On the Back Porch
Reading, pondering and studying God’s Word is sometimes best done “on the back porch.” Each week we will try to offer something for you and your “back porch time.”
2nd Sunday, Year C | The Wedding Feast at Cana
What We Celebrate
This is the first Sunday in the New Year, outside of the Church’s Christmas Season. In Liturgical Year C the gospels normally come from Luke, but the first gospel of “Ordinary Time” is taken from the Gospel of John, Chapter 2, The Wedding Feast at Cana. It is a familiar story and if you do a tour of Israel, you will no doubt stop at Cana and have the opportunity to renew your marriage vows… or propose! But there is so much more to the reading. Notice that it is not the “Wedding at Cana” but the “Wedding Feast.” Even in modern western life, there is the wedding ceremony and then there is the feast, the reception, following the ceremony. When reading this passage, think of “reception” rather than ceremony.
Even more, the sacred author, John, has packed the telling of the feast with layers and layers of meaning, symbols, and “signs.” John never uses the word “miracle” and that is believed because John uses this and six other “signs” to point to something greater – the final sign, Resurrection. There is a lot to unpack in these 11 verses, so grab your favorite beverage and take some time on the back porch.
Full Text of the Sunday Readings
Detailed Commentary on the Gospel
The Marriage Feast at Cana | Bartolomé Estebán Murillo, 1672 | The Barber Institute of Fine Art | PD-US | Photograph by DeFacto – Wiki Commons | CC-SA-4.0
The video below addresses a question that commonly arises in connection with the “Wedding Feast at Cana.” What did Jesus know or not know about the shortage of wine and “what’s up” with Jesus’ response to his mother? The answer is very much out of the tradition of St. Thomas Aquinas.