Jesus and Mary

Saturday Before The Epiphany A-1

Entrance Antiphon Gal 4: 4-5 God sent his Son, born of a woman, so that we might receive adoption as children.

Collect Almighty ever-living God, who were pleased to shine forth with new light through the coming of your Only Begotten Son, grant, we pray, that, just as he was pleased to share our bodily form through the childbearing of the Virgin Mary, so we, too, may one day merit to become companions in his kingdom of grace. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Scripture today: 1 John 5:14-21; Psalm 149:1-5; John 2:1-11

On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.” “Dear woman, why do you involve me” Jesus replied, “My time has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.” This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him. (John 2: 1-11)

Jesus and Mary Our Gospel scene is of a joyous wedding celebration in a tiny village of Galilee, not far from Nazareth. The bridal couple knew Mary and Jesus well, and Mary, in the midst of the event, was alert to what was happening. There had been a miscalculation and it threatened to disappoint the entire celebration. The wine had run out. A subdued consternation grew among those managing the proceedings. Silently she rose and went to her son. He had returned to Galilee from Judea, and had also been invited. It must have become known that he had gathered a small band of associates. They were invited to the wedding feast with him, and presumably John, the author of the Gospel passage, was among them. By now he knew the mother of Jesus, and he observed what was happening. She approached, and spoke a quiet word to her son — a word which John may have distinctly overheard, never to be forgotten. The eyes of Mary met those of her son, and she simply said, “They have no more wine.” Jesus knew immediately that she was asking that he do something beyond nature — which is to say that he begin his great mission now. It shows that she was calmly expecting his messianic work to become manifest at any point. They both knew it — both he and she. A little while before, he had left Nazareth to go to Judea for baptism by his kinsman John, who was already famed as a prophet. Mother and son undoubtedly looked on that baptism as the formal beginning of the work ahead. And so he returned, introduced to her his disciples, and now the wedding feast was in progress. A sudden need had arisen — the bridal couple, the organizers and several others present were about to be embarrassed. Now, though unplanned and unexpected, was the moment, for now there was a need. She simply said the word, heard his reply to her, and left to go to the servants. She directed their attention to him, and said, “Do whatever he says.” That was all, and Christ’s grandeur as a great instrument of God was within minutes made manifest. Jesus could not resist the word of his mother.

As we read this passage we think of the effortless power of Jesus Christ over nature — he did not pronounce so much as a word of command. At a later time, during the height of his ministry, he and his disciples were out in the boat in the midst of a heavy sea. So serious was it that they — experienced fishermen — thought they were about to go down. But he was sound asleep. They roused him with a shout, and he calmly rose and with a word quelled the raging storm to a silent calm. On that occasion he did use a word of command. But at the wedding feast of Cana, not even a word was spoken. He simply rose and walked towards the stewards. Perhaps he had seen the ones his mother had just been speaking to. He gave them simple directions: fill those jars with water. Perhaps he watched them doing this, perhaps they brought word to him when it was done. Now take a draught of it to the master of the banquet, he said. Perhaps our Lord was smiling, anticipating the surprise and enjoying the thought of the joy soon to come. His mother was also in the room, in the midst of others, but undoubtedly observing what was going on. She knew he would resolve the problem with effortless divine power, and so it was. John too, the author of our passage, who may have heard the word of Mary to Jesus, also saw what was happening. His eyes would have opened wide in fascination at the sign before him of the glory of the One whose disciple he now was. We are told that this was “the first of his miraculous signs.” Jesus performed it in Cana of Galilee. John was not the only one of his disciples to perceive his glory, for we read that “He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him” (John 2:1‑11). It had happened quietly, modestly and with no fanfare, as if it was as nothing for the might and glory of the wonderful man they now followed. It was the first of so many of what they would come to call his mighty works, of which in number and quality there had been no equal in the chosen people to that point. Christ had entered the scene publicly. His power and his goodness became manifest in a new way. But so had, in the mind of the disciples, the person of Mary. By her prayer, it had all begun.

Let us appreciate anew the glory of Jesus, which St John tells us began to be shown on this occasion at the wedding feast of Cana. It is all so human, so accessible, so open to our touch. Jesus, mighty God become man, was now with us and he is with us still. By our faith and our baptism we are in him and we have access to his life and his grace. But Mary his mother is with us too, and her intercession is so very great. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the end!

(E.J.Tyler)

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