There was a wedding…

By Rev Roger Scholtz


This week we’re exploring the story in John 2:1-11 when Jesus turned water into wine.

The story begins like this: “On the third day there was a wedding…” A wedding! A wedding is never an arbitrary event. A wedding is always something very special. It’s usually planned months in advance and is eagerly awaited. No detail is too small to be included in the planning of a wedding, and rightly so. Because a wedding is all about the celebration of love and intimacy and sacred commitment. It’s about new beginnings and togetherness and the sharing of life – and not just for the couple getting married. Weddings are also about families, and more than that, entire communities.

At this particular wedding, the mother of Jesus was there, and Jesus also had been invited. So if Jesus and his mom were there it suggests that there was some kind of family connection. Maybe Jesus’ mother and the mother of the groom had been in the same book club, and had watched their boys growing up, and had planned family picnics together. Maybe the bride or groom was a cousin of Jesus. Maybe Joseph had helped to set up the father of the bride with a franchise of his carpentry business in Cana, for which he had always been grateful, and now, since Joseph had died, insisted that Jesus and his mother be at his daughter’s wedding. Of course, this is all imaginative speculation. What we do know is that Jesus and his mother were at this wedding. And even though his work of ministry had already begun, it was important for Jesus, and his mother, to be there.

But notice too that this wasn’t just a “family-and-close-friends-only” affair. We read that the disciples of Jesus had also been invited – even though they had only just recently met Jesus themselves. Did he have a quiet word with the bridegroom explaining his situation, that he was no longer just on his own?

Interesting how the circles of inclusion are always being broadened and expanded whenever Jesus is around. Which, incidentally, is a great test for any church – for if we’re growing richer in our diversity and more inclusive in our embrace then we can be pretty sure that we’re following in the way that Jesus has already walked.

So if we think about what all a wedding represents, and this wedding especially with its open and inclusive spirit of hospitality, it becomes a powerful and concentrated metaphor for the richness of life at its very best. (It’s no surprise that Jesus used a wedding as the setting for a number of his parables about the Kingdom of God.)

Which prompts some interesting questions for further reflection: If your life were a wedding feast, what kind of wedding feast would it be? What are the things in your life that are worthy of celebration? And who would be invited to share in that celebration? Think about those questions, because tomorrow we’ll get into the real drama of this story as the wine at this wedding runs out – which has a whole lot to say about the painful realities of our lives also.

PRAYER

Lord Jesus Christ, it’s so reassuring to know that while you were here on earth you accepted wedding invitations! It points to the great truth that you are One who celebrates the good things of life, and rejoices when abundant life is being lived and shared. May your presence with me today inspire me to look upon my life in a new way, to recognise all that is worthy of celebration. And may I live today with a greater sense of gratitude for the many good things that make up the wedding feast of my life. Amen