The Gospel reading last Sunday was “the wedding at Cana.” A powerful story about Jesus’ miraculous transformation of water into wine at a wedding feast. You can read the whole thing in John 2:1-11.
The icon associated with this story has had a special place in my heart. I bought this icon for my wife just after we got engaged. It has had a place on honor in our home everywhere we’ve lived. I see it every day. The version I have on my wall is a little bit different then the one above. This icon has many forms, but in most of them you will find the same themes and elements at play. The major themes in this icon are the role of Mary, the role of Christ Jesus, and it also serves as a theological exposition on marriage itself.
First lets look at the table. The table is set for a feast. There is a great variety of food available: eggs, fruit, bread, and other versions will have an even greater variety. This draws a connection with the abundance of things on the earth and the command in Genesis “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.” The table is central is this icon. This demonstrates that a marriage must be in relationship with God and all the good things that he has given us.
The Bride in this icon is crowned indicating her as the bride as is a custom in many places, but it also draws a parallel to the old man we see at the bottom of the icon of Pentecost which represents the cosmos. The eastern church connects the bride with Sophia, or wisdom, the first and most beautiful of all God’s creation. In some versions of this icon the Groom lacks a crown. This is to emphasis that Jesus Christ is the Bridegroom uniting himself to Creation. This bride at the table has many good things, just as all creation is good, but lacks one thing. She lacks wine. Wine is a symbol of life. Jesus supplies life to creation Just as he supplied wine to this wedding. Marriage in itself is one of the most powerful means we have to experiencing the bursting forth of new life in God’s creation.
We find Mary standing apart from the wedding although she is a guest. She is clothed in blue representing human life, but wrapped in the red that represents the divine life. She presents the need of the couple to Jesus. We can see the couple in this looking toward her. In every Marriage the couple should look for the life of God to help them love one another, however a couple does not receive that life in seclusion but within the context of community and the intercession of fellow believers. Mary is seem as a symbol of the Church. As she is central to the story of the wedding, so too the Church should be central to the Christian life.
Marriage points back at the cross because it involves two people giving of themselves to one another. It also points forward to the wedding supper of the Lamb when the eschatoloical work of the cross is fulfilled. Today as we live out lives together may we be like the servents who heard the words of Mary, “do whatever he tells you,” and obey.
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