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Reflection on the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted on January 19, 2025, by Kim Klein CoL

About 15 years ago, my cousin married for the second time. She was 65, and the groom was 67. It was his first marriage. The wedding was relatively small — about 50 people, mostly relatives. There was a reception in the church hall. The groom had hired someone he wanted to help because he said she had had a hard life. She told him she was starting a catering business so he hired her to cater this wedding. What no one knew is that when she said she was “starting” a catering business, she actually meant “you will be my first client.” 

The food was served buffet style, and everything was going well until about the 20th person went through the line and the food started to run out. By the 25th person, there was no more food. People stood patiently talking assuming the caterer would bring out more. But she did not. She had completely miscalculated the proportions needed and she ran off crying. Now most people did not know what was going on. Another cousin ran to the 7-11 nearby and bought several six packs of beer and many bags of potato chips and dip. He spread these out on the tables and people dug in. I drove to Kroger’s, but the deli was closing so all I could buy was potato salad and some turkey, plus about 10 pies — apple and cherry and several gallons of ice cream. A neighbor raided her own wine cellar and came back with several bottles. We put it all out, and people ate it. Although a very odd selection of food, there was enough. At the end, someone asked for the caterer’s name. 

I love the story of the wedding at Cana, and I love that this is Jesus’ first miracle. Also note this miracle only appears in the Gospel of John, which is the most mystical Gospel. Every phrase in John has multiple meanings. So that this story is in this Gospel is interesting because this story seems pretty straightforward. 

In first century Palestine, a wedding went on for upwards of seven days. Everyone was invited. People saved for years to get married. So here Jesus and his mother are at a wedding, and the wine runs out. Somehow Mary finds this out and tells Jesus. He says, “Woman, what does that have to do with me?  My hour has not yet come.” I don’t know about you but if I had ever answered my mother by saying “Woman” I would not be here to deliver this homily.

But Mary pays no attention. She simply says to the servers, “Do what he tells you.”  

Jesus will not disobey his mother. He has the servers fill the jars with water that he turns into wine. But remember we are deep in the Gospel of John and everything has multiple meanings. 

Let’s just look at a couple: First, Mary doesn’t directly ask Jesus to do anything. She says to the servers, “Do what he tells you.”  Mary knows the bride and groom and their respective families will be humiliated if there is no wine. She wants this wedding to be joyous and for them to get off to a good start. I love this view of Mary. Hospitable. Practical. Decisive. 

The second really important element here is the question, why didn’t Jesus use the empty wine jars to perform this miracle? We see a practical side of Jesus. He is not going to use the empty wine jars — that is not enough wine — they will just run out again. The Gospel says there were 12 stone jars, each one holding 15-25 gallons of water. Jesus created somewhere between 180-300 gallons of wine — that’s a lot. One hopes that carried them through to the end. 

But the mystical Gospel of John wants to make another point. The jars that Jesus asks to be filled with water were used in Orthodox homes for ceremonial washing. At that time, there was a great emphasis on clean and unclean and lots of laws about it. Who was clean? Who could become clean? Who was always unclean?  

To put wine into these stone jars would border on sacrilegious. But only the servants know where the wine they take to the head steward came from, and they apparently are not saying anything. Jesus thinks having enough wine is a higher priority than observing rituals. This disregard will play out again and again. 

We say at Loretto that we are Friends of Mary at the Foot of the Cross. But I would like us also to be Friends of Mary at the wedding. At good weddings, everything is about joy. Two people make an extraordinary promise, “We will spend the rest of our lives together” and a community of people witness that and join in the joy. I thought the food at my cousin’s wedding was a disaster, but all that mattered is that there was more than enough. When people tell the story of my cousin’s wedding, they say that the groom was trying to help somebody and wound up hiring someone who didn’t have enough experience and other people had to run out and get enough food.The story of both weddings is about being kind. Doing the hospitable thing, figuring out how to redeem a difficult situation.  

 The story of the wedding at Cana may or may not be factual. And Mary’s only order, only command, in the entire Bible is so simple, “Do whatever he tells you.”  Jesus tells us and shows us that we are to be kind. He turned water into wine, and he also raised the dead. Kindness may lead us to a wedding, and it may lead us to the cross and to any number of other places in between. But the Gospel of John is clear: Jesus will be with us every step of the way.

Kim Klein CoL

Kim is a fundraising consultant and has been a Loretto Co-member for more than 25 years. The Loretto Community is her spiritual home as well as a source of many deep friendships. She has served on a variety of committees, including the Investment Committee, the Motherhouse Shared Futures Committee and the Civil Incorporation Committee. She is on the board of Loretto Link and the Charitable Trust.