Fr Marco Lazzaron
he evangelist John leads us today in Cana of Galilee, a village about 10 miles from Nazareth, in a place where a wedding feast is taking place. The guest of honor is a woman, “the mother of Jesus”. Then Jesus and his disciples enter the scene. The mother of Jesus with a watchful eye notices that the wine is finished and this could compromise the outcome of the whole feast. So, she turns to her son: “They have no wine”. It seems that she is waiting for a prompt intervention from Jesus to which he reacts with an objection: “Woman, what do you want with me? My hour has not yet come”. It seems that the son is keeping his mother at a distance, considering her request out of place (and time!)
The mother of Jesus, starting from the need for wine during the feast, intercepts the specific mission of her Son, who is at the same time the Son of God: wine is not only an indispensable drink on festive occasions, but a theological symbol that refers to eschatological exultation and the renewal of the covenant between God and his people. If the wine is missing, it is a sign that the covenant of the people with their God has been broken and that God will have to intervene to seduce and win back his bride again. Jesus, therefore, starting from the material level of the discourse, moves on to the spiritual level: the return of the wine to the wedding feast is now near and is connected to its “hour”, an expression that surpasses every chronological category and refers to an event that sanctions the new and eternal covenant which will be made “once and for all” (cf. Heb 9:28): his death on the cross for the salvation of the world. The new wine that will rekindle the nuptial love between God and humanity will be the blood that will flow from his open side on the cross (cf. Jn 19:34).
Jesus therefore feels called by his mother, while he knows he must answer only to the Father. The mother’s call seems to interfere with that of the Father, but the woman releases unlimited trust in him, showing that her intent is not to command but to inspire faith in those present. She says to the servants: “Do whatever he tells you”.
At this point Jesus releases a word that immediately receives obedience and wonder pervades the room. Now they no longer drink water, nor the wine that they had drunk at the beginning, but an “unprecedented” wine that surprises for its quantity (between 470-770 liters!) and quality (kalós, “beautiful”!) It is also beautiful to believe in him, obey him and trust in Jesus’ work. The “mother-disciple”, the Virgin Mary, invites us to a crystalline faith in Him who can transform our “wailing into dancing”, who removes our sackcloth and dresses us with joy.