The wedding at Cana is one of the most captivating narratives of the gospel anecdotes because of the overload of symbolism in that narrative. The whole anecdote is an allegory. The wedding banquet is an elaborate metaphor for the relationship between Christ and his Church as the sign of the new community of believers with the Messiah. Mary stands for the Church. Six empty jars, standing for empty ritualistic religion, and the lack of wine as the symbol of oppressive, unhappy religious beliefs, and so on.
My attention is captured by the six empty jars and the overflowing wine. John has a peculiar way of presenting incompleteness through numbers. There were six jars of water for purification! Wait, was there water at all? They were empty! Six showing one short of the number of fullness itself indicates that there is incompleteness. John uses this technique also with the anecdote of the Samaritan woman. In that story, Jesus says, she had five husbands, and the one she was living with was also not her husband. So, she has been living with six men. The story does not tell of her sexual promiscuity; instead, the woman represents a belief system that does not give fulfillment. Then, by the end of that conversation, Jesus would emerge as the seventh husband, or the eternal spouse of the new community, the Church.
Now, the jars were empty! This represents a religion that has become empty even to fulfill the acts of purification of those who believe! Empty jars could well represent our own faith practices. They could be contentless, incapable of purifying, let alone give us joy! Soul searching of the contents of our faith and sometimes their empty practices without inner transformation could be a prelude to living joyful spirituality.
The master orders the servants to fill the six jars with water. The water turns into wine. From then, a mystical meaning begins to arise. The words of Jesus at the last supper must be read together here to make full meaning of the mystery. Taking the cup, he says, “This is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and eternal covenant.” So, this is the seventh jar that gives eternal life, eternal joy. This is the eucharistic cup. “From those who believe shall spring waters of eternal life.” There is an invitation for everyone to become the seventh cup that gives out eternal life! The overflowing wine symbolizes happiness.
A sad Christian is an oxymoron by itself. A genuine believer is someone who finds joy even in pains and crosses. Many of us still remain in the religion of fear, purification, and uncertainty without joy. The religion of merits and reward has so cornered us to think of a judge God who evaluates our actions and weighs them to give us a fitting reward or punishment. The image of God pictured is a new paradigm. Here God offers his gratuitous gift of grace. Mary, who intervenes in the lack of wine, represents the Church, and the Lord intervening to give grace without any request from the household is the sign of a gratuitous grace of God.
The relationship of the Church with Christ is that of a bride and bridegroom. A relationship of mutual respect and joy. It has always been this way. The Old Testament gives examples of it from Hosea’s prophecies. Unfortunately, however, misinterpretations and ignorance have played a role in making the God-humanity relationship a judge and criminal relationship. In a judge-criminal relationship, all is fear and judgment without room for failures or divine intimacies. What could represent such a soulless relationship better than empty jars?
The image of the criminal-judge relationship is so imprinted in our mind that it has a dementor effect sucking away all the happiness from a relationship that should have been the most joyful relationship between a bride and bridegroom. The depth of our relationship with God is determined by the image of God that we keep in our innermost psyche. If that is of a joyful bridegroom, this life will be an intoxicating love experience, irrespective of its joys and sorrows. The sign at the wedding of Cana ultimately changes the paradigm of the relationship between God and humanity.
I am glad if I have put any of you to your own wedding day memories. Well!!! That should be the pattern of our relationship with God. Mmm… I think I need to change some images seriously in my mind too. I need to preach this more to myself than to others!