{"id":5462,"date":"2019-09-01T08:00:38","date_gmt":"2019-09-01T00:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=5462"},"modified":"2021-10-15T15:54:06","modified_gmt":"2021-10-15T07:54:06","slug":"231-cana-the-first-sign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=5462","title":{"rendered":"231. Cana and the Church at the Foot of the Cross"},"content":{"rendered":"

2\u00a0On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.\u00a02\u00a0<\/sup>Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.\u00a03\u00a0<\/sup>When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, \u201cThey have no wine.\u201d\u00a04\u00a0<\/sup>And Jesus said to her, \u201cWoman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.\u201d\u00a05\u00a0<\/sup>His mother said to the servants, \u201cDo whatever he tells you.\u201d\u00a06\u00a0<\/sup>Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.\u00a07\u00a0<\/sup>Jesus said to them, \u201cFill the jars with water.\u201d And they filled them up to the brim.\u00a08\u00a0<\/sup>He said to them, \u201cNow draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.\u201d So they took it.\u00a09\u00a0<\/sup>When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom\u00a010\u00a0<\/sup>and said to him, \u201cEveryone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.\u201d\u00a011\u00a0<\/sup>Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.<\/span><\/strong> [John<\/span> 2:1-11<\/span>, NRSV<\/em>]<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\"\"\u00a0The Wedding Church at Cana, exterior and interior views. (Photo credit: Dr. LL Chan)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Many people, like ourselves and some close friends in this group, have been on a Holy Land pilgrimage more than once. Whenever the name Cana on the pilgrimage itinerary is mentioned, there is bound to be someone who immediately says there are two things you do there. One, you buy super sweet Cana wine; two, married couples renew their marriage vows in the Wedding Church.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Wedding Church at Cana was built around 1881 in Kafr Kanna, and named in commemoration of what the Gospel of John calls the \u201cfirst sign\u201d worked by Jesus there for the newlyweds who ran out of wine. The occasion and setting was a wedding feast; the focus of John\u2019s narrative, however, was not about wedding, marriage, or family. It is about the first act in the Messiah’s mission to fulfill God\u2019s desire for the union of God and humanity.<\/span><\/p>\n

On this trip, something happened at the renewal of marriage vows that made the trip a whole lot more memorable. While the Cana wine remained the same \u2013 super sweet – and many bottles of it were seen carried into our tour bus, the renewal of marriage vow took a very serious turn \u00a0from the word go. Instead of the group marriage renewal commonly practiced, Fr. Albert opted for the individual couples to come up to the middle of the sanctuary to recite their vows anew. Knowing that the proceedings would take time and there was another pilgrimage group waiting outside for their time-slot, he also opted to forgo preaching a homily. As it turned out, the segment on marriage vow renewal was a moving \u201chomily\u201d and then some. All present at the time understood that when couples shed tears at the marriage-vow renewal, and shed tears some couples seriously did, even to the point of not being able to continue to read out the renewal-vow for some husbands, it had every bit to do with their concrete, shared, life experiences. Flashing through their minds were concrete, \u201cthick\u201d, and particular human life-experiences that the couples have gone through together \u2013 their joys and sorrows, their achievements and difficulties, their celebrations and their struggles. Critical moments in concrete, human journeys, as always, hold the key.<\/span><\/p>\n

Reflection<\/u><\/strong>:<\/span><\/p>\n

All this, of course, cannot be further from the reality of the scene at Cana depicted by Saint John in the first eleven verses in Chapter 2 of his Gospel. To return to Cana and revisit what Saint John wanted to say about Jesus\u2019 words and deeds at the wedding feast, we shall complement our rather different experience at Mass in the Wedding Church at Cana, with a brief spiritual reflection on three points from the original Cana story in John 2:1-11.<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Mary\u2019s Maternal Concern<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

According to the locals, to announce a wedding in a village during Jesus\u2019 time, a man would go round the village blowing a trumpet and inviting the whole village of some 40-50 families to come to the wedding banquet. People who came to the banquet expected wine to be served; that was the standard beverage at weddings. Without wine, people would talk, our guide said. \u201cMen would talk; women would talk.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

At the Cana wedding feast, a scandal was brewing, for the wine had run out. A scandal like this would be ruinous to the newlyweds. The bad news came to the attention of Mary. Her maternal instinct kicked in; she took charge of the situation immediately. She wanted to help the newlyweds to resolve a problem that was fast developing into a disaster and worse, a scandal.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mary knew the best way to resolve the problem was to take it to her Son.<\/span><\/p>\n