This Sunday we have a familiar Gospel reading: the wedding at Cana in which Jesus performs his first public miracle. As we know, Jesus and his disciples are attending a wedding. Mary, Jesus’ mother ,is also there. We presume everyone is having a great time. But then, the wine runs out before the wedding party is over. In a culture where hospitality was preeminent, running out of wine would have been a huge social faux pax!
Mary shares this news with Jesus. The inference here is Mary knows Jesus can do something about the issue. Without a commitment from Jesus to rectify the problem, Mary instructs the servers to do as Jesus tells them to do. And as we know, Jesus changes the water into wine, but not just any kind of wine. Jesus turns the water into a superior wine to what had been served first.
The Evangelist tells us this was the first of many signs Jesus shared to help his disciples believe in him. But what came to my mind was, with Jesus, the best is yet to come.
There is the saying, “It is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail.” Along that line, we are bombarded with the negative, in the news, in TV shows and movies, even social media. So, it is easy to think that everything in the world is a mess, that we are on the brink of something devastating because so much of what we read, hear, and see is negative.
Yet, without denying its existence, push aside all that. Pull back the curtain that is evil, that is hatred, that is even this pandemic. Look with me what is beyond it. See the beauty that is around us; glorious sunrises, stunning sunsets, babies being born, young people marrying, couples growing old together, neighbor helping neighbor, random and deliberate acts of charity.
Now look at where the Lord is in all this. Where two or more are gathered in his name, there he is. He is there in all creation. He is there when we visit the sick, feed the hungry. He is there with all his love and mercy in the person of the priest as we confess our sins. He is physically present to us in the Eucharist when we receive him in Holy Communion or sit with him in Adoration.
All this is good, very good. And as good as it is, I can’t help but think all this good is like the wine initially served at the wedding in Cana. It is enjoyable. It is festive. It can even be intoxicating! But this good that is with us now, the good that is often hidden is just the beginning. Just like the wine served at Cana, with Jesus, the best is yet to come.
In the peace of Christ,
Deacon Mike