At some point in your life, Jesus is going to rub you the wrong way. It might be something that he says or does, or something that he doesn’t say or do. Whatever it is, it just won’t sit right.
That something in the Gospel rubs against you isn’t as much of a problem as what you do with it. In fact, that difficulty can be a sign of a good struggle, of life. We’re earthly creatures, not heavenly ones; and it’s because we’re not angels that we don’t always understand as we’d like to. Difficulties with what Jesus says and does will come. But it is the response, the action we eventually take which matters much.
There are a number of possible reactions. You can ignore the difficulty, and have an awkward silence between you and Jesus whenever he brings it up. You could get angry about it. There are lots of ways to be angry, from disappointment and cynicism to outright violence. But any anger is truly directed towards ourselves, as a kind of frustration at the situation. Or you could leave, and cancel Jesus from our life. Plenty of people have done that, many of whom have never met Jesus or been convinced of his love for them, and instead confused him for his churches. But with any of these responses, the difficulty continues. Jesus has spoken; what is your reaction? It will stay with you like a knot getting tighter and tighter, that is, until you start to unpick it.

The servants at the wedding in Cana are asked to do something rather demanding too. There’s no wine, but they’re asked to fill huge jars with water. What has water to do with wine? It doesn’t follow. You’d think they’d be better off going to the next town, seeing as all of Cana is probably at the wedding, and beg and borrow what they can. But they do what Jesus says, strange as it may seem.
But those servants are the true disciples of Jesus because they do what Jesus says. The ones whom we’d call disciples just have to observe for now. Before the teaching begins, before the hard sayings are dropped, Jesus makes his disciples watch him. Jesus has been revealing his true identity to more and more people: first to Joseph at his birth, then to shepherds and the wise men, and then to John the Baptist, and now to his disciples in public. And so it will go on and on until the cross, when all is revealed. For now, Jesus reveals his glory to his disciples but makes good use of those faithful servants.
Our reaction to Jesus’ sayings and doings has to be like that of those servants. What he wants may not make much sense to us. But his words are not arbitrary or cruel. All things were made through him; so it is through him that we come to have life, precisely through doing what he asks us to do. Those servants show us that there’s something in the nature of discipleship which is about service, not merely the following, the trailing behind. Jesus is Lord and must be served.
And because he must be served, we have to find a way to serve even through the difficulties. We must stay with Jesus, because we’re in a covenant with him. This is a marriage. It’s possible to leave but unthinkable in reality. There’s no life apart from Jesus. So, what shall we do?
We should ask Jesus to change us. He changed water into wine; he can certainly change a hard or broken heart into a whole and happy one. So, take the difficulty to Jesus in prayer and ask to be changed. We can do that also for our loved ones who are far away. Ask the Lord to make the change by the power of the Holy Spirit, which unites the Church through his gifts. And because he is in this with us not only as Lord but also as loving Spouse, he will help.
We should also look to the Blessed Virgin, and ask her to show us the way. Her instruction transformed those servants into disciples: “Do whatever he tells you.” And so it is with us who are called to serve Jesus. At Cana, the Blessed Virgin stands proxy for the whole Church as mother. The Church’s listening to her wisdom about her Son will help too.
The Lord is offering us the way into life. Difficult as it may seem to us on this point or that, it is the only way through death. May the Lord ready us for his service by healing, wisdom, and peaceableness, so that we may finally enter into the eternal wedding banquet of heaven.
Fr Paul Rowse, OP
Parish Priest