JOY AND LOVE
According to the Evangelist John, Jesus went about doing signs in order to help us know the mystery enclosed in his person and to invite people to welcome the saving power he bears within. What was the first sign? What is the first thing we should encounter in Jesus?
The Evangelist speaks of a wedding feast in Cana of Galilee, a small mountain village, about 12 miles from Nazareth. However, the scene has a clearly symbolic character. Neither the husband nor the bride put in an appearance: they neither speak nor act. The only important thing is an «invited» who is called Jesus.
Wedding feasts in Galilee were the parties most awaited and loved among the farming people. For a few days, family members and friends accompany the couple, eating and drinking with them, dancing wedding dances and singing songs of love. Soon Jesus’ mother notices something terrible: «They have no wine». How will they keep on singing and dancing?
Wine is indispensable at a wedding feast. For those people, wine was, in addition, the symbol most expressive of love and joy. Tradition said: «Your loves are better than wine». What would a wedding feast be without joy and without love? What can you celebrate with the heart sad and empty of love?
In the patio of the house there are «six stone water jars». They’re huge. They’re «right there», part of the house. Within them there’s «water» for purifications. They represent the religious piety of those farm workers who try to live «pure» before God. Jesus transforms the water into wine. His intervention will bring love and joy into that religion. This is his first contribution.
How can we pretend to follow Jesus without taking more care of joy and love among us? What can be more important than this in the Church and in the world? How long can we hold onto a sad and worn-out faith in «jars of stone»? What good are all our efforts, if we aren’t capable of bringing love into our religion? Nothing can be sadder than saying to a Christian community: «There’s no more wine».
José Antonio Pagola
Translator: Fr. Jay VonHandorf
