A wedding homily: wedding at Cana
I've been cleaning up my blog lately, deleting some things my bigger kids might find embarrassing and deleting the hundreds upon hundreds of drafts.
I found this and thought I would share.
Here was the gospel, choosen by the couple and following is a loose draft of what I would have preached on.
GospelJN 2:1-11
There was a wedding at Cana in Galilee,
and the mother of Jesus was there.
Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding.
When the wine ran short,
the mother of Jesus said to him,
"They have no wine."
And Jesus said to her,
"Woman, how does your concern affect me?
My hour has not yet come."
His mother said to the servers,
"Do whatever he tells you."
Now there were six stone water jars there for Jewish ceremonial washings,
each holding twenty to thirty gallons.
Jesus told them,
"Fill the jars with water."
So they filled them to the brim.
Then he told them,
"Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter."
So they took it.
And when the headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine,
without knowing where it came from
— although the servers who had drawn the water knew —,
the headwaiter called the bridegroom and said to him,
"Everyone serves good wine first,
and then when people have drunk freely, an inferior one;
but you have kept the good wine until now."
Jesus did this as the beginning of his signs at Cana in Galilee
and so revealed his glory,
and his disciples began to believe in him.
and the mother of Jesus was there.
Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding.
When the wine ran short,
the mother of Jesus said to him,
"They have no wine."
And Jesus said to her,
"Woman, how does your concern affect me?
My hour has not yet come."
His mother said to the servers,
"Do whatever he tells you."
Now there were six stone water jars there for Jewish ceremonial washings,
each holding twenty to thirty gallons.
Jesus told them,
"Fill the jars with water."
So they filled them to the brim.
Then he told them,
"Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter."
So they took it.
And when the headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine,
without knowing where it came from
— although the servers who had drawn the water knew —,
the headwaiter called the bridegroom and said to him,
"Everyone serves good wine first,
and then when people have drunk freely, an inferior one;
but you have kept the good wine until now."
Jesus did this as the beginning of his signs at Cana in Galilee
and so revealed his glory,
and his disciples began to believe in him.
--------------------------------
Wedding are so much fun.
They are a the good stuff. Everyone here is rooting for the bride and groom. Families tend to be fairly well behaved, everyone is holding it together.
Today you all look beautiful. Both you (the couple) and frankly everyone else in here.
It is easy to feel, at this wedding, that people love each other.
Today we celebrate, we party, we bask in the ease and the joy of love.
Weddings, are not JUST about love thought.
Weddings are also about commitment.
About saying yes- in the love- to the future moments where love will not be so palpable.
Weddings are about love, and about future, and about dreams.
They are also about commitment, and saying yes to one another's challenges, and saying yes to each others personal struggles, and intimate messes and all the stuff that is part of sharing your life with someone...we remind ourselves, at a wedding that love is a yes to all the good stuff and a yes to whatever the future holds.
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These reading, about the miracle of the wedding of Cana shows us, Jesus' first public ministry. His mother asks him to solve the problem, that the wedding is running out of wine. Jesus' mother- his family- asks him to make his next move.
I cannot help but look beyond you (the couple) and take note of your family. They are not asking you to change water to wine- but they were here affirming and supporting your decision to marry one another.
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And then the suprise of it all, is that Jesus changed the water into wine- and made it the best of wines. This was no 3 buck chuck. This isn't the wine you buy when you are 23. This is wine cellar wine. This is fancy people wine!
And, lucky for the guests, it comes out later in the wedding. No one is trying to fool them into drinking cheap stuff.
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We have this idea that the part of marriage that is light and easy and full of great joy is this time- the wedding- the falling in love.
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But this reading- reminds me that the sweet stuff of marriage happens later. When our commitments, and the deepening of our relationship happens day in and day out- year after year- it gets better.
I know that you guys know each other really really well right now. You are happy and you are in love- and that is wonderful. But I am here to tell you, that beyond this day your "wine' - namely this marriage- gets better and better. Full of stories, struggles, forgiveness's, sleep deprived chaos and a million ordinary things- your marriage, over time is not the new sweet wine- nor the wine served to those who have already had a lot to drink-
Your marriage- can become- the miracle. The good stuff- later in the game- but the rich and flavorful gift from God.
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