Traditional Roman Catholic Thoughts

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding. When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” (And) Jesus said to her, “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servers, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now there were six stone water jars there for Jewish ceremonial washings, each holding twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus told them, “Fill the jars with water.” So they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, “Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter.” So they took it. And when the headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine, without knowing where it came from (although the servers who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves good wine first, and then when people have drunk freely, an inferior one; but you have kept the good wine until now.” Jesus did this as the beginning of his signs in Cana in Galilee and so revealed his glory, and his disciples began to believe in him. After this, he and his mother, (his) brothers, and his disciples went down to Capernaum and stayed there only a few days.

What’s interesting to me is how this passage is more or less proof that Jesus does not condemn drinking. I have heard the argument many times that alcohol is a sin and will send you to Hell if you consume of it. I have to disagree with this statement whole heartily. On the other hand, I would say that drinking to the point of being drunk or smashed or blacking out, would be a mortal sin. Yes, a mortal sin.

Why would it be a mortal sin? Well, first off, when we drink, we are impairing our judgment as well as our senses. The more we have drunk, the worse off we are. Our reaction times increase (it takes longer to react) and we also allow ourselves to do things that we normally wouldn’t do (more mortal sins). What’s even more important to point out, is that if we drink too much, we can kill ourselves.

Now, let’s say you are only having one drink or you are pacing yourself out throughout the course of the day. You can if you are able to control yourself, have multiple drinks over the course of the day and be completely fine. This is perfectly acceptable, as long as you are not getting to the point where you are drunk. Now, what your tolerance and when you cross the threshold of being drunk differ from others, it is up to you to determine when too many is too much.

Going back to the original point, a lot of people have argued with me that Jesus didn’t turn the water into wine because then Jesus would be allowing people to commit sin. I would have to completely disagree with this statement. If Jesus hadn’t turned the water into wine, then Jesus is a liar, because He duped the people. Our Lord is not a manipulator in the fact that He would mislead us. That is dishonest, and our God is an honest God. Dishonesty is a fault and failure of those with sin and God does not have sin.

The other argument is that if Jesus had done this, He would be allowing others to sin. Now, when was the last time that Jesus, the Father or the Holy Spirit stepped in front of you and said “STOP DON’T DO THAT!”? Now, He does speak to us that way in our conscience, but we have the free will to continue on with either fulfilling the act or not. Had Jesus stepped in this way, He would have been violating the free will that all humans have. It is also important to note, that at Jewish weddings, they were multiple day long feasts. Weddings of today are just one night smashes where a lot of people do get drunk, sadly. However, if you are drinking over the course of few days, or even a week, it would make sense that you would run out of wine eventually.

What is even more interesting about Jesus’ first public miracle is that He turned water into wine. Wine that He would later turn into His Most Sacred Blood at the Last Supper. This is such a cool mystery that everything about Jesus’ ministries points to the Holy Eucharist. Contemplate that.