The Wedding Feast at Cana: Our Wedding Feast!

A good mother anticipates the needs of her children and family before others realize a possible problem, challenge, change of direction, or obstacle up ahead.  The innate sense of a mother is profound and this gift I believe is given to mothers by God in order to be a protector, a person of sensibility, great awareness, and practical.  Mary, therefore, realizes, anticipates the problem of the wine running short and goes to Jesus to see if He can do anything about it.  Jesus can do something about it and He does.  But that is not the point of this reflection, the point here is that Mary knew He could.

Jewish weddings in those were large events, many people were invited and they lasted a number of days, even up to a week.  That is a lot of singing, dancing, and drinking!  And Croatians and Italians think they have big weddings?  Anyway, it is interesting that Mary knows Jesus can do something about it.  For one, she knows he can’t go buy more wine, they don’t have the money; therefore she knows He will make it. 

Scripture tells us this was the first of His signs, but I am sure Mary and even Joseph had witnessed many signs before Jesus began His public ministry, they may have been done more subtly, but nothing escapes a good mother’s eye.  Knowing these past miracles Mary knew Jesus could help. 

But, it is not only in the knowing that Jesus could turn water into wine, but that He would!  Mary tells us “Do whatever He tells you.”  She is a woman of pure and excellent faith, never hesitating when God calls, but there right away and believing without doubt.  She is a model for us, a model of faith, one that knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that God can and that God will.  

The wine running out is not just literal, but also symbolic, we run out of things in life and when we do – do we turn to Jesus like Mary did?  Do we believe that He can do it and that He will do it for us?  This is a question of our faith.  Mary was asked many times to have faith.  God is asking us the same thing today, for we also are at a wedding feast, our wedding to Christ, and in a little while Jesus will make that miracle again, but this time turning bread and wine into His Body and Blood, now celebrating the real wedding at Cana.