They Have No More Wine

“When the wine began to run short, the mother of Jesus said to Him, they have no wine.” We see our Blessed Mother attentive to the needs of other people here as the wine is running short, but perhaps there’s a deeper significance. Because when we think that God in His eternal wisdom, as Jesus is about to begin His very short public life, the public life, which will lead to the redemption of the world. So, every moment is carefully designed in God’s providence. Nothing happens just by chance, and this is going to be the very first miracle of Jesus. So, why does God’s providence permit that? Because it’s not, it’s obvious, it’s not something life threatening, it’s not someone being healed of a terrible disease or casting out a demon. It doesn’t seem that important, why? What is the significance of this event? Certainly, one of the things that it’s showing is Jesus’ blessing of Holy Matrimony, of marriage of the union of a man and a woman. But what the gospel focuses on is this moment in which Mary realizes that they’re running out of wine. And so, what could be the deeper significance of that?  And the wine, of course, wine can be abused, alcohol can be abused. But here, it’s a way of expressing the joy that comes from a loving union, the joy that comes from love. And we know that that joy can come to be missing, in a marriage, it can come to be missing in our life. I don’t think most of us are complaining of an excess of joy in our life today. There’s a lot of things that are hard, and joy is like in short supply.  And then when Jesus responds, He gives a very good wine. And not just a very good wine, but an abundance. You know, that St. John tells us how much it was. And it was probably about 150 gallons, because St. John explains these big jars of water, so that’s a lot. So, Jesus doesn’t just give good wine, very good wine, He gives it in abundance. And so that’s a sign that we are created for joy. God created us for an abundant joy, what we call beatitude, forever and God has created us to be rejoicing forever and a joy that comes from true love, and a joy that comes from the presence of Jesus.  And so how can we get from this position of a lack of joy, to this abundance of joy?  And so, this gospel is, in a sense, kind of like showing us how this can happen, what is the path to follow. So, the first thing that we see, the reason this miracle takes place, is because they had invited Jesus and Mary.  So that’s the first very practical step, to invite Jesus and Mary into our own lives and to our weddings and families and our relationships, that’s the key.  And it also seems like the Lord wants to highlight our Blessed Mother’s role. And when she says that they have no more wine, we have this brief dialogue between Jesus and Mary, when He says, “Woman, what is there between you and I? Or sometimes it’s translated, woman, how does your concern affect me? So, we’re trying to express in English, something that was written in Greek and which was uttered in a very different language, Aramaic. And it’s probably one of those expressions where a whole lot depends on how it’s said. And so, it can sound like Jesus is putting Mary off, but obviously, that’s not the case because He actually does the miracle. What happened shows us that Jesus wasn’t putting Mary off, even though He says “My hour has not yet come.”  And yet He still works His very first miracle. So, the Gospel can’t express how Jesus said it, and all that might be meant by it. But I think we have to be careful not to just interpret it according to very superficial standards. Because no two people have ever shared such a deep communion, as Jesus and His mother. And when people are very deeply united, words aren’t very necessary, and in very few words, they can understand what the other person means. And so, I think, Jesus isn’t putting His mother off.  On the contrary, this gospel is revealing the power of her intercession. So, what does our Blessed Mother do?  She brings this need to Jesus. She doesn’t tell Him what to do, she just brings the need to Him, and trusts the need to Him. So again, she’s not telling Him what to do, but she is entrusting the need to Him. And you could say, well, why do that because Mary believes that Jesus is God’s and He knows everything. He does know everything. But so, He obviously knew that the wine was lacking, but He wanted Mary to have this role of bringing this to Him. And so, Mary, intercedes, Mary is interceding for this, Jesus could have done it without Mary’s intercession, but He doesn’t, He does it because of her intercession. And so, the very first miracle that Jesus works in the miracle that He works, when he says, It’s not yet my time, but He still works the miracle, is because of her intercession. Does Jesus ever refuse something to His mother? He wants to make her happy. He wants to make his mother happy. And what is he doing? Her concern is for other people. So, He’s making her happy by helping other people. And it’s interesting that the first miracle that Jesus worked, was not worked at Nazareth. Maybe they didn’t have a lot of wine at Nazareth, Jesus could have worked this miracle so that in His home, they would have had abundance of wine. Jesus didn’t do that. He didn’t do this miracle in His own home for His own family.  His family accepted to live that, that the simplicity, the poverty of their situation, but He did it because of Mary’s intercession for others.  And so, one of the things this gospel is doing is making Jesus wanting to make Mary’s intercession, the power of her intercession known because of her because she would share so deeply in His mission, and in His cross.  When someone is going through a very great and mysterious trial, to have, where so many people are abandoning Him, to have someone who holds on and is faithful in the midst of the very darkest, worst, most mysterious moments. How much gratitude? And how much love did Jesus feel for his mother? And how much joy does He have when He can respond to her request? So, this is highlighting the power of Mary’s intercession.  And so, Mary brings this to Jesus. And then what does Mary tell the servants? She doesn’t tell them what to do, either. She says, “Do whatever He tells you.” So, she’s leading the servant to Jesus. She’s putting them in contact with Jesus and telling them to obey Jesus. So, this is always Mary’s role. She always leads to Jesus, so that she doesn’t lead us to herself to separate us from Jesus. But she always leads us to Jesus and leads us to obey Him. As she obeyed the Lord, do whatever he tells you.  Mary intercedes and leads to Jesus. But then Jesus has these mysterious words, “My hour has not yet come.” So, what is Jesus thinking about when He says that “My hour has not yet come?”  Because in the same Gospel of St. John, gives us these words of Jesus a few years later, when He says, “the hour has come.” And that’s, of course, the hour of His passion, the hour has come. So, it seems that Jesus is already thinking at that moment of His passion when He says, “The hour has not yet come.” Because on the cross, what Jesus will reveal that this is the love of God, the spousal love of God, for His Church, Jesus’ love for His spouse, the Church, for whom He gives Himself on the cross.  We had this first reading, this prophetic word of Isaiah in the first reading, which speaks of the spousal relationship between God and His people. And so, it’s talking about His people, but the Church understands that it’s speaking of the Church, “No more shall people call you forsaken, or your land desolate.” And the Church often seems today forsaken and desolate. But you shall be called My delight, and your land espoused, My delight, and espoused for the Lord delights in you, and makes your land His spouse, make your land the spouse.  Or what does that mean?  That God’s going to marry, the land? But the land represents the people, that the Church, the people of God, His mystical body, His bride, and it says, “As a young man, marries a virgin, your builder, your Creator, shall marry you, as a bride groom rejoices in his bride, so shall your God rejoice in you.” And so, this prophetic prophecy of Isaiah is speaking of God’s spousal love for His Church, and His Church is represented in part by our Blessed Mother, and His Church is also, each one of us. And so, this also applies to us, God, spousal love for us, for each one of us and for His Church. And so, the whole John, the same John, who is writing this gospel, the very last book of Scripture, the Book of Revelations, the great apocalypse, the great unveiling, ends with a wedding feast. With the wedding feast of the Lamb, the great wedding feast of the Lamb, God’s spousal union, with His people, God, calling each one of us into an eternal union with Him, the wedding feast of the Lamb. And so, the Mass is precisely the sacrament, which is leading us to the great union, spousal union, and wedding feast of the Lamb. And so, we can hear these words, our Blessed Mother saying to us these words, “Do whatever He tells you.” And in the Mass, we hear His words, telling us what to do. “Take this, all of you, and eat of it. For this is My body, which will be given up for you,” Jesus giving as the spouse, giving His body to His bride and for His bride. “Take This, All of You and drink from it. For this is the chalice of My blood, the blood of the new and eternal covenant, which will be poured out for you and for many, for the forgiveness of sins.” So now not water being changed into wine, but wine becoming the blood, the blood, which is like the liquid love of our Savior, “Do this in memory of me.” So right now, in this Mass we have the opportunity as Mary says, “Do whatever He tells you.” And this is what Jesus is telling us to do, to celebrate these sacred mysteries of the Holy Mass. And so, what is at the core of this Mass that we’re celebrating?  It’s His gift of love, His desire to unite us to Him. As the servant as most people serve the good wine first but you have kept the good wine until now, that is the wine that comes from Jesus. And that’s, as so many mystics have already experienced on this earth. And what now so many saints are experienced in a multitude of saints in heaven, the good wine, the best wine, the infinite joy, that God wants to share in abundance with His children. And so, as we struggle on this earth, which is often a veil of tears, this gospel is inviting us to invite Jesus and Mary, into our lives, into our relationships, so that Mary can intercede for our needs, and help us to obey Jesus. And what does Jesus ask above all, because we often think of all the sacrifices. And it’s true, this sacrifices that He asked of us very difficult sacrifices, but most essentially, what the sacrifices are, to receive more of His love. The essential thing that Jesus wants us to do is to receive His love, to receive His love and abundance, And so Holy Communion in His Mass, and of course, it’s often in the dryness of a desert of faith, but is an opportunity to receive the gift of His love, and His body given for us and His blood poured out for us, to lead us, to call us, to strengthen us in this path, leading to the wedding feast of the Lamb.  To union, eternal, joyful union with our God.  Amen.