Duccio's Cana Wedding

1 There was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus and his disciples had likewise been invited to the celebration. 3 At a certain point the wine ran out, and Jesus' mother told him, "They have no more wine." 4 Jesus replied, "Woman, how does this concern of yours involve me? My hour has not yet come." 5 His mother instructed those waiting on table, "Do whatever he tells you." 6 As prescribed for Jewish ceremonial washings, there were at hand six stone  water jars, each hold holding fifteen to twenty-five gallons. 7 "Fill those jars with water," Jesus ordered, at which they filled them to the brim. 8 "Now, " he said, "draw some out and take it to the waiter in charge." They did as he instructed them. 9 The waiter in charge tasted the water made wine, without knowing where it had come from; only the waiters knew, since they had drawn the water. Then the waiter in charge called the groom over 10 and remarked to him: "People usually serve the choice wine first; then when the guests have been drinking awhile, a lesser vintage. What you have done is keep the choice wine until now." 11 Jesus performed this first of his signs at Cana in Galilee. Thus did he reveal his glory, and his disciples believed in him. 12 After this he went down to Capernaum, along with his mother and brothers (and his disciples) but they stayed there only a few days. John 2:1-12

Here is Duccio de Buoninsegna's Wedding Feast at Cana, one of the dozens of paintings from the Life of Jesus and Mary, which comprised his early 14th century Maesta Altarpiece.  Unfortunately, the Maesta was sawed up 700 years after its creation and the pieces passed around, landing in a number of museums or lost. Human beings do awful things. Anyway, how blessed we are to have the image of Jesus' first sign, as recorded in St. John's Gospel. 

Here are some thoughts, combining John's Gospel verses with Duccio's wonderful image.

Verse 1: The artist takes us inside for the wedding feast. He's not simply showing us that he's skilled at painting architectural features, but he wants us to go inside ourselves. Spiritual architecture wants us to be able to go beyond just knowing data or facts about the story, but to progress inwardly. Notice between Jesus and Mary there is an archway that takes us beyond to another room, and then a second archway that invites us to enter still further into another room. Soul work—going deeply into one's psychological soul-place is terrifying to many people. 

Verse 2:  O my goodness, look, it's only in this second verse that we're told that Jesus and his disciples were invited. But it's in the first verse (at the story's start)  that we're told, "the mother of Jesus was there." What does this mean? Lots of Catholics say exalted things about Mary, but they pay no heed to the most important gospel awareness of her: She's the first disciple. She's an image of us. So John introduces us to Mary (notice she's not called by name but referred to as mother and woman) because this story is about US! Notice too, Mary is at the very start of the story as she will be present at the end. Disciples are with Jesus from beginning to end.

Verses 3,4: Right away, like much of life there's a snag or a problem. A Jewish wedding lasted days. Running out of wine would have brought great embarrassment to a family. Mary brings the problem to Jesus' awareness. Some folks will say, "Oh, Mary brings our problems to Jesus." It's not about that. What follows immediately is what matters.

Jesus calls his mother "woman".  Mary's the new Eve—Mother of the living. Who's that? US. We're the people who, pray God, are more alive because we've been baptized into Christ. Sad to say, but a lot of Christians are living a bourgeois religion—we're like everyone else. And it's not religious do-ings that are our distinguishing feature, but love. 

Again, Jesus calls Mary, woman. We might think that sounds rude, but it's really only a formal Aramaic form of address. Then Jesus says to his mother's request: "What does your concern have to do with me?" Jesus knows that if he performs this sign (John doesn't use the word miracle) that enemies will start to form around him and the time for that contest is not here yet. That's inside information between himself and the Father.

Verse 5: There's some tension here, as there was tension when Jesus was lost and found in the Temple as a boy. Remember that somewhat contentious conversation between himself and his mother. Still, even while Jesus lets her know he lives by God's timetable and not that of family relationships, she seems to know he'll respond. She's a disciple who trusts Jesus utterly. 

Verses 6,7: Six stone jars at roughly 25 gallons each—that's a lot of water. "Fill those jars with water...they filled them to the brim." We are getting ready to witness a sign of God's great and overflowing abundance. God's gifts aren't puny, parsing out little bits of grace, blessing, mercy and forgiveness. 

Verses 8,9: The water is changed to wine in transit. Wine has great spiritual significance. Wine brings joy. It's a sign of happiness. For knowing Christ, we're supposed to be a joyful, happy people. It's the sign of our becoming spiritually mature, as grapes have to move through the maturation process - from simply grape juice, to fermentation, to mature wine. Wine symbolizes the perfected human life, which doesn't mean, no mistakes, but a whole life. I want to be a whole human being - kind of fermented in God. Some of that fermentation is struggling with sin, but by no means all of it. Evolving into a whole human person takes time, real self-awareness, honesty and a willingness to change. It's work to become a whole or full human person. 

Notice that Duccio hasn't placed the bride and groom in the scene. That's because it's not about them but about us. Wine at this wedding symbolizes that now, in Christ, we are God's bride—loved abundantly. This is why the real focal point of the Duccio painting is the conversation between Jesus and Mary, the disciple. The guests at the table at looking at that dynamic. BTW: boring table; no women apart from Mary.

Verse 10: This isn't just wine, but (choice) a super abundant and fabulous wine. 

Verses 11,12: This is the first of seven (number of completion, fullness, wholeness) signs John shares with us. Signs of what? Signs of Jesus' glory—that in Jesus Christ we have an encounter with God's own power and beauty. The disciples see it and start to believe. To believe isn't to nod one's head in agreement, but to live in trust and confident joy.  Notice Jesus doesn't hang around to have a confab about the wine and all the questions guests might pose, "Oh wow, Jesus, how'd you do that?" He leaves and moves on to Capernaum where he stays only a few days. I knew a young Franciscan Friar who (in habit) walked 111 miles from Assisi to Florence and back. Along the way he greeted everyone he met, sang a song for them, gave them a holy card or medal, prayed with them, told them a funny story, cheered them. There's something about the Christian disciple that's (like Jesus) on the road.