Second Sunday in Ordinary Time - C January 17, 2010

Isaiah 62: 1-5 1 Corinthians 12: 4-11 John 2: 1-11

I recently read a magazine article which repeated an age-old lament that Catholic do not read or are not familiar with the Bible, especially in comparison to some other Christian groups. I had to think whether or not I tended to continue that particular problem by asking that the hymnals be put aside during the reading from the Scriptures that is part of the Liturgy of the Word at Mass. This is to encourage that we listen to, and not read while we are at Mass, that we should hear what is being proclaimed rather than be distracted which can often happen when we are following the text that is being read. What we are hearing is the word of God, the message of God which is being spoken to us today from the Scriptures.

Now, this puts a responsibility on those of us who read. We are to do so in a way that is a true proclamation of God’s message to all of us. It puts a particular responsibility on me as I attempt to share some thoughts with you about how we might understand this message in a way that applies to the here and now, how all of us can live out the message in our individual worlds in the coming week. It also puts a responsibility on all of us because all of us hear this message. Perhaps the passages are familiar. We have heard them before. Perhaps we have heard them many times. But we have heard them, again, today. But, we are different today than we have been any other day. We are different than we were in the past, than we will be in the future. We have never been this way before and we will never be this way again. The message from God that we hear is for us, as we are right now, right here.

Whether or not we read the Bible as others do, we hear from it regularly, when we come together for Mass. The question is, have we listened to what God is communicating to us. Do we hear what is read to us as God communicating with us now?

What did we hear today? In the Gospel we are told of the familiar story of Jesus changing water into wine. Perhaps we have been tempting to think how wonderful it might be to experience something like this. The fact is, according to what we believe, according to our faith, this is what is happening now, but in a much deeper sense. The water that we are is able to be changed into the very best of wine, because of the presence of Christ with us here and now.

Of the four evangelists, John, and only St. John, includes this story of the wedding feast taking place early in the ministry of Jesus. Like the story of the Baptism of the Lord that we heard last week, he is setting a tone, setting a context for that ministry: what it can mean for those who respond to it. The presence of God in Jesus Christ is revealed to us. What can it do for us?

A meal, a banquet, a feast is a regular image that is used in the Bible to describe God’s presence and God’s action. It tells us that the presence of God is experienced with others, together, in what can be described as a special occasion. This is the way in which we encounter God, and God encounters us - when we are together at a meal, as we are at this Mass, this Eucharist, today.

Like water which is both ordinary an common, we are all here at this event. But God is also with us, in our midst, in the person of Jesus Christ. The reality of God is experienced in the Word of God we hear in Scripture, in the Sacrament of the Eucharist we share, and in one another as the images of God that we have been created to be. A basic fact of our belief, our faith, is that the presence of God that we experience has the power to change us so that we are no longer ordinary water, but extraordinary wine. This is the transforming power, the transforming possibility that is available to us because we are here, We have come together, with our God, to this feast, to this banquet, at this Eucharist, at this Mass.

Why is this so? As we heard the prophet Isaiah say in another context that is applied to us now, God will not be silent, God will not be quiet. We shall be called by a new name, we shall be a glorious crown in the hand of the Lord. We are the delight, we are the spouse of our God. God rejoices in us who are here.

And how are we to be? How can we be this extraordinary wine changed from ordinary water? This we heard from Saint Paul as he wrote to Christians at Corinth. As it applies to them, it also applies to us. We are extraordinary wine because we are here, each with our individual lives, individual abilities. Each of us possess gifts that are unique to us but can affect all of us. Each of us can reflect the goodness of God in a way particular to each but affecting all. Each of us, by joining together with one another by our presence, in our prayer, in our words and, yes, in singing together, are united in communion with Christ, God made man. We become together that extraordinary wine that warms, that enlivens, that softens the rough edges of life, that can lessen what hinders us in being all that it is possible that we can be.

As ordinary as each one of us is, the amazing story of the changing of water into wine tells us about the reality of what we are and what we can be. We are to be that extraordinary wine, that very best wine, in our world this week. We are to be extraordinary wine, extraordinary persons who make known here and how the power and the presence of our good and gracious God.