In Matthew, Mark and Luke, after Jesus is baptized, he goes into the desert to be tempted by the devil. In the gospel of John, after he is baptized Jesus goes to a party. I like that idea better. John’s gospel is a little different than the other three and for a good reason.

The first believers in Christ where Jewish, and so they still practiced the Jewish faith, they didn’t stop going to the temple. By the time this gospel is written, about 40 years after the resurrection, they are now coming to the realization that their new Christian faith and community was no longer compatible with going to the Jewish synagogue. One the one hand there where Jews who did not accept Jesus and where hostile to them, accusing them of being unfaithful to the Jewish faith and of breaking the first commandment for saying that Jesus was God.

On the other hand, as they deepened their understanding of their faith in Christ, they too began to feel out of place. So, the question that arose for them was: what do we do now… do we stop coming to the Jewish temple? Do we stop participating in all of the Jewish traditions? The cleansing rituals, the animal sacrifices, the fasting… and if we stop doing all of that… are we being unfaithful to God? Those are the questions John is answering right from the beginning of this gospel with how he narrates the baptism of Jesus followed by this wedding party at Cana.

First, the account of Jesus’ baptism in the gospel of John emphasized the fact that Jesus really is the authentic Jewish Messiah, so no, Jewish Christians should not feel like they were betraying their faith. Further, John emphasized that Jesus is more than a Messiah, he is Yahweh, God himself. Time and time again in this gospel we read statements that Jesus is the Word of God made flesh. Jesus self-identifies as the I AM, the name of God, I AM the bread of life, I AM the way. He constantly says thigs like, I and the Father are one… who sees me has seen the father. With this, John if giving the first Christians the assurance that they are not breaking the first commandment, to believe in Jesus is to believe in Yahweh – contrary to the accusations.  

Second, the account of the first miracle at the wedding at Cana in the gospel of John affirms to them that Jesus, who is God, is asking them to live their new faith in a different way, so to leave the temple and certain practices of the Jewish faith was not a betrayal of God. That is what we will focus on today; the important meaning behind the miracle at the wedding at Cana and what that means for us today.

It beings with the symbols of water and wine. There is a lot of water present because it was used for various cleansing rituals, and one of those happened just before the ceremony. The bride would be emersed in water to signify her purity and readiness for marriage. Wine, aside from being a customary drink in Jewish weddings, was also used as part of the wedding ritual. The grom would take a cup of wine, a symbol of blood, and present it the bride a sign of his commitment to her, a way of saying “I am going to give my life to you.” Jesus will do a similar gesture at the last supper.

 In the Old Testament, wine was described as one of the signs that would be present at the coming of the Kingdom of God. The prophet Joel chapter 2 envisioned it this way; I am sending you grain, new wine, and oil, and you will be satisfied by them… Children of Zion, delight and rejoice in the Lord, your God! The threshing floors will be full of grain, and the vats spilling over with wine and oil. Then you will know that I am in the midst of Israel, I, the Lord, am your God, and there is no other…

Jesus transforming water into wine marks the arrival of the Kingdom of God. It was his way of saying: I AM here.

 Then there is the symbol of the wedding itself. In the Old Testament, the covenant relationship between God and the people was often described as a marriage. We heard that marriage language in the first reading “..the Lord delights in you and makes your land his spouse… as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride so shall your God rejoice in you.”

God always remained faithful to his side the covenant, but the people did not. Whenever they broke the covenant, it was described as an infidelity, the greatest offence because it was a rejection of the one who presented the cup of their blood for you, the one who offered themselves to you. Anytime they failed to keep the covenant they removed themselves from God’s presence they suffered the consequences. They realized because of sin it was impossible to remain faithful to God, so they established cleansing rituals, fasting and animal sacrifices as a symbolic way of purifying themselves for their constant infidelity. The hope was that the coming of the Kingdom of God would establish a covenant that would heal their infidelity and finally keep them united in God’s presence in a permanent way. It was imagined as a wedding ritual that unites two people – the coming of the Messiah would be like a wedding that united God and his people.

Jesus performing this first miracle of transforming water into wine at a wedding was his way of saying: I AM here to do just that, to heal your infidelity by giving you a new way of worshiping, a new ritual, a new covenant that will unite you to God.

In this new covenant, he transformed the symbolic cleansing waters of baptism into one infused with the power of the Holy Spirit. As a bride is submerged in water to cleanse and purify before she enters the covenant relationship with her soon to be husband, so too must his believers submerge themselves in the new water of baptism and the Holy Spirit which is the saving power of God’s mercy. He will later emphasize the importance of this by saying “unless you are born of water and spirit, you cannot enter the Kingdom of God,” you cannot say you want to be part of this wedding feast unless you are willing to submerge yourself in God’s mercy.

In this new covenant, he transforms the symbolic rituals of repentance and forgiveness of sin – the fasting, the animal sacrifices, the many forms of cleansing, into the only ritual that could keep them in united with God: the ritual of transforming bread and wine into his very presence, his body and blood. He will later emphasize the importance of this by saying “unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you will have no life in you.”

These two things were major transformations, major changes. Their new reality of baptism as the healing action of infidelity and partaking of the Eucharistic meal as a way of being united to God, Jesus was asking them do something different. Affirmed by the words of Mary to “do whatever he tells you,” it became clear to them: we need to move out of the Jewish temple, we are not betraying our Jewish faith, we are not falling into infidelity, we are simply doing what God intended us to do, what our ancestors hoped for in the future. If anything, it would have been unfaithful if they left and changed nothing.

So, they did. Once they came out of the temple, they realized that as a new community of God, as the new covenant, they had a new mission: to invite all to be part of this new relationship with God.

This new mission led to a new identity, from Jews to Christians. Biblically, when someone receives a divine mission, their name changes. Our names link us to our families, so when God changes someone’s name it’s a big deal, they are being asked to go beyond their family responsibilities and embrace the wider human family. In the gospel of John, Simon the son of John is renamed as Cephas, Peter, rock. He must see himself as no longer merely the son of his father, he is now a foundation stone of the new covenant and that is his mission and the meaning of his life – which we consider today to be the continuing mission of his successor, the pope.

Same with Mary. In John, her name is never mentioned. When she comes to Jesus John calls her “the mother of Jesus” but after she says to him, they have no wine, Jesus gives her a new identity, woman… woman, how does your concern affect me? She herself has a new role in this new covenant reality, a new mission in her life – she is to intercede beyond the immediate needs of her friends and become an intercessor for the whole human family. The Church Fathers saw this as a reference to the book of Genesis when God created man and woman for mutual blessing and the woman Eve is the mother of all humanity. So, they called Mary, as Woman, the new eve, the mother of the new humanity united in Christ. Paul calls Jesus the new Adam and so now he and Mary share in the mission to be a mutual blessing to the new community.

So what we hear today and the reason I am so animated speaking about this is crucial moment in our religious history where we go from being Jewish to being Christian, and out of that is the birth of the Church which has similarities with the Jewish faith from which it came from, and at the same time is completely different.

The Christian community was no longer restricted to worshiping in the Jerusalem temple, God was present anywhere two or more gathered in the name of Jesus. The Christian community was no longer restricted to those of ethnically Jewish descents, anyone could be a part of this community. Finally, the promise made to Abraham was fulfilled, all nations would be blessed and united under the presence of God through those who united in Jesus Christ our Lord.  

The essence of Christianity is to be a sign of unity between God and all humanity, and unity is found in the mutual blessing of one person to and by another. This is what give the Church her evangelizing character which was not there before. Christians were called to bring people the good news that the love of God in Jesus is for everyone, calling all to be in communion by sharing in the Eucharistic meal, and that is what they began doing as soon as they moved out of the temple. They began to establish these communities everywhere they went – Rome, Ephesus, Colossians, Corinth, Galatia, Thessalonian, the movement became universal. That’s where the word catholic came from, by the way, just a hundred years later they started using the word Catholic, which means universal, to describe these new communities of Christians: universal in that they were present everywhere, and universal in that they welcomed anyone who accepted the gospel. That is what it means to be a Christian, it is to be Catholic, missionaries of God’s transformative and universal love for all.

Think about what that means for us.

As members of this new covenant, we can only be a sign of unity between God and humanity when we are a blessing to others. This is what Paul is teaching in the letter to the Corinthians. Paul says we are made to share in the life of God as a communion of mutual blessing since God is love, and the way we become a blessing in this new community is by receiving spiritual gifts given to us by God precisely to bless others.

Notice the way Paul links his description of the spiritual gifts to the inner life of God as Trinity of persons. He says there are different kinds of gifts but the same Spirit. There are different forms of service, but the same Lord. There are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone.

The goal of Christian spirituality is to be open to receiving the gifts of the Holy Spirit, given to me to be at the service of others like Jesus, and in that way become a blessing that helps someone realize they are a child of God. To be a blessing to someone is to help them realize they are a child of God. See that as your purpose in life, your mission.

There are many implications here. First being universal means that the Church must enter into dialogue with world religions. Through we claim to be the Church of Jesus Christ, where the fullness of who God is found, we still acknowledge how others are seeking to know Christ and can be a testimony to them while still respecting them in their convictions. Inter religious dialogue has been part of the tradition of the Church from the beginning.

Second, being universal means recognizing the importance of diversity. The human tendency to divide and segregate based on everything, from skin color, mental capacities, social and economic status, ethnicity, all of that ends as we recognize the same value in every human person. That changes how we approach divisions and injustices when they arise in the human family like prejudice, discrimination and racism. We do not think of people less because they are not Catholic, nor do we exclude people from coming into Church based on differences. As we rename ourselves to Catholics, we affirm that our mission in the communion of mutual blessing links us to the larger family.

That leads to the final point: being universal means we acknowledge healthy diversity within the Church. Diversity is a sign of spiritual health. Every mature Christian community welcomes diversity in all its forms; cultures, ages, forms of prayer. We bless one another when we realize that our gifts are not in competition with each other. In the communion of blessing, someone does not have to lose so that someone else can win. That means that discerning the gifts that I bring to this community of blessing is the most important thing for me to do, so much so we are given a list of the gifts in the reading from Corinthians to help us out.

These gifts are given by God and can only be discovered in community. I cannot simply have a personal prayer life and wait for God to give me my spiritual gifts just for me. They are God’s means to be a blessing to someone else.

Family, today we are being reminded that we are part of the new universal, Catholic, family of God, called to be a blessing to others in a way that will unite humanity. Some important questions for us as we begin this new year are: who do I need to be a blessing to? Who do I notice that needs to be blessed? What gifts have I received to be a blessing for others? Who are the people that God has placed in my life to be a blessing for me?

There are different kinds of gifts but the same Spirit. There are different forms of service but the same Lord. There are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone.

You are a Catholic Christian, you are living in the wedding feast of Christ. Appreciate the roots of your faith, know where you come from, only then will we know where we are meant to go. The more I know my faith, the less afraid I will be to listen to words of our mother: do whatever He tells you.