From the scene of Jesus’ baptism, we move now to a wedding where Jesus is one of the attendees. Just a regular guest at a common celebration, but when the wine runs low his mother suggests he might be able to help. Jesus responds, “What does this have to do with me?” But she senses the ordinary is about to become extraordinary. The stone jars commonly used for water will become precious vessels of extravagance; the ordinary water will become the finest wine. The proof of being God’s beloved will be revealed in choosing to do acts of love.
Frederick Buechner writes in his book The Hungering Dark about the story of the wedding at Cana, saying: “The love that is affirmed at a wedding is not just a condition of the heart but an act of the will, and the promise that love makes is to will the other’s good even at the expense sometimes of its own good—and that is quite a promise.” The love that is affirmed in Jesus’ baptism, and in ours, becomes an act of the will as we carry it into our daily lives. And as we allow it to carry us. Just as the wedding couple makes an affirmation to seek the good of the other, are we not also called to bow to and bless each other in all kinds of ordinary, miraculous ways?
After the baptism comes the wedding comes a way of life. We are not solitary beings. We say “we will” to each other and to all of God’s creation. We will bless and restore what gets broken; we will share what we have; we will listen and learn, grieve and rejoice together; we will take responsibility for each other. We will keep falling more deeply in love with God’s purposes, marry ourselves to God’s justice and mercy, become yoked to a vision beyond our own. Not because we are sentimental for the idea of marriage but because we desire to live lives that are passionate, committed and brave. Will we walk together from this day forward, seeking the other’s good through whatever comes, finding new ways to love? God willing, we will.
