Homily: 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle C
When
I was in high school, I had a small group of friends with whom I spent a lot of
time. We were all “good” kids and never
stepped too far into anything that could get us into serious trouble. Nonetheless, whenever I would leave the house
to meet up with my friends, the last thing that my mother would say to me is,
“Remember, you’re the sensible one.”
What she meant by that is this: She knew that teenagers (especially
teenage boys) could be lured into doing things that could get them in
trouble. In other words, that teenage
boys, when gathered together and unsupervised, could be tempted to do
insensible—that is, irresponsible—things.
Her reminder as I left the house was her way of telling me that I would
be responsible for calling my friends back from doing the insensible (or
irresponsible) thing, should such temptation arise.
Thus,
if one in the group might say something like, “Let’s drive into Chicago and
check out this club that I heard about” (a trip of which our parents surely
wouldn’t approve and which most certainly would cause us to miss our curfew), I
knew that I was expected to be the one to say, “This is not a good idea, we
should check with our parents first”.
That would be the “sensible” thing to do and, because I was “the
sensible one”, I knew that I needed to do it.
I
have to say that I remember being very annoyed by this responsibility that my
mother constantly thrust upon me. I was
a teenage boy and I wanted to take some chances and have some adventures! I didn’t want to be responsible for the
troubles into which others would get themselves, yet my mother would not let me
shirk that responsibility.
In
our Gospel reading today, we heard the familiar story of the wedding at Cana
and we encounter a situation involving a mother and a son, which, perhaps, is
not very different from the one I just described between my mother and
myself. Jesus and his mother Mary are
present at a wedding reception. Given
the way that wedding receptions were celebrated then, Mary would have helped
with the serving. Thus, she noticed that
the wine (which was a basic staple of hospitality at a dinner) was close to
running out. She knew who her son was
and so she turned to him to do something so that this couple (and their
families) wouldn’t be embarrassed because they ran out of wine.
It
was as if she was saying to him, “You have it in you to do something to prevent
this from becoming a troubling situation.
Therefore, you should do something.”
I hear in this the echoes of my mother’s voice: “Remember, you’re the
sensible one”. Jesus’ initial response
was perhaps like mine to my mother: “What does this have to do with us? Why do I need to be responsible for this?” John does not record any response to Jesus
from Mary. Nevertheless, we heard her
instruct the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” This indicates that perhaps Mary trusted in the
fact that, having pointed out the need, Jesus would take action (much like my
own mother trusted that, by reminding me of my responsibility, I would act if
the situation necessitated it).
We
heard that Jesus does take action and resolves the distressing situation. In spite of the fact that he was certain that
the time to manifest his divinity had not yet arrived, Jesus responded to the
call to take responsibility and to bring about good from a potentially
distressing situation. By itself, it is
a good example and a reminder to us all that, when faced with a potentially
distressing situation in which we can act to prevent or relieve the distress,
we should act. Nevertheless, if this is
the only thing that this Gospel passage can teach us—a simple lesson in
morality—then I, for one, am disappointed.
Rest
assured, this Gospel passage is about much more than taking responsibility. In John’s Gospel, more than the other three
gospels, each story has a symbolic meaning that goes deep below the surface. For example, in this story, the wedding
reception is symbolic of the Jewish people before the appearance of the
Messiah. In it, there is a richness to
life (like the rich joy of a wedding reception), but it is limited: as we see
when the wine runs out. When the Messiah
comes, however, a rich joy beyond all imagination and limitation appears. We see this when Jesus not only miraculously produces
more wine for the reception, but a wine of a tremendously higher quality and in
a quantity that far surpasses the guests’ capacity to receive it. Friends, this is the one thing that we should
remember every time that we read this passage in the Gospel: that Jesus, the
Messiah, has come to restore us to friendship with God and, thus, a rich,
abundant life beyond anything that we can imagine.
Nevertheless,
I want to return to the idea of responsibility because I believe that there is
a lesson beyond the simple “moral rule” I described earlier. The Gospel tells us that, when Mary observed
the lack of wine, she turned to Jesus and said, “They have no wine”. Jesus, in response, says to her, “Woman, what
could we do?” In a way, he is asking, “What
does their problem have to do with us?”
The answer, I will argue, is “everything”.
To
see why, we have to look again symbolically at the story and see Mary as the
representative of the Christian in the world and Jesus, who is God come into
the world to restore humanity to its original dignity and glory. Looked at this way, this story is a symbol of
how God and humanity are co-operators in bringing forth this restoration. Therefore, the question, “What could you and
I do?” is thus extended to mean, “What could you and I do to bring forth this
restoration?” The answer, also extended,
is, “Together, we could do everything”.
Okay, maybe this isn’t making sense yet, but let’s look a little closer.
In
God’s plan to restore humanity, he sought the cooperation of Mary. We take it for granted, of course, that Mary
agreed to take part in this plan. This
should not distract us from the fact that she had the capacity to refuse this invitation. God did not force her, nor did he simply
impregnate her without her knowing.
Rather, he prepared her to make the best decision by keeping her free
from Original Sin (and, thus, filling her with grace) and then he invited her cooperation
in his plan to give birth to his Son, who would be the savior for all humanity.
This co-operation between the divine
will and the human will is the model that God continues to follow in order to
manifest himself and to bring forth his kingdom, which is the full restoration
of humanity and the world.
In
this reading, we see this co-operation taking place again. Mary, deeply immersed in the world, turns to
God in human form (Jesus, her son) and makes known to him some need. Note: she interacts with God on a human
level. We call this “prayer”. God responds, but he seems to resist
answering the request. Nonetheless, Mary
acts in faith and instructs the servants to do “whatever he tells you”. Mysteriously, according to his own timing,
God does respond, giving instructions to the servants. When they, too, act faithfully, the
manifestation of God’s action in the world to bring forth his kingdom takes
place. Does this make sense?
Friends,
the Almighty God has willed that we would be co-operators in his plan to bring
forth his kingdom here on earth. Jesus’
first miracle at the wedding reception in Cana is an example of how this
co-operation works. Like my mother
reminded me as a teenager, each of us has a responsibility to be “the sensible
one” when we go out into the world: that is, to take responsibility to plead for
God’s power to manifest itself in the distressing events in our lives and in
the lives of those with whom we are involved, and to invite faithful trust from
those same persons to do “whatever he tells you”, so that, by our co-operation,
God’s kingdom will manifest itself more and more among us.
Friends,
the faithful trust that we need to accomplish this work only comes from our closeness
to Jesus. This is how Mary could act so
faithfully at the wedding reception that day: she knew her son and trusted him
because of her closeness to him. These weeks
of Ordinary Time are a good opportunity to work on that faithful trust by
focusing on prayer and by practicing the faithful trust that is required to do “whatever
he tells you” when we are called to do acts of love and mercy for those closest
to us.
As
we give thanks to God in this Mass that we are already a part of his kingdom
and for inviting us to co-operate with him to make his kingdom manifest, let us
ask for the grace to cooperate more fully.
Mary is our example and our help in this good work. Let us invoke her, too, so that we might
enjoy the fullness of the restored joy that she experiences now in heaven.
Given in Spanish at St. Paul Parish: Marion, IN – January 15th,
2022
Given in Spanish at Our Lady of the Lakes Parish:
Monticello, IN – January 16th, 2022
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