The Institution of Matrimony at Cana
Gospel Reflection for January 19, 2025 - John 2:1-11
And the third day, there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee: and the mother of Jesus was there.
And Jesus also was invited, and his disciples, to the marriage.
And the wine failing, the mother of Jesus saith to him: They have no wine.
And Jesus saith to her: Woman, what is that to me and to thee? my hour is not yet come.
His mother saith to the waiters: Whatsoever he shall say to you, do ye.
Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three measures apiece.
Jesus saith to them: Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim.
And Jesus saith to them: Draw out now, and carry to the chief steward of the feast. And they carried it.
And when the chief steward had tasted the water made wine, and knew not whence it was, but the waiters knew who had drawn the water; the chief steward calleth the bridegroom,
And saith to him: Every man at first setteth forth good wine, and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse. But thou hast kept the good wine until now.
This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee; and manifested his glory, and his disciples believed in him. (John 2:1-11 DRA)
While the Orthodox schism was an attack against the papacy, and the Protestant Revolution an attack against the Eucharist and Holy Orders, it could be said that the modern age is an attack against the Sacrament of Matrimony. Through the phases of the Enlightenment, the Industrial Age and our own postmodern time, following in the aftershocks of the Sexual Revolution, marriage has been slowly chipped away until now, little remains of its former meaning and dignity. By denying the sacramental nature of marriage, the Protestant “reformers” laid the foundation, which the secularists of the Enlightenment built upon by denying the universality of human nature and the natural extension of social structures, such as government and the family, from it.
Darwin and Freud further solidified this machine of war against matrimony by battering down its spiritual character as sacrificial and guarded by the virtues of Christian morality, turning it instead into something purely artificial and imposed. Finally, feminism and Marxism made marriage into an enemy of true happiness through the suppression of sexual drives, the enslavement of women to husband and children and the bondage of workers to the demands of the family. Now, few if any people get married with the intention of remaining so until death, being open to new life or raising their children in the Faith; with the alternatives of divorce, contraception, abortion, cohabitation and pornography, marriage is no longer necessary or even desirable.
Some Christians, even before the rise of Protestantism, have also been dismissive of marriage, seeing it as worldly, fleshly and harmful to spiritual progress in sanctity. But, as St. Bede explains, Our Lord unequivocally refutes this view by attending the Wedding at Cana and beginning His public ministry during it:
His condescension in coming to the marriage, and the miracle He wrought there, are, even considering them in the letter only, a strong confirmation of the faith. Therein too are condemned the errors of Tatian, Marcion, and others who detract from the honour of marriage. For if the undefiled bed, and the marriage celebrated with due chastity, partook at all of sin, our Lord would never have come to one. Whereas now, conjugal chastity being good, the continence of widows better, the perfection of the virgin state best, to sanction all these degrees, but distinguish the merit of each, He deigned to be born of the pure womb of the Virgin; was blessed after birth by the prophetic voice of the widow Anna; and now invited in manhood to attend the celebration of a marriage, honours that also by the presence of His goodness. (Catena Aurea)
But for a true Christian, marriage is not only a good natural structure approved by Christ: it is a holy Sacrament, a visible sign of an invisible spiritual Mystery, one which some in Tradition have stated was instituted as a Sacrament of the Church by Christ at this event. Indeed, it could be said that marriage is the central mystery of Scripture and salvation history and the primary motivation of the Incarnation. From all eternity, God desired to be wed to mankind, to unite with us in love forever – His divine will overflowed so effusively with love that He made us with spiritual souls capable of knowing and loving Him and thus sharing in His divine life, becoming one with Him as spouses become one flesh in marriage.
But, throughout history, man has broken this nuptial covenant, beginning with Adam and Eve and on through the generations. Ultimately, only God Himself, taking on human flesh, could reconcile man, making amends for man’s infidelity and the harlotry of his idolatry in sin through the infinite charity of the Cross, just as a husband might perform a work of love, one that costs something to himself as a sign of his contrition, to make up with his wife. We could not do this adequately ourselves, however, so God did it for us.
This is the “scarlet thread” of salvation history, from what Pope St. John Paul II called the “primordial sacrament” and the “sacrament of creation” in the marriage between Adam and Eve unto the “sacrament of redemption” on the Cross, when Christ, pouring Himself out in love for His Bride the Church and for her reconciliation with God, spoke His final words: “It is consummated.” (Jn 19:30) For this reason, marriage between two baptized Christians is more than just a temporary contract of convenience or a means of reaping legal benefits from the government. It is even more than just an expression of enduring affection between two lovers intent on starting a new family together. Christian marriage is, in fact, as St. Paul says, “a great sacrament,” (Eph 5:32) a sign of the mysterious and inexplicable love of God the Bridegroom for His Bride, the Church, those who are united to Him through the Body of Christ. By the interpersonal love between spouses and its personification in the begetting of new life, families image the inner life of the Blessed Trinity and are made ever more into His perfect likeness.
This is the true meaning of the Wedding at Cana:
What marvel, if He went to that house to a marriage, Who came into this world to a marriage. For here He has His spouse whom He redeemed with His own blood, to whom He gave the pledge of the Spirit, and whom He united to Himself in the womb of the Virgin. For the Word is the Bridegroom, and human flesh the bride, and both together arc one Son of God and Son of man. That womb of the Virgin Mary is His chamber, from which he went forth as a bridegroom. (Ps. 19:5) (St. Augustine, Catena Aurea)
The Sacrament of Matrimony is under attack today more than ever before, redefined and mocked by gay “marriage”, violated by adultery and divorce, parodied by transgenderism, emptied of meaning by voluntarily childless marriages or couples merely cohabiting without marriage vows, and rejected by men as a trap and women as a slavery. What is lost by all of this is not merely a useful social structure, a relic of history or an arbitrary moral precept, but an efficacious sign instituted by Christ and intended as the standard vocation for most people by which we are trained in interpersonal, self-sacrificial love, the wedding of eros with agape which beautifies the soul and enables it to be divinized, to become one with God both now and in eternity. This sign is essential for the good of the Church and the common good of society, reminding all people, Christian and non-Christian alike, of their true supernatural end as humans, made in the image and likeness of God and destined for loving union with Him. Without this sign, we become mere animals, objects to be used for the satisfaction of concupiscence and slaves to our bodily drives.
But today, at the Wedding at Cana, Christ shows us what we are truly made for.
For more information on the Sacrament of Matrimony, its role in Pope St. John Paul II’s theology of the body and its power to answer the evils of pornography, promiscuity and perversion rampant today, see my article for Road to Purity which will soon be reposted here at Missio Dei.
So eloquent and yet so devastating to the current status of our modern culture. Thank you Kaleb. I pray that we have "played out" all of the 'alternatives'. I pray that the next generation will recognize the error of their elders and once again strive to achieve, on a sacramental level, the truly esoteric, transcendent and sacred relationship known as matrimony.