Second SundayC,Jan.14,2001.Jn.2:1-12

2^nd Sunday,,C,Jan.14,2001

St.John’s Gospel is full of signs and symbols. He uses these to interpret the miracles and wondrous deeds done by Jesus as different manifestations of his Divine Life and power. The wedding at Cana is one of the signs that St.John uses to indicate that the time of the Old Testament is over. He wants to emphasize through this that the time of rituals and traditions has to be replaced with a new life, and that instead of the ritual acts of purification, one has to live by the blood of Jesus that comes to us through the Eucharist.

Of the seven signs described in the Gospel, the wedding at Cana stands at the top as the gateway to all the events in the life of Jesus.

The wedding feast at Cana is charged with multi-level meanings and the various dimensions of the ministry of Jesus are interlaced with it. One of the significant aspects is Mary’s intervention to save the face of the master of the household whose stock of wine has run short. With the compassion and love of a mother, Mary approaches her son and asks him to intervene even before his time had officially come. Acceding to the request of His mother, Jesus asks the servants to fill the jar with water and then to distribute it to the guests. The entire household becomes happy, joy replaces embarrassment, life returns to the party and all the guests feel honored.

What did happen there? The insufficiency and weakness of man have been supplanted by the power of God. God comes to the rescue of man who has approached Him for help.

We know innumerable are the times when we have felt insufficient and weak in our lives just like the master of the household at Cana. When we have difficult problems to deal with in our work places and families, we know, we feel helpless and weak. Our sickness or the sicknesses of our beloved ones make us weak and vulnerable. Those are the times when the jars of our lives become empty.

Should we feel afraid and dejected because we cannot find a way out? No, Like Mary, we have to approach the Lord and tell him that our jars are empty, that we have these problems and that we need him to intervene for us. We have to say to him loudly and clearly, “Lord fill the empty jars of my life with your wine, fill my heart with your grace, send the shining rays of your radiance into my heart.”

Our Lord will transform our insufficiency and will change the water of our weaknesses and pain into channels of strength for us.

The transformation of water into wine is a powerful indication for each one of us that we should not be afraid because of our failures, because of the lack of accomplishments in our lives, or because of the lack of social graces. We may not have glittering success in life, we may not have amassed wealth, we may be suffering from a lot of pain, but before the Lord, those things do not matter; our emptiness, our weakness, our insufficiency is a an opportunity for God to act in our lives. We shall place the jar of our lives before the Lord and ask him to fill it and to transform it with his grace.