Msgr. Beaulieu – Three Epiphany Events

The Magi – Wedding Feast at Cana – Baptism of Jesus

In the earliest days of the Church, Epiphany incorporated many of the elements of the life of Jesus that were subsequently divided into various liturgical feasts. With that in mind, the baptism of Jesus and the wedding feast at Cana were originally incorporated into Epiphany. This historical insight is better preserved in the Liturgy of the Hours than in the festal Mass. In the antiphon for the Canticle of Mary for Epiphany, you would read, “Three mysteries mark this holy day: today the star leads the Magi to the infant Christ; today water is changed into wine for the wedding feast; today Christ wills to be baptized by John in the river Jordan to bring us salvation.”

Unlike the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke), John’s Gospel never mentions Jesus’ baptism. Rather, the emphasis is entirely on John pointing out that Jesus is the Lamb of God. There is no voice of God declaring, as Saint Luke’s Gospel does, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” Yet, that heavenly revelation, spoken by God the Father during Jesus’ baptism, signified the Father’s approval and declaration of Jesus as His Son that essentially meant that Jesus is deeply loved and favored by God.

In addition, the Spirit descends on Jesus in the form of a dove. The Baptist prophesied that Jesus would baptize with the Spirit and fire (Mt 3:11 & Lk 3:16). The Fathers of the Church saw this descent as signifying the real anointing and designation of Jesus and the undertaking of His messianic office, just prior to the beginning of His public activity. Yet, in addition, by undergoing the baptism of John, Jesus identifies Himself with the guilty human race and also imparts upon water the power to forgive sins.

John 2:1-11—The Wedding at Cana

In regard to the two accounts of creation (Gen 1:1-2-4; Gen 2:4b-9, 15-25), though different, both of them still must be read as one. Adam, created on the sixth day, falls into a deep sleep, Eve was created from “one of his ribs” (Gen 2:21-22a). Thus, Adam’s waking up would take place on the morning of the 7th day. On that day, you would have had the wedding of the first Adam and Eve, the first human pair in the creation passage.

In the prologue to Saint John’s Gospel, the first words are “In the beginning”, followed by enunciating that “all things came to be through him.” It is noteworthy that Genesis mentions that “light and darkness were created on the first day,” whereas the Johannine prologue declares “the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it.” All those references, found in the prologue to the Gospel of John, use language taken from the creation account in Genesis. The whole point of that is to indicate that Jesus is the new creation. By coming to believe in Jesus, such an act of believing is akin to being made anew or being remade all over again.

This notion John the Evangelist purses elsewhere in the Fourth Gospel. For example, in chapter nine, where a man who is born blind dwelling in darkness, plunges himself into water at the pool of Siloam. Then, he comes up out of the water able to see. Earlier Jesus had said, “While I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (Jn 9:5). This man blind from birth saw the Light, and illumination is a type of Baptism.

In turn, Baptism is a type of the new creation, because how was the world made? It began with the Spirit moving over the waters (Gen 1:2) and then the dry land was brought up out of the water (Gen 1:9). So when we are plunged into the baptismal font and brought back up — immersing from those life-giving waters—every newly-baptized child or adult is brought up out of the waters almost like the dry land being created for the first time. Those washed clean, then, are considered a new creation. There is the reason why Saint Paul wrote, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (2 Cor 5:17). It refers to the seven days of the new creation. Then, on the 7th day of the first creation, Adam the new man and Eve the new woman come forward.

Now, not coincidentally, on the 7th day of the new creation in the Gospel of John, there is a wedding in Cana. The only identified personalities in that symbolic account are Jesus and Mary His mother. They are the only named persons. Cana is not the marriage of Jesus, nor is it the marriage of the blessed Mother. Nevertheless, the miracle takes place in a marriage context. To the front of this context, in the forefront of this marriage, you have Jesus who is doing something that is the prerogative of the bridegroom. What  Jesus did in this passage is really the right or the duty required of the bridegroom. What is that duty? It is to provide the wine. Yet, the bridegroom at this wedding, who remains unnamed and in the background, is not so effective at fulfilling those nuptial duties. Anyway, Jesus takes on the prerogative of the bridegroom and provides the wine.

So, in linking the Wedding at Cana with Epiphany, this third of those combined mysteries reveal Jesus as the new Adam and Mary as the new Eve and mother of all the living. Savior and Mother come to the forefront and Mary is a type of the bride, the Church. Christ here IS the bridegroom. In this setting, Jesus is depicted as attending the eschatological wedding banquet. This is the final wedding banquet of the last days, whether understood individually or in terms of the Parousia. In either instance, you find yourself face to face with God, because Jesus is God Himself. When we look upon Christ, though, we also see God the Father. So Cana embodies the marriage feast of the last times and it is why there is that subtle nuptial imagery that begins the Gospel of John. The end-time emphasis is manifested at the wedding at Cana, where Jesus and Mary come forward as the epitome of the new Adam and the new Eve, the new bridegroom and new type of the bride.

The last thing John the Baptist says about Jesus in the Fourth Gospel is this, “The one who has the bride is the bridegroom; the friend of the bridegroom (Heb. shoshben), who stands and listens to him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made complete. He must increase, I must decrease” (Jn 3:29-30). John the Baptist goes to great lengths in the Gospels to tell us who he is not. He says he is not the Messiah, Elijah or the prophet. Other than calling himself “the voice crying out in the desert,” John identifies himself uniquely in the Gospel that bears his name as the shoshben, the Semitic word meaning “friend of the bridegroom.” Shoshben was responsible for the wedding feast, going door to door inviting guests to the wedding, and even responsible for securing the gifts the couple will need. Yet, the greatest gift of the shoshben is joy!

Partially excerpted from http://www.catholicproductions.com. John Bergsma. “The Wedding at Cana, Creation, and Baptism.” 25 July 2019.