January 16, 2022 (Second Sunday in Ordinary Time)
/by Fr. Xavier Lavagetto, O.P.
[This is the text composed by the homilist prior to delivering the homily.]
Can you see “the eternal within the everyday?” (K. Rahner) Can you read between the lines of everyday goodness and beauty, and catch a glimpse of God’s kingdom? … Now that is really seeing!
Matthew, unlike Mark, Luke, and John, has Jesus cry out: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near”. … Wait, heaven has come near?… Well, you could have fooled me! …Matthew was being super reverent, instead of saying God, he says heaven. But he doesn’t mean some faraway place in some distant future. That notion has infected our imagination. Yet all the Gospels announce the kingdom “has come near.” … Have you seen it?
John’s Gospel expect you to see the eternal in an everyday wedding. It was a very ordinary Jewish wedding, probably in the autumn when “the harvest was in, the vintage over, minds were free and hearts at rest; … when the nights are so delightful and when it is [so] agreeable to sit up late. All relatives were asked, the whole village, all friends and the friends of friends .” (Henri Daniel Rops) were invited. People came from near and far, and there we find Mary, Jesus and his disciples at Cana.
Weddings were times for connecting and rejoicing, not just for a few hours, nor for a day, but for a week of festivity. Laughter and songs, games and dances celebrated the occasion, wine and food and more wine still. In Aramaic, a wedding was called misthitha, literally a carouse, a wild drinking party! … Ancient Jews and very Jewish Jesus were not shy about having a great time!
Our modern marriage ceremonies are rushed and timid. … Ah, but once I was at a four-day wedding in Tuscany, three incredible banquets, and a final brunch with the newlyweds. So much wine! Conversation and leisure knitted people together, laughter and stories came easily. One didn’t merely meet people; one became part of the family.
Such was marriage in ancient Israel! What better symbol for eternity than a marriage, … a block party that does not end! What better symbol for God’s commitment to us, then a marriage? … God marries his people! That’s our first reading: “…you shall be called “My Delight,” and your land “Espoused.” For the LORD delights in you and makes your land his spouse. What better news than it erupted in Jesus at the wedding.
Of course, when food, wine or song ran short, neighbors rushed to fill the gap. Weddings should be untroubled and thus an attentive Mary notices and acts like any Mediterranean mother who delights in seeing people happy. How humane is this Jewish mother; she simply cares. Indeed, “[h]ow humane are the true children of heaven!” … Ordinary moments of caring can be moments of unlooked for grace.
Yet Jesus’ intentionally odd words surprise. Literally, “Woman, what is this to me and to you. My hour has not yet come.” You didn’t call your mother, woman, that recalled the failure of the first mother. Jesus is saying “no, mom.” That hour is set by the Father himself. Jesus passion is doing the Father’s will, not his own, nor even his mother’s! Mary’s words, “Do whatever he tells you” are her words for every disciple. You don’t get around the son by appealing to mom! …. Mary’s caring is a dim reflection of the Father’s greater caring. Love begins in the Father who cares even about the joy a wedding couple. Jesus acts because it is the Father’s delight.
Jesus acts “quietly and unobtrusively, so that even a miracle of God does not disrupt a human celebration.” But those who noticed had to be amazed at extravagance, 120 to 180 gallons of choice wine! … No small gift! ... Split the difference, it is 570 bottles of wine! A joyous feast indeed!
God knows only extravagance. Unobtrusive, yes, lest it coerce us, but always extravagant in creating, forgiving, giving, empowering. In John’s Gospel, this wedding miracle is only an act of power, it is to be read as a sign of his extravagant love and spousal commitment. God’s marriage with humanity begins in Jesus and it is invading the world to inaugurate a rebirth and a renewed creation. … Never forget, God’s project is your joy.
In the joy of a wedding, in spouses’ delight in each other, one glimpses God. As our first reading promised: As a young man marries a virgin, your Builder shall marry you; and as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride so shall your God rejoice in you. (Isa. 62:5) God would marry us; bed us, ravish us, transform us!
Jesus came to be wed, but it will cost him dear. Jesus wanted to drink the wine of human love and loyalty, but we made him drink the gall and vinegar of hate and rejection. … We crucified him. … But despite our no to him, he rejects us not! He pours his blood from his side to wash away our selfishness and sin; he pours his life into our death.
Jesus will not stop loving; he continues to unite our humanity to his divinity in his own flesh. Take, eat, this is my body. Take, drink, this is my blood. He pours out love and life extravagantly just like that wine at Cana.
Fear and self-doubt, distraction and old habits keep us from being inebriated with his love. Yet can glimpse in everyday beauty and goodness, something of the eternal … if we take tie to imbibe! … Practice seeing and choosing the eternal in the everyday. Three points:
God’s kingdom begins in the wedding of divinity to humanity in Jesus. Say yes to faith.
God’s kingdom begins in you now when your yes to God becomes a yes for others. Say yes to love.
God’s kingdom is touched in the ordinary, in acts of compassion and forgiveness, love and community, sacrifice and service. The Kingdom comes into our world through you. Say yes to being the Kingdom.
It all begins by first noticing. How more joyful we would be if we took the time to notice “the eternal within the everyday. The marriages we attend, the dinners we share, the playing with kids, the moments with friends, the help we give, even the funerals we attend can all speak most eloquently of the God who wed you. … if you took the time to notice and pray the moment! Live the wedding!
