If you have ever been told that Christians are serious people who don’t party, then read this week’s Gospel text again. Not only did Jesus go to a party, but he also turned water into wine – we can assume that he and his disciples drank some of the wine too!
A wedding feast in Jesus’ time was a big deal. It was not only for the invited guests but for the whole village, the people of the entire region – something unfamiliar to us, something foreign to us. Therefore, what these people faced was a real embarrassment. The wine was the joy of the feast, and people had come from far and wide to this feast. If there was no good wine, the feast simply wasn’t good. There is a Rabbinical saying that says,
“There is no joy without wine since wine gladdens the heart of humanity” (BT Pessahim). Jesus knows that ultimately he came to bring joy to humanity. The wine is a metaphor for the joy that he offers. Hence, he steps in and changes water into wine.
Perhaps more than ever, we desire a deep and lasting joy in our own time. So many people spend their lives looking for some sense of joy. Often, we may feel that there is not much to be joyful about around us. We seek satisfaction, a joy that many of the things we buy or try out simply don’t give us. The things we grasp at, thinking they will provide us with the joy we desire, never seem to deliver. After a short while, we are left desiring
something deeper again.
We may then do one of four things: blame things or people, blame ourselves or even blame the universe. Then there is a fourth thing we can do: look at how we may be separated from God and how that separation results in the loss of a deep soul joy. If I cannot find the joy I seek, perhaps this says something about where I am seeking joy. If there is a joy shortage, it may be because we have forgotten that it is not us or others or things that
ultimately give us the joy we desire; it can only come from the Lord. Jesus transforms what has been watered down in us into a rich wine, into a real soul joy.
Do you feel restless in your quest for absolute soul joy? Are you looking for joy in events, people or material things? Might you have moved away from God, who ultimately is the only one who can offer you the joy you seek?
