Day 35: Divine Bridegroom

I'm Father Mark Mary with Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, and this is the Rosary in a Year podcast, where through prayer and meditation, the rosary brings us deeper into relationship with Jesus and Mary and becomes a source of grace for the whole world. The Rosary in a Year is brought to you by Ascension.
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The second luminous mystery is the wedding at Cana. John chapter 2 verses 1 through 12.
On the third day, there was a marriage at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus also was invited to the marriage with his disciples.
When the wine failed, the mother of Jesus said to him, They have no wine. And Jesus said to her, O woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come.
His mother said to the servants, Do whatever he tells you. Now six stone jars were standing there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding 20 or 30 gallons.
Jesus said to them, Fill the jars with water. And they filled them up to the brim.
He said to them, Now draw some out and take it to the steward of the feast. So they took it.
When the steward of the feast tasted the water, now become wine, did not know where it came from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. The steward of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, Every man serves the good wine first, and when men have drunk freely, then the poor wine, but you have kept the good wine until now.
This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory, and his disciples believed in him. after this he went down to Capernaum with his mother and his brethren and his disciples, and there they stayed for a few days.
With the second luminous mystery, the wedding at Cana, we're going to be able to do a little bit of a deep dive in two areas, looking at some of the meaning and the significance of the numbers in the gospel passage, and then also the ways in which Jesus is being revealed as the divine bridegroom. Also noteworthy is Mary's words here, do whatever he tells you.
The last words here in John chapter two are also going to be Mary's last words in scripture.

And so let these continue to echo forever in our minds and our hearts.

Do whatever he tells you.

John chapter two, it begins with this, on the third day.

What scripture scholars will point out is that there's a number of different meanings to this.

This is the third day in one sense. It's also the seventh day.
The third day here literally is in reference to it being three days after Jesus' encounter with Nathanael. Three is going to be important, of course, because it is on the third day that Jesus works the first of his signs that came in Galilee and manifested his glory.
And then it's going to be on the third day when Jesus again manifests his glory in his resurrection. But this third day in the gospel of John is also the seventh day of Jesus's public ministry.
What we'll see in the gospel of John is there's this beginning on the first week of the ministry of Jesus. It's kind of like a deep dive into a week.
Then there is a number of chapters which kind of broadly go through the three years of his ministry. And then from John chapter 12, really through 20, there's going to be one week.
You know, John chapter 12 starts with six days before the Passover. And of course, the significance of seven is pointing to first an allusion back to creation and then showing how Jesus is going to be a new creation.
And so how do we get these opening lines to be the seventh day of Jesus's public ministry? John chapter one, verse 29, it says this, the next day. All right, so then we have our first day.
The next day is now day two, right? So there's two days inferred there. John 1.35, the next day, day three.
John 1.43, the next day, that's day four, and then on the third day. So three more days, we have day seven.
And all of this is theologically, it's spiritually significant for the evangelist. There's this really, really profound pointing to Jesus as the new creation.
We're going to see this again as Jesus being this living, if you will, seventh day, this living fulfillment, as six water jars are filled with water and they become wine. These six days of creation, they're going to be fulfilled with the seventh day, with the Sabbath.
These large jars filled with water by the work of man are going to be completed, fulfilled, turned to wine by Jesus. And then one other way in which we see the evangelists using this pattern of seven, very intentionally, is seeing that the miracle at Cana is going to be the first of Jesus's, guess how many signs? Seven signs.
So there's the miracle of Cana, then the healing of the official son in John 4, the healing of the paralytic, John 5, multiplication of lows, John 6, healing of the blind man, John 9, raising of Lazarus, and John 11, that's number six, and the resurrection of Jesus in John 20 is going to be the seventh of his signs. And I realized that these numbers and

their significance doesn't maybe have its same like meaning to us who are listening to this,

but it's very intentional. And what John is very clearly saying, the evangelist is very

clearly saying that in Jesus, what's being manifested here in Jesus is there's this new

wine. There's a new creation.

Jesus is the new temple.

He is doing something new.

He is the Lord of the Sabbath.

He is the one who has come to recreate.

And he is this new and fulfillment of the divine bridegroom.

And this will be our second point of emphasis today,

that all of this is taking place in the context of a wedding feast. In Hosea chapter 2 verse 14, God says, therefore behold, I will lure her and bring her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her.
Another verse later, and there she will answer as in the days of her youth, as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt. And in that day, says the Lord, you will call me my husband.
Isaiah 62, 5. For as a young man marries a virgin, so shall your sons marry you.
And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.

John 3, 29, John refers to himself as the friend of the bridegroom, right?

In response to the question about fasting,

Jesus can say like, do you fast when the bridegroom is here?

Referring to himself as the bridegroom.

Later on, Paul is gonna pick this up.

Like husbands love your wives as Christ loves the church.

Jesus is here as the divine bridegroom.

God has entered into a covenant with the people of Israel. And Jesus comes to establish a new covenant.
And he comes as bridegroom to wed the people of God to himself, to establish a new and a lasting covenant. and this divide bridegroom comes to lay down his life for his bride and to open up like a new relationship of intimacy with him and if we can hear jesus say again these words from the prophet, it's the bridegroom rejoices over the bride.
So your God rejoices over you. So I rejoice over you.
In the first luminous mystery, we see revealed Jesus as the beloved son and the Messiah, the lamb of God, who's going to take upon himself the sins of the world, the fulfillment, this new Paschal Lamb. In the second luminous mystery, we see Jesus coming as the new creator, the one establishing a new covenant as the divine bridegroom.
We have Messiah, we have Son, we have bridegroom in Christ. And so my brothers and sisters, as we pray, let us ask for the grace to recognize in Christ the fulfillment of all of our longings.
And so my brothers and sisters, in any place in our life where we feel like we've ran out of wine, we've ran out of sweetness, we've ran out of strength, we're really struggling with hope, with love, with intimacy, we're feeling lonely, let us come to him, the divine bridegroom who comes to espouse us to himself, the one who can create us anew, who can turn the water of our lives into new wine,

who invites us into a new relationship of intimacy with him,

who is the fulfillment of all our desire.

Let us pray in the name of the Father,

and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.
Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.
Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners Now and at the hour of our death, Amen Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be World without end, Amen In the the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

All right, friends, thanks for joining me and praying with me again today.

I look forward to continuing this journey with you again tomorrow.

All right, poco, poco.