, as we engage with the gospel and follow Christ today in our daily lives. John’s Gospel additionally positions this truth in the future – consider verse 2:1 where the wedding at Cana is described as taking place on “the third day.” Dr. Stephen S. Kim identifies this phrase as a reference to Jesus’s resurrection, and by extension, the future creation of a new world order (203). Across time, God’s ultimate blessing for us is abundance and joy.

Don’t Hesitate

by Mary Oliver

If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy,
don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty
of lives and whole towns destroyed or about
to be. We are not wise, and not very often
kind. And much can never be redeemed.
Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this
is its way of fighting back, that sometimes
something happens better than all the riches
or power in the world. It could be anything,
but very likely you notice it in the instant
when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the
case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid
of its plenty. Joy is not made to be a crumb.

Reflection questions

• Do I associate following Jesus with giving in to joy? Why or why not?
• Where in my life do I have experiences of holy joy and abundance with others?
• How might a deeper engagement with joy enrich my religious and/or political understanding of justice?