A New Creation
Wedding
When the wine failed, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “O Woman, what is that to you or to me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
The cross is Christ’s wedding vows. The holy sacrifice of the mass is the wedding feast of the lamb. And in the wedding at Cana, Christ makes clear that his own wedding hour has not yet come. But the question is raised, when is his wedding hour? The evangelist Saint John creates this riddle at the end of the new creation week that we then continue to see how it will be resolved, the riddle of when Christ’s hour will come while he is hung on a cross, the instrument of death becoming our tree of life. The riddle spurs us into the rest of Saint John’s gospel, and takes primary importance during Christ’s passion week.
As the story progresses, we’re taken to the 12th chapter, after Christ enters Jerusalem in triumph, publicly hailed as the coming Messiah. A great crowd, hearing that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, celebrates,
They took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” And Jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it, as it is written, “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt!”
And while in Jerusalem during his last week, Jesus teaches his disciples about his upcoming Passion,
The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
A few days later, at the last supper, Jesus gives his high priestly prayer, among his last prayers prior to his arrest, letting his apostles and disciples know,
Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him power over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.
Finally, while on the cross, when the hour has come, Christ is able to say with his last words, “It is finished” as he “bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” Those with eyes to see what the Spirit shows, which is this is the moment Christ fulfills his marital vows. Just as in the garden of Eden, Adam went into a deep sleep so that his bride could be fashioned from his side, likewise, our Last Adam in Calvary went into a deep sleep – his descent into death – in order that his own bride could be fashioned from his side. The moment Christ was crucified, with a spear pierced in his side, blood and water flowing from his side, the Church was born. The blood of the lamb was shed, the waters of baptism begin to flow.
The prophet Moses wrote the story of Adam and Eve in Paradise in a way that we would see Christ and the Church at Calvary. Similarly, the way the Evangelist told the story of the wedding at Cana was to get us to look forward to the coming wedding of Christ, his Last Supper and Passion via his cross and crucifixion. At the cross is where Jesus completed his permanent and everlasting vows to his bride during his last day of his earthly life. He is able to say “It is finished” because he completed all that was necessary to inaugurate his New Covenant and bring his bride into eternity. While we are born to live, he was born to die.
For no greater love is there than this,
that a man lay down his life for my friends.
And, while hanging on the cross, just before expiring his last breath and uttering those last words, and giving up his spirit, he once again speaks to our new Eve to let her know her children are expanding. His friends are becoming his family.
When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.
We see the new Eve is his mother and the Church his bride. At his wedding on the cross, his mother goes through the birth pains as the prophecy of Simeon is fulfilled, “and a sword will pierce your soul.”
Hard to believe, but this was the wedding Christ was looking forward to his whole life. Crowned with thorns, stripped naked, proclaimed King of the Jews, hanging dead from the tree of life, his side pierced, blood and water gushing forth from our temple, his body, and his bride fashioned from his side.
This is at last bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh
He shall be called Christ, the one whom my soul loves.
This is at last bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh,
She shall be called the Church, the one whom Christ dies for.
The miracle of the first wedding was simply a foreshadow of the glory of the last wedding.
For the wedding of Cana transformed water into wine so the celebration would continue, the wedding of the Cross transformed his blood into our salvation for all eternity.
The wedding of Cana was the first of his signs, the wedding of the Cross was the last sign of salvation, done in his memory every day across seas and centuries, all over the earth.
The wedding of Cana was where his disciples began to believe, the wedding of the Cross was where we begin to believe as his body, the Church.
The wedding of Cana had a miracle advocated by the Queen of Heaven, the wedding of the Cross proclaimed the king of the Jews, King of kings and Lord of all.
The wedding at Cana capped the end of the first week of John’s gospel – new creation, the wedding at the Cross capped the end of the last week of John’s gospel – the passion of redeemed creation.
The wedding of Cana was only the beginning of his mission, the wedding of the Cross was when the Savior states “It is finished.”
At the wedding of the Cross, we have entered into the New Covenant. The Old is fulfilled, the New has only just begun.