Wedding Feast of Cana, Jesus’ First Miracle

Jesus, Mary, and the disciples – the Church – were invited to the wedding held at Cana. We have no idea who was getting married, and it does not matter. The Holy Spirit, speaking through John the evangelist, is making the point that the meaning of this episode is not about a specific wedding with a specific bride and groom. Had we been told that this marriage was between someone named Jacob and Sarah we might think of this as a specific event that had meaning for that couple. We might wonder just who Jacob and Sarah were and how Jesus, Mary, and the disciples fit into their lives. With regard to the miracle, we would be tempted to think that Jesus had merely done a favor for Jacob and Sarah, sparing them the embarrassment of running out of wine at their wedding feast.

It also might seem to us that this first miracle performed by Jesus was just that, His first miracle amongst thousands of other miracles. Compared to curing a leper, restoring sight to the blind, driving out demons, or raising someone from the dead, changing water into wine seems almost trivial. It is not the magnitude of the miracle or the couple that makes the wedding feast at Cana significant. One point of significance is that Jesus, Mary, and the disciples were invited to the wedding. Where would that couple be if Mary was not there to intercede on their behalf? Where would they be if Jesus had not been there?

Many people today do not bother to invite Jesus to their weddings and they exclude the modern-day disciples – the Church – as well. They will get married by a civil authority of some sort. They will get married at the beach, in a garden, in a historic house, in someone’s backyard, at the Elvis Chapel, or have a fairytale wedding at Disney World. God and His Church are left out of the equation. Others will get married in a church just to follow the rules or to make their parents happy. Jesus, Mary, and the disciples might be invited to the wedding, reluctantly, but they might not be invited into the marriage itself. Jesus and Mary might make cameo appearances but not much more.

Some couples not only invite Jesus, Mary, and the disciples to their wedding but also into their marriages. These would be couples that have saved themselves for marriage, that have not fallen for the false promises of our contracepting culture, and who make a point to pray individually, as a couple, and as a family. If we consider the rare case today of the couple that saves themselves for marriage, we would find something that would confound modern society. Those who wait until marriage have a divorce rate that is less than 5%. Compared to those who do not save themselves and to those who live in sin prior to marriage, this is a shockingly low divorce rate. Those who do not wait until marriage, if they bother to marry at all, have a 41% divorce rate and those who cohabitate have a 75% divorce rate.

Likewise, those who contracept or rely on sterilization to avoid pregnancy have a divorce rate today of just over 50%. Those who do not use contraceptives have a divorce rate again of less than 5%. With regard to prayer, praying regularly as a couple reduces the likelihood of divorce by about 35%. No reliable statistics exist on the effect of personal prayer and prayer as a family on the divorce rate, but it is very likely to reduce the probability of divorce even further. Sadly, divorce has increased by 100% over the last 50 years and by 400% over the last century. None of this should be surprising given that we have seen increasing fornication, increasing cohabitation, increasing contraception, decreasing prayer both publicly and privately, and dwindling church attendance especially since the 1960s.

The more Jesus, Mary, and the Church are excluded from the lives of husbands and wives, the more suffering we will experience as individuals and as a society. The good news is that it is not too late to invite Jesus, Mary, and the Church into any marriage. It is not too late for any couple to heed Mary’s very wise advice: Do whatever Jesus tells you.

This is true not only for marriages but also for every aspect of our lives. If we do whatever Jesus would have us do and refrain from all that He would have us avoid, we would be much better off. Inviting Jesus, Mary, and the Church into our lives will not eliminate every problem we have, but it will certainly help us cope with the crosses we all face. Without the divine assistance of Jesus, without the intercession of Mary, and without the sacramental support that comes through the Church we all face an embarrassment greater than running out of wine: the embarrassment of failing to become saints.

—Fr Booth