Second Sunday in Ordinary Time • Year C

The miracle by which our Lord Jesus Christ made wine out of water is not all that astonishing to those who recognize that God was the one who worked it. For the one who made wine on that day at the wedding in those six jars, which he had ordered to be filled with water, does the same thing every year in the vines. I mean, just as what the waiters put in the jars was turned into wine by the work of the Lord, so too what the clouds pour out is turned into wine by the work of the same Lord. But this does not astonish us, because it happens every year; its familiarity has let the wonder of it slip away. In fact it deserves even more intensive reflection than that which took place in the jars of water. Is there anybody, after all, who can reflect on the works of God by which the whole of this universe is governed and administered and not be stunned and overwhelmed by the miracles? Just reflect on the force in a single grain of any seed you like; it is something tremendous, enough to set you trembling as you think about it.

But because people have been so intent on other things that they have given up reflecting on the works of God and thereby praising the creator every day, it is as if God has kept in reserve some unusual things to do, and thus by miracles to rouse a slumbering humanity to render him due worship. Having died, he rose again; people were amazed; yet how many are born every day, and no one is amazed. If we thought about it a little more rationally, it is a more wonderful miracle for someone who did not exist just to be, than for someone who did exist to come back to life. And yet the same God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ makes all these things through his Word and governs what he created.

The first miracles were performed through his Word, God with him; the later miracles were worked through the same Word, now incarnate and made man for our sakes. Just as we marvel at the things done through the man Jesus, let us marvel at the things done through the God Jesus. Through the God Jesus were made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all the embellishments of the heavens, the opulence of the earth, the fecundity of the sea. All these things which are there before our eyes were made through Jesus as God. We see these things and, if his Spirit is within us, they so delight us that the craftsman is praised, not turning our attention to the works and away from the craftsman, nor turning our faces to the things he made and our backs to the one who made them.

When we see such stupendous things done through the God Jesus, why should we be amazed at water turned into wine through the man Jesus? He was not, after all, made man in such a way as to lose his being God; being man was added to him, being God was not lost. So the same person who did all those other things did this. So let us not be amazed at him, because he did it as God; but let us love him because he did it among us and did it for the sake of our restoration. You see, he was suggesting something to us in the things that were done. It was not without significance, I think, that he came to the wedding. Quite apart from the miracle, some mystery, some sacrament is hidden in the deed. Let us knock so that he may open, and make us drunk on invisible wine; because we too ourselves were also water, and he has made us into wine, he has made us wise, given us the flavor and taste of wisdom; for we who were previously insipid and flavorless with folly are now wise with the flavor of faith in him. And no doubt it belongs to this same wisdom, one with honor of God, and the praise of his greatness, and the love of his most powerful mercy, that we should understand what was accomplished in this miracle.

The Lord, an invited guest, came to the wedding. What is surprising if the one who came into this world for a wedding went to that house for a wedding? If, in fact, he had not come for a wedding, he would not have a spouse here. And what is the meaning of what the apostle says: I joined you to one man, to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ? Why does he fear that the virginity of Christ’s bride may be corrupted through the devil’s cunning? I fear, he says, that just as the serpent seduced Eve by his cunning, so too your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity and chastity which is in Christ (2 Cor 11:2-3). So the Lord has a bride here whom he redeemed with his blood, and to whom he gave the pledge of the Holy Spirit.

He snatched her from bondage to the devil, he died for her transgressions, he rose again for her justification. Who would ever offer his bride such gifts? Let men offer any kind of earthly ornaments: gold, silver, precious stones, horses, slaves, farms, estates; will anyone ever offer his own blood? I mean, if he gives his blood for his bride, there will be no one there to take her home as his wife. The Lord, however, died with no worry on that score, and he gave his blood for the bride he would have as a wife when he rose again, to whom he had, in fact, already united himself in the Virgin’s womb. The Word, you see, is the bridegroom, and the bride is human flesh; and each is the only Son of God, who is at the same time the Son of Man. When he became the head of the Church, that womb of the Virgin Mary was his bridal chamber, from which he came forth like a bridegroom from his chamber, as scripture had foretold: And he, like a bridegroom coming forth from his chamber, exulted like a giant to run along the way (Ps 18:6). He came forth from the chamber like a bridegroom, and, an invited guest, he came to the wedding.