When the Wine Run’s Dry

Imagine you are St John the Beloved Apostle. You have just been called by this Jesus to follow him. You have heard rumors that he is this Messiah the world has been waiting for since the fall of Adam and Eve. And you are now joining him in this wedding party in Cana in Galilee with his Mother Mary.

You see and overhear this encounter with Mary as she notices the wine has ran out. Which is probably ran out because weddings were week long celebrations and Jesus had a lot of people following him. So they probably had a lot of unexpected guests.

She tells him that the wine has ran out and Jesus responds saying, “What is that to me and you?”

He doesn’t call her Woman out of disrespect.

In the Gospel of John, she is never referred to by her name, but rather the title Woman, to remind us of the lady who was referred to as woman in the Old Testament, Eve, the mother of humanity. Mary, now, is being invited to become the Mother of the New Humanity, those whom her son would save, not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit.

So John, who is present at the wedding hears Jesus call her woman hears him again call her woman from the cross then saying to her “Behold your son.”

He doesn’t say this saying out of showing that he doesn’t care about the situation. Rather it is because his hour has not yet come. This hour is in reference to the beginning of his work of salvation which will be through the pain and suffering of the cross in order to end in the joy and glory of the resurrection. So he is clarifying to his mother almost as if he’s saying, “By performing this miracle, I will be beginning the road to my death. Are you okay with this?” In the end of this exchange of words, Mary hears the words of Jesus as an invitation to begin this hour of salvation.

So it’s interesting: there’s two parts of Jesus’ life where he shows a hesitation to take on his burden of suffering. In the Garden of Gethsemane he asks his father to take away the cup of suffering but obeyed and said “not my will, but yours be done.” The same happens here at Cana. Christ is Obedient at both Cana and Golgotha. Cana the water was changed to wine; at Golgotha, the wine was changed into his blood.

Today as we reflect on this passage, we can’t help but see the role of the Virgin Mary in the life of Christians as nothing but important. If she was able to inspire not just the first miracle Jesus had done, but the beginning of the work of salvation. Imagine how much more she can do when she’s moved to compassion when our strength has run dry, our love has run dry, our ability to move forward is depleted.

It is no different for the bride and groom at Cana than for you and me.

Let us run to this Most Blessed Woman, the Virgin Mary, our Mother, bringing to her our poverty that we might be enriched by Christ her Son. Amen.