Clergy Notes — January 19, 2025
Today we hear about Jesus’ first miracle. At a wedding reception in Cana of Galilee, he saved the host from social disgrace by changing water into wine. John tells us that there were six stone water jars at the gathering, needed for the elaborate rites of purification. Some years ago when I was preaching on this Gospel, I thought that it might be interesting to work out, as near as possible, just how much wine was created. We are told that each jar held “between twenty and thirty gallons” of water. So let’s take the midpoint of twenty five. This is the equivalent of almost 570 litres, which makes 760 of our standard 750ml bottles!! That is a great deal of wine, especially when you consider that the guests were already fairly drunk, having consumed all of the host’s initial supply. And we further learn that it was extremely good wine. The kind that is behind locked doors at the liquor store, not on special offer at the check out.
For me this is another example of God’s amazing, outrageous, over-the-top generosity. It goes alongside Jesus feeding a great crowd from the contents of a small boy’s lunch box. Five thousand men, plus the women and children, were given so much to eat that they were almost throwing up (the Greek word is quite vulgar) and there were many baskets full of leftovers. On another occasion, a group of frustrated fishermen are told by Jesus to try once again. Trusting his advice, they catch so many fish that their nests begin to tear and when they haul them aboard the boats, the vessels look like they are about to sink.
God is never cheap or parsimonious. With Him there is a promise of “full measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over” .
Fr. Neil G.