Sunday the 19th of January 2025 - Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Isaiah 62:1-5/ Ps 96(95)/ 1 Corinthians 12:4-11/ John 2:1-11

Too often Christianity is associated with forbidding things and dour concepts when it should portray joy and freedom. The gospel presents us today with a wedding feast, an occasion full of joy, hopefulness, and celebration. It is the joy of a wedding that should permeate our lives of faith and spread out to the people around us. Throughout scripture the relationship between God and his people is described in the terms of a marriage as a scriptural symbol. In the Old Testament this marriage, this relationship, is constantly strained by the infidelity of the people. Time and time again the people turn away from God as an unfaithful partner might do in a marriage. In the face of this unfaithfulness God always remains steadfastly faithful to the relationship and the promises of redemption. The first reading from Isaiah gives a picture of hope filled expectation with unlimited prospects for the future as when a husband and wife are solemnly united in marriage. It is no surprise that God chose a marriage feast as the first opportunity to manifest his glory through the life and works of Jesus.

Why did God choose this event to reveal the mission of Jesus? There are several points we can take away from the gospel today.

Jesus sanctified marriage by his presence.

We see the powerful intercession of Mary.

The divine nature of Jesus is revealed by his domination over nature.

Water is turned to wine in a vast quantity.

We are called to do what Jesus tells us to do.

By his presence at the marriage in Cana Jesus made the ceremony holy, raising it to the status of a sacrament, indicating how important marriage is. This is why scripture compares marriage with the relationship between Christ and his Church. The heavenly banquet that we all aspire to reach is described in scripture as a marriage feast. The marriage in this context is not the weak legal contract that civil society has reduced marriage to in our times. It is the joining together of a man and woman, by God, so that the two become one. An indissoluble union laying the foundation stone for the building up of community and the creation and education of children.

The miracle at Cana was instigated at the request of Mary. As a mother she knew how to get the best out of her son. She pointed out the situation that the wedding host was in. Running out of wine for the guests would have been a matter of great embarrassment. Jesus suggested to his mother that his time had not yet come, regardless of this Mary told the servants to ‘do whatever he tells you.’ You might say that Mary pressurised Jesus into performing a miracle for the sake of a family celebration and to prevent humiliation, this might be thought of as a frivolous reason for God to act upon. However, as in all the miracles performed by Jesus, they show us his divinity. Mary is the consummate cooperator with God in the fulfilment of his will and she is constantly interceding for all of us.

In the event, and at the instigation of his mother, Jesus turned an enormous amount of water into wine. Not only was it a large quantity but, as the steward pointed out, it was the best of wines. Jesus used the basic substance of water turning it into wine, not just any old plonk but the best of wines. Jesus takes us, basic and plain as we are, and turns us into something so much more substantial. What we are to become are the works of art that God intended us to be in the first place. God will take the ordinary and turn it into the extraordinary.

To show that he was God, Jesus displayed his control over the nature that was created through him. The laws of science are part of creation and are how our universe functions. Jesus has command over these created functions and can overrule them at will. Healing the sick, raising the dead, turning water into wine, multiplying the loaves and fish, are all examples of this.

Having established, through his mastery over creation, that he is God, we can find it easier to recognise Jesus for who he is with the power and authority to forgive sins and give us his body and blood through the bread and wine of the Eucharist. It is by God’s will that we all exist, and we have been given the gift of life with the ability to know right from wrong and to choose to do good or bad things. As the letter to the church in Corinth points out we have been given a variety of gifts, and we should respond with a corresponding variety of service. It is these gifts that make us individuals within a human community in which we should be working for the common good.

As Christians we should be using the individual gifts we have been given to work together, to strengthen our own faith and the faith of others and to bring the message of God’s love and the gift of redemption through Jesus to all around us. The divisions we see in the world and those we can also experience close to home are the causes of war and conflict. It is bad enough that humanity does not always work towards the common good and scandalous that those who call themselves Christian are often unable to live in peace and harmony with each other yet alone with people of different cultures and beliefs. The church should be a shining beacon of unity and diversity in the world.

At every opportunity Mary, Mother of Jesus, Mother of God, petitions her son on our behalf. For our part we must listen to her plea for us to, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ If we respond in a positive manner to everything that God has gifted to us, then we will be doing what God is telling us to do, and he will transform us from common water into the best of wines.

God Bless Brendan