2EpiphanyC, January 17, 2016, Sullivan Park Care Center by
Annette Fricke
We know that marriage was very
important during the time of the Jewish faith in Jesus’ day. First of all, an on-going discussion takes
place between the families. There is a
dowry and terms of a marriage contract.
A wedding does not happen until the families agree that it is time. Both bride and groom bathe and put on perfume
and oil, dressing in special garments. Jewelry
and garlands were also worn. The bride is
veiled throughout the entire ceremony and has bridesmaids. Likewise, the groom has attendants. Chief of the attendants was the best
man. After this, the public ceremonies
begin with the groom and his attendants who process to the bride’s home. There
they greet the family, exchange presents and drinks, then process with dancing
and music back to the groom’s home. If
it is already dark, they take lanterns with them. At the groom’s home are the invited guests who
share in a meal and the marriage contract is read and public declaration is
made by the groom that goes something like this, “She is my wife and I am her
husband from this day and forever.” Then
the guests bless the couple with words like, “May the God of heaven keep you
safe and give you peace and prosperity.”[1] You might want to get a glimpse of this process
in a couple of movies, “Yentl” or “Fiddler on the Roof” especially if you are
as ignorant about Jewish practices as I am.
It’s important to note that weddings
in the Bible were very elaborate, compared to a modern day wedding and the
celebration lasted longer. The bride and
groom did not take honeymoons. The emphasis was on community celebration. What is presented in the Bible however, is
rather piecemeal, because the writers assume that you are familiar with
weddings. Because of that, you really do
have to supplement your Bible readings with a study of the culture of the time
in order to get a full picture of what constituted the whole process of
planning and carrying out the whole extended event which lasted a week or two. We also lack details as to just how often
weddings didn’t turn out the way they were supposed to be. Apparently, this is the problem presented in
our gospel text designated for this particular Sunday. Things did not go as they should and the
mother of Jesus, as she is known here, wants Jesus to intervene.
With such an
elaborate celebration to prepare, I would imagine that there were a number of
things that could go wrong. What went
wrong here is that only the cheap wine was served and they ran out. Jesus, his mother and his disciples notice
the lack of proper etiquette. But Jesus
doesn’t seem to want to make a fuss. However, his mother insists he “do
something.” We lack the details. Who is
supposed to supply the wine and why was the good wine not served first? How come the good wine wasn’t apparently
served at all? Whose fault is it? Is
someone trying to be cheap or did someone leave with the good wine, to hoard it
for themselves? That’s the problem we
run into if we see this as a literal story.
In fact, if we note that John is the only gospel with this story, we
might make the observation that John has a purpose in mind.
Note the
finer details of the story and put them in the context of John. At the end of each of these stories, John
states, as he does in this story, “Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in
Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in
him.” Some argue that John has in mind
seven signs, but the evidence is ambiguous.
Signs and so called miracles are also designated by John to be
numerous. Signs of who Jesus is, are
numerous and throughout his ministry.
But the important thing to remember is not just the signs themselves,
but what they are pointing to—they are pointing to Jesus and Jesus’
identity. Who is Jesus? Jesus is the Son of God. The signs reveal the glory of God and the
response is belief in God, belief that Jesus is God. Don’t get this wrong. It’s not a belief in the sign, but in God. The glory of God is how God is known in the
world. In the Old Testament, God is
known through storms, fire, and earthquakes.
Here, the glory of God is known by changing water into wine. It is a sign that Jesus infuses into Judaism
newness, a robustness that is the same, yet changed. The glory of God dwells in Jesus. Thus, the
God who has command over the physical world now becomes more intimately
involved with humanity. The cheap wine, formerly of limited and poor quality, is
now the good wine flowing forth in abundance. There is nothing now to contain
the workings of God and what God is capable of doing. We now see that God is more capable through
Jesus in showing us more clearly what God is all about.
God is like
a marriage feast. The contract of
marriage is likened to a covenant with God.
The covenant concept is unlike the non-Jewish religions of other peoples
and cultures. God always makes covenants
that emphasize divine favor or what is also termed grace. One only need look at the words in the
beginning of Luke to see that favor means grace and forgiveness. “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit
rejoices in God, my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of
his servant.” God has mercy even on the
lowliest of people. God gives
preferential treatment to the poor.
Perhaps the crops failed or the family responsible could not afford the
good wine. We have both spiritual and
material needs and sometimes those are truly intertwined to where you wonder
why they are somehow separated into two different concepts. Certainly with the gallons and gallons of
good wine we get the picture that God is full of overflowing grace, overflowing
and unending grace. We understand also
that God will always be there to provide for our every need, no matter how
great that need might be. Like the
marriage contract, it is for this day and forever between God and us.
Like a
marriage feast, God wants us to be joyful.
He wants us to celebrate and enjoy the fruits of the earth and the
gatherings of the harvest. It may be
difficult to understand this because it is rooted in an agrarian culture, a
culture where most people were more tied to the earth. Jesus spent a lot of time getting to know
people and share meals with them. They
were times of relaxation and celebration as well as a time of rest from the
day’s activities. The concept of the
observance of the Sabbath was likewise meant as a time of rest as well as
deepening relationships with family as well as devotion to God.
Lastly, God
wants us to seek justice for the poor and marginalized of our society. In boldness, Isaiah states that God will not
keep silent nor rest. God’s work is
through us, God’s children. All belong
to God and all are God’s family. We are
to welcome all people into our lives and to share our resources, even though
they may not be material resources.
Bless others as God has blessed you.
[1]
The Oxford Companion to the Bible, under “Weddings,” ed. Bruce M. Metzger and
Michael D. Coogan, Oxford Press, 1993.
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