1/19/25: Nevertheless, she persisted.....

Let me start with some historical context that you may or may not already know. This wedding feast at Cana  would have been a communal event with a large guest list—pretty much everyone in the community. It was a huge feast, lasting several days—even up to a week, and wine was an important hospitality element. To run out of wine before the end of the event was a disaster for the hosts. And, it meant that those who arrived later in the feast—whether they were traveling or working or ill—arriving later would have meant that there would be no wine for them. The hospitality would have run out. And the latecomers and the last would be denied.

This story of the wedding at Cana can have many meanings. But most of my life I have heard this story referred to as “Jesus’s first miracle.” The first of seven signs in the Gospel of John.  And it is certainly the first sign in the Gospel of John, but this wasn’t Jesus’ miracle. Or, at least, not simply Jesus’ miracle.

Just like the entire Incarnation—Love becoming flesh; God showing up as human in the world—this miraculous story begins with Mary. She is the one who looks up and out and takes note of the impending disaster for those who would have been her neighbors, and most likely, close friends. She knows how this one thing could affect the entire community, and in particular, the hosts themselves, and the last to arrive. 

Mary not only notices, she goes to the one who can make a difference. She nudges the divine and says: “Houston, we have a problem.”  And then Jesus tells her: ”not now.” He doesn’t call her Mother or Amma; Jesus says to her: Gunai, Woman, what is this to you or to me? But Mary, Woman, she knows that this impending social disaster is not only about the family hosting the feast, or the couple getting married. This is a communal event; it will create cracks and crevices within the community. Mary knows it is her business AND the business of the Christ. Surely, this is Mary’s miracle too.

And then, ignoring her son’s reluctance, his short-sightedness, if you will (can we say that about Jesus?), Mary turns to the servants and tells them to do whatever Jesus says to do. This action not only empowers the servants, but it sets Jesus into motion as well.  Without these servants—-listening to Mary, the Woman—without them, there is no wine. Surely, this is the servant’s miracle too.

There are a couple of takeaways here that I never heard growing up even though  I have heard this Gospel preached and taught MANY times.

1. This is a miracle that comes about because of several actors: the servants, Jesus, and Mary. It isn’t a fiat that happens because Jesus snaps his fingers and does it; it happens because the Woman saw the disaster unfolding, she went to the ones who could do something about it. Those ones then acted. Everyone involved had a part to play, as we hear in 1 Corinthians 12:7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. Our gifts are not given to us so that only we, or those who are ours, will profit from them. Our gifts are given to us for the common good. Mary knows this. She understood this. This woman persisted. Nevertheless.
   
2. And let’s give the servants their due. So often we take for granted so many things that are provided for us, at feasts and every day at the grocery store, and we fail to recognize and give credit to the laborers. The laborers that carry the weight of the world’s economy, and our capitalism, on their backs. In today’s Gospel, whether these stewards were hired for the day or they were the family’s regular servants, these stewards acted on behalf of the Common Good, the societal good. They too would have known the issue of the hosts running out of wine before the feast was over; they took action when called to do so; action that benefited the whole.
   
3. Today the Word, the Good News is clearly saying that the feminine gift of seeing and seeking the Common Good is vital. For every community. Notice I didn’t say a “woman’s” gift, but the feminine gift. Because all of us have this feminine gift within us. We all have feminine gifts and masculine gifts and non-binary gifts within us. Some gifts we diminish; some gifts we enhance. Beloved, let us all strive to enhance this feminine gift of seeing and seeking the Common Good within us. God’s reign requires it. 
   
4. And last, but certainly not least, the Word lifts up today—as it does throughout Scripture—the importance and power of women’s intuition. And yes, I did say Women and not feminine. Because perhaps this is why the Christ calls his mother “Woman” (not only here but at the foot of the cross). Perhaps, with this one Name, the Divine is pointing out the power and importance of the Woman and how without her there is no incarnation, the Common Good suffers, there is no proclamation of resurrection. 
   

Women’s intuition throughout history has too often been degraded, demeaned and devalued. This is one of the reasons we are in the state of brokenness that we are in today as humanity. When we devalue the traits and gifts of an entire 50% of humanity—-everyone loses; everyone is weakened; we all pay the cost. It is a communal disaster. 

As we hear from the prophet Isaiah today, God says: “I will not stay silent; I will not rest…until vindication shines out like the dawn, and salvation like a burning torch.”  Mary enacts that promise in today’s story. As God’s agent, she will not stay silent; she will not rest when she sees impending disaster. She speaks up; she acts; she calls upon the gifts of many to make the miracle happen.

Now, there may be some among us, and there are certainly some in wider theological circles, who are going to think, and perhaps say, that I am putting too much emphasis on this “Woman” thing. That maybe there’s a little something there, but I am going overboard, missing the point. Beloved, perhaps what has happened is that the Institution and the univocal translations and interpretations of this Miracle story have missed the point and they are the ones who have emphasized this Truth too little. Like Mary Magdalene and the women at the resurrection, and like every woman who tries to tell her account of the harassment and/or abuse she has received, Woman’s intuition, and the feminine gift of seeing and seeking the Common Good, have been silenced, seen as a nicety but not a necessity, and not believed. Too often she has been told she only has an idle tale; nothing of importance. 

And yet, for the good of the community, the water was turned into wine. Nevertheless, she persisted. 

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