18.1.04 Second Sunday Ordinary Season
First Reading: Isaiah 62, 1-5
Psalm 95
Second Reading: I Corinthians 12, 4-11
Gospel Reading: John 2, 1-12
The words of the prophet Isaiah repeat other words that we heard during the
Christmas festivities when Jesus is shown as God's gift to the poor, sent by
the Father as a light for nations, a King worthy of adoration, a star visible
from afar. He was to show that God's love for the people was like that of a
bridegroom for his bride; he was to be everyone's joy, God's and the people's.
These joyous proclamations prepare us for Jesus' new manifestation, the third
after that of the star to the three kings and of the Father to the people during
the baptism in the river Jordan. It was during a wedding, a day of joy for love!
It was in Canaan, near Nazareth. John describes what happened in a way that
one can sense allusions to deeper and greater realities, just as in every marriage.
The love which is born between a man and a woman and which promises to be eternal,
gives us occasion to reflect on God's love, which is indeed eternal, for His
people and all mankind. Can the people reciprocate as eternally and as joyously?
We can find the answer in Mary's remark to her Son: "They have no wine"!
Wine is a sign and source of joy. The bride and bridegroom have no wine: does
it mean they have no joy? Joy is the fruit of true and disinterested love. So
the couple does not love each other. But what couple does not love each other?
The people, described by the prophets as a bride chosen and loved by God, no
longer serve God, the bridegroom, with love, but serve Him with fear, with force,
careful to observe His commandments as if they were slaves. This is what the
teaching of the Pharisees and the rules of the scribes lead to. There is no
joy in the way the people obey God. No-one is able to give the wine of joy to
this people-bride who are incapable of being faithful because they live as slaves,
who hope they will not be seen in their little escapades searching for surrogate
love.
Jesus knows that true love and therefore true joy is indestructible and comes
from his offering to his Father, from the wine that he will give to his disciples,
from the blood shed on the cross. "My hour has not yet come". Mary
knows that her Son is already joy for us and tells the servants to obey him.
Obeying Jesus brings blessing, well-being and life!
When Jesus finds people around him who are obedient just as he is, he cannot
ignore them. He gives simple instructions to the servants and expects of them
what we might call, blind obedience: to bring water as though it were wine to
taste! The servants do not object, they obey Jesus. The water in the stone jars,
normally used to wash hands and feet, becomes, at the word of Jesus, the most
exquisite wine. If, rather than simply obeying God outwardly, we obey Him by
loving and listening to Jesus, we will have life, love, quiet joy and true satisfaction!
If we obey God, not from fear but for the love of Jesus, then we will be able
to give to everyone happiness in life and amazing love and peace! Jesus' wine
is the good wine that follows the second rate wine. The joy of human love in
the marriage couple is the second rate wine which normally soon comes to an
end. The joy from obeying Jesus is never-ending and makes the life of the couple
a continuous feast.
The joy from obeying Jesus makes of his people, the Church, a bride who is always
ready to sow love, concrete love, love for all occasions, giving various gifts
in the service of all! St Paul in his second letter shows us the Church careful
to serve with gifts, received from that Spirit of God animating her from within!
This Spirit is the wine with which she quenches our thirst, the wine that she
offers all the world that has been invited to her wedding feast.
When we are docile to the Holy Spirit our lives are useful for all the Church,
which, unfortunately, seems divided in various ways because of the sins of men.
The love of Jesus is the docility to the Spirit which unites us, makes us true
brothers and sisters, transmits great joy and that faith which helps us overcome
the problem of division in order to achieve holy unity , the Father's gift which
will once again shine amongst his sons.