Last Week, we celebrated the Baptism of the Lord. The voice of the Father proclaimed Jesus to be his beloved Son, with whom He is well pleased and the Holy Spirit in the bodily form of the dove was seen, revealing Jesus as Christ. What an epiphany—Jesus is revealed as what…as the second person of the holy Trinity, beloved by the Father, anointed by the Spirit for the work of salvation.
Today, we heard in our Gospel another epiphany, a set of epiphanies, really! The Gospel of the wedding feast of Cana contains epiphanies about Jesus, epiphanies about his Blessed Mother, and it even reveals something about us and the response God wants from us all, of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.
Firstly, what does the Gospel reveal about Jesus? At the Wedding at Cana, Jesus is revealed to be the divine bridegroom. And you might say, Jesus wasn’t getting married, how is he the Bridegroom. Well, at a Jewish wedding, it was the responsibility of the bridegroom to provide the wine. We can see this to be true, even in the text, for when the headwaiter tastes the wine, he immediately calls the bridegroom, assuming that he was the one who procured the vintage.
But, in this story, it was Jesus who provided the wine. By taking on the bridegroom’s responsibility to provide the wine, and doing so in a spectacular style, miraculously changing 120-180 gallons of water into the finest vintage, Jesus reveals himself as the Divine Bridegroom, who provides the wine of salvation for his bride, the Church.
This epiphany was hinted at in our first reading. Isiah prophesied about how God himself would take us as his spouse: “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.”
In joining the Church to himself, through his Passion, Death, and Resurrection, Jesus Christ has united himself to humanity as Bridegroom to his Bride in a union of love.
And that Jesus revealed himself as a Bridegroom through a miracle of changing water into wine, is also significant. Wine, drunk at a wedding brings joy to the hearts of those who imbibe in it. So too, those who join the church, are able to rejoice at being united to God through Baptism, and most especially, receiving Holy Communion with God through the Sacrament of the Lord’s Body and Blood, the Eucharist.
What an epiphany! Jesus is the Bridegroom who unites himself to us, through Sacramental bonds, that we may live in joy.
The second epiphany at the wedding at Cana is regarding Jesus’ mother, something that also gladdens our hearts.
You can imagine how embarrassing it would be today if, at a wedding reception, the banquet hall ran out of food or beverage. Even though most people would sympathize with the couple and blame the banquet facility, it would still be embarrassing. Well, in the ancient world, it would be incalculably more so, because the family threw the wedding party. If they ran out of supplies, especially with days to go for the duration of the wedding celebration, it would be an embarrassment that likely would never be forgotten.
Well, who noticed first that the family had run out of wine? Jesus’ mother. Mary noticed the impending catastrophe before anyone else, even the mother of the bride and even the wine steward. Mary’s love made her notice details that others were missing. To remedy the problem, she went to her son. She didn’t twist his arm. She simply said, “they have no wine!” confident that her Son would miraculously intervene even though his “hour” had not yet come.
What’s the epiphany? Mary is involved in the gritty details of our lives, and she is at work before we even know we have a problem. Our Lady is looking down on all of us right now with maternal love, bringing our needs to Christ, even the ones we are not aware of, the needs we might even be ashamed to acknowledge—praying that we may have the strength and patience and humility, to bear our crosses in union with Christ. Mary brings our trials, our heartaches, our challenges, our vices and sins to God, so that we may obtain the wine of grace we need to endure and overcome them.
Mary’s role in the Church reveals something about God too. God has placed Mary in this role of heavenly helper and intercessor. God has chosen her and thereby God wants us to have a relationship with her, trusting Mary, entrusting ourselves to her, bringing our needs to her. God formed the Church as a family with the greatest mother in all existence.
And there is the epiphany about us as well: God has formed us into a family, united us through Jesus in Word and Sacrament, having Mary as mother. And we are joined with each other for a purpose.
In the second reading today, St. Paul reflects on the variety of spiritual gifts…gifts of healing, mighty deeds, prophecy, discernment, varieties of tongues. Gifts given to glorify God and spread the Gospel. All these gifts are given to help us serve God. But notice, St. Paul says that none of us have received all of these gifts. Meaning, we are to work together, using our unique gifts, to serve God. We aren’t meant to do it on our own. Perhaps, this season, you’d do well to consider how God is calling you to work together with a brother or sister in Christ, in service to God—that all people of all places may come to drink the wine of salvation.
While the extraordinary seasons of Advent and Christmas have come to an end, our Ordinary Time scripture readings help us to realize the extraordinary nature of being members of the church, being loved by God, joyfully gifted with a variety of blessings, and spiritual helpers, the blessed Mother, our patron saints, our guardian angels for the work of the Gospel.
When we are faithful to our mission— Epiphanies of Christ’s goodness and power and love are made known in us and through us, in how we treat people, in the people we serve, and forgive, and witness to, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.
No comments:
Post a Comment