Reflection on John 2: 1-11
by John
G. Gibbs, PhD
For once the lectionary for the day lists four texts, all of
which have something in common. All 4 are visionary texts, loaded
with symbols for fragile souls, freighted with more meaning
than meets the eye. Each of the 4 pictures makes its own emphasis:
here our vision of God, there God's view of us, here the Church's
vision of Jesus glorified, there our vision of "the common good."
In every case it's theological imagination at work as if our
very lives depend on it.
The Gospel's product of theological imagination for today is
the Church's vision of Jesus glorified, as portrayed by the
Fourth Gospel. Let's be careful to notice that it's not the
fourth history, nor the fourth biography, but the Fourth Gospel.
A gospel is visionary by definition, especially when it has
in it a Book of Signs as this one does, for a gospel claims
to tell us "God's spiel" or good news.
Let's recall that no gospel was written during Jesus' lifetime.
Each gospel has the advantage of hindsight, so that a theological
perspective has had time to develop and guide the author. That
is far better for us than if there had been a camcorder there
to record every word Jesus spoke, and every deed. Each gospel
looks backward to Christian origins through the lens of Jesus'
resurrection, so that Easter light bathes everything in each
gospel from beginning to end. Each gospel also looks forward
to its audience, and projects that same resurrection-light out
over them.
Now let us imaginatively join first-century hearers of this
gospel who, like us, had been prepared by worship before they
heard "the sign" about water being turned into wine. Further,
they knew about Jesus' resurrection "on the third day," and
they had been to Eucharist where wine has special meaning.
John's story about a "sign" opens with the words "On the third
day there was a marriage at Cana in Galilee ..." Immediately
our memory bank recalls that "he was raised on the third day,"
and we suspect that this story has to do somehow with Jesus'
resurrection. The story then relates the changing of water into
wine, and we recall the wine that is used at the Lord's Table.
Another clue is 6 jars (not 7, the perfect number, which will
be the number of "signs" in this gospel). Only 6 jars, the number
for imperfection, held the water that would be used "for the
Jewish rites of purification."
This change from water to wine, then, is really about Jesus'
identity as the One who initiated the transition from Judaism
to Christianity. As the story concludes: "Jesus did this, the
first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory;
and his disciples believed in him." In other words: "The story
... is not to be taken at its face value. Its true meaning lies
deeper." (C.H. Dodd, The Interpretation of the Fourth Gospel,
p.297) It "signifies" more than appears on its surface.
Those who have ears to hear
recall words in this gospel's prologue: "And the Word became
flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory ..." That
"glory," the resurrection "on the third day," and the wine at
Eucharist -- these 3 symbols change everything in this story.
We can no longer read or hear the story about the wedding at
Cana in the same old way, for we have begun to hear it afresh
as its first hearers surely did when they picked up on the story's
"sign" quality. Camcorders cannot capture this vision of Jesus
glorified. Only eyes that envision the gospel's encoded meaning
can "get it."
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