The Gospel of Saint John is the only gospel to include this account of the wedding feast and the changing of water into wine. This wedding celebration by Jewish custom was as ordinary as any wedding celebration to be celebrated and the water which was eventually transformed into wine was as ordinary as any water that could be found. It is Christ who takes this ordinary celebration and transforms it into something greater. It is Christ who takes ordinary water and transforms it into something more.
In this instance not just any wine, but as we were told “Everyone serves good wine first, and then when people have drunk freely, an inferior one; but you have kept the good wine until now.” This verse puts all of this into its proper context. At a wedding celebration the good wine would be served first and as the celebration would go on a lesser wine would begin to be served. This wine was not ordinary, but through Christ it had been transformed into something so much greater.
This whole account reminds us of the transforming effect of Christ upon that which is found to be ordinary. There is nothing special about bread and wine, but through Christ these elements become His Body and Blood. There is nothing special about water, but through Christ it cleanses us from sin in baptism and incorporates us into the life of the Church. So too there is nothing out of the ordinary when it pertains to a couple, but through the sacrament of matrimony they are transformed in coming to love one another faithfully and unconditionally.
We are now in the time between seasons which is known to us as Ordinary Time. Despite this name there is nothing that is truly ordinary here because Christ continues to take that which is ordinary and transforms it into something greater. In ordinary life we encounter the mundane of waking up, going to work, coming home, going to sleep, and all that fills in the gaps. There are the people who we meet, those whose company we enjoy, and those who cause us stress. There are the temptations that tug upon us and seem to hold us captive. The answer to all of this is Christ. How much time do we truly take to invite Him into our life? Are we truly convinced that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life? Can we see that He is the choice wine that we are in search of?
At the wedding feast the choice wine was that ordinary water which was transformed by Christ into wine. It was this wine which was better than any other wine for it was a gift of Christ Himself. Through the sacraments we receive the abundant gift of grace which continues to transform the ordinary and gives us the strength to move forward in this life. Let us do nothing separate from Christ, but come to do all things through Him. May we allow Him to transform all that we do no matter how ordinary into something otherworldly. Christ alone can work this miracle within our life. Let us not be content with the ordinary alone, but desire the choice wine that Christ brings into our life.
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