2nd Sunday of ordinary time. Today’s readings: Isaiah 62,1-5; 1 Corinthians 12,4-11; John 2,1-11

This Sunday’s readings are unanimous in presenting God’s magnanimity. Isaiah speaks of God lavishing his love upon Israel, his bride. St Paul tells us how the Spirit distributes profusely his pluriform gifts to the members of the believing community. Finally, the gospel shows Jesus releasing huge volumes of wine to flabbergasted guests. The God who was thought to preach sobriety can hardly contain himself!

Today’s Cana narrative revolves around six stone jars that could hold up to 30 gallons each. Similar stone vessels have been unearthed in the past in a location near Nazareth called ’Einot Amitai. The name Cana is believed to have been derived from the Hebrew word qaneh, meaning reed, as well as the Greek term kanon, meaning norm. The association of these terms with the concept of measuring is the reason why the word canon has come to refer to the collection of Scriptural books that are considered inspired.

In other words, because these books are normative, they offer us a measure by which to conduct our lives. Is it a coincidence, then, that the Lord chose Cana to be the place where he would perform his first miracle? I dare suggest that, in doing so, Jesus may have been hinting at the norm that would characterise his life, his ministry, and his mission – extravagance.

Babette’s Feast is a film set in an austere, pietistic 19th-century community in a small village in Denmark that is based on a book penned by Isak Dinesen in 1958. The plot has very fittingly been interpreted as having strong Christological overtones, particularly as embodied in the main actress, Babette Hersant. Having fled from war-stricken Paris, she found herself among a group of poor, elderly believers who shunned pleasure even in its most legitimate of forms.

Upon unexpectedly becoming the recipient of a huge lottery prize, Babette decided to spend all the money she won on a most sumptuous dinner for her small group of friends. She did not spare one penny but gave all she had to allow her guests to see and taste foods that were beyond their wildest dreams.

It is, therefore, no wonder that Babette offers us such a beautiful icon of Christ who becomes the life of the party in a very unique way at Cana. If extravagance were his only hallmark, it would have been wondrous enough. Yet the words of the master of the banquet point to Jesus’s particular way of going about things: “You have left the best till now”, clearly meaning the latter half of the celebration. Jesus not only spoils us with his superabundance, but he also leaves the best to the end. Impressive as this miracle is, it was but a pointer to even greater things that were yet to come.

Not too long ago we all heard the rallying cry of the Labour Party in government – Il-kbir għadu ġej (the best things are yet to come). Some believed it wholeheartedly, others shunned it disparagingly. Beyond the trustworthiness or otherwise of this political promise, this statement could not fit better the gradual unfolding of Christ’s dealings with humanity. Christianity rests on the firm belief that God has already shown us immense love and kindness, and yet it holds on to the Lord’s unwavering promise that the best is yet to be served.

Christianity rests on the firm belief that God has already shown us immense love and kindness, and yet it holds on to the Lord’s unwavering promise that the best is yet to be served

At Cana, the water became wine, and in Jerusalem the wine would eventually become blood, the blood of the Lord received in the Eucharistic meal. And as though this were not impressive enough, we have been taught by the Lord that this too is but a foretaste of the heavenly banquet where his gifts will not be measured in gallons as in Cana, for nothing except the infinite heavens will be able to contain them.

 

stefan.m.attard@um.edu.mt