A Marriage Feast at Cana

The Epiphany is celebrated in the Liturgy, as the time when Jesus was “manifested”. In the ideal world of the liturgical year, Jesus is born at the end of time, and then at the beginning of a new Year, which is the New Liturgical Year, we celebrate the events when Jesus became known to the world, and became recognized as the Lord of History, in the hearts of his disciples. The readings for the feast of the Epiphany deal with the important events when Jesus becomes known. Three scenes are associated with this idea of Epiphany. There is the coming of the Wise Men from the East, bringing gifts as a recognition that the Messiah has come to announce a new Kingdom of God. Then there is also the Marriage Feast of Cana, when Jesus is asked by his Mother to change water into wine, that is reveal his Divine Ministry through a miracle at a wedding. The theme of the Wedding Feast in the Bible, represents the coming of a New Kingdom. It is an Eschatological feast, that takes place at the “end of time”. So the historical event of a particular wedding that took place in Cana, a particular town in the Holy Land, becomes something that points to a Universal happening. It is about the Marriage Feast that is taking place in our hearts.