Joy
Oil for gladness, Bread for our strength, wine for our joy. The gospel story of the Wedding Feast at Cana is a parable of joy. What would a wedding be like without wine? Can you imagine an Irish wedding where the bar ran out of Guinness early in the evening? The joy of celebrating a wedding is a moment to be inebriated, to be filled with joy, it is a moment to drink to the joy of life.
So much of religion appears joyless – even though it may well be necessary to stand up for the rights of the vulnerable – to stand beside those in our society who are ill-treated and downtrodden – all of these aspects of faith are difficult to live out. And more, we can feel that that is all religion is about today – rules, regulations, oppression, authority.
And yet, in this parable Jesus reforms both the religion of his own day, and the religion of our day. This story tells us, early in the year, in the cold of January and near the beginning of the gospel, that one of the key aspects of being followers of Jesus Christ is that we are a people filled with joy!
What is the reason for our joy? In the story of the Wedding at Cana we don't get to know who the bride and groom were. Their names are not given to us. Why is this? Surely, it is kind of strange that the gospel talks about where the wedding took place rather than who the couple were. The key people in this story are Jesus, his disciples, and Mary the mother of Jesus. In a way the wedding is symbolic of the husband and wife relationship that comes about because of Jesus. That is, the husband and wife kind of relationship between God and humanity, between heaven and earth, between Jesus and the Church. It is not just that Jesus is the reason for our joy, but moreso that God became one of us – and in so doing tied together God and humanity forever. Never again can the two be separated. Always and forever.
And this is a blood relationship. It is a kinship, a family bond, a bond that is strong enough to defeat whatever may try to separate it.
But, we have to opt in. While Christ is always faithful to his side of the bargain, we fail time and again. No matter what, we know that Christ is there for us, ever faithful. But he does not force us to co-operate with him. We are free to choose. Free to choose him and all that that means, even being part of his Church and all that that means, maybe even against our better judgment. The Church is our means to real relationship with Christ Jesus.
The water of Baptism miraculously becomes the Wine offered in the Eucharist. And the Eucharist is the Wedding Feast that we gather to share with Christ, our spouse. Real joy is not a fleeting pleasure but a lasting salvation, a lasting hope, a fundamental reconciliation.
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