John's account is familiar enough: Jesus and his disciples, along with Mary, Jesus' mother, are invited to a wedding in Cana. The wine gives out-an occurrence which, I once heard someone point out, might not have happened if all those disciples hadn't been there. Mary points out the lack of libations to Jesus. Initially resistant, Jesus relents and calls for the servants to fill six stone jars, used for the Jewish rites of purification, with water. When a sampling of the contents is taken to the chief steward, he is stunned and begins to praise the groom for saving the good wine until now, when many of the guests have become too drunk to notice.

John makes a point of letting us know that this is the first of Jesus' miracles-"the first of his signs" (from the Greek semeion), as some translations put it. It's John's way of calling us to pay particular attention to what's going on here. Jesus' action at the wedding at Cana is not only a wonder in itself; it reveals much about who he is and what he has come to do. Jesus offers here a foretaste, if you will, of the wonders he will yet perform; his gesture is a harbinger of the bent toward plenitude that will mark his ministry.

Join us Sunday as we ponder the first of these signs and wonder together about how it helps us understand more about who Jesus was and is for each of us.