Second Sunday in Ordinary Time C

Image: Cathedral of Amiens, 1507-1522.
Marriage Feast at Cana
from Art in the Christian Tradition,
a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN

January 17, 2016

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Immediately preceding the events in today’s gospel, within the last previous days, Jesus had been baptized in the river Jordan by John, and he had chosen his first disciples

As 21stcentury people, we're accustomed to having people announce really big news with a press conference, celebrities, lots of hoopla.

Jesus, though, began the three most important years in the history of the world quietly, observed by only a few.

And the person who was the catalyst for this unparalleled moment was not a campaign manager, but his mother.

Now that shouldn’t surprise any of us sons of mothers;

we know that when mom speaks, we listen.

So, when Mary said, "Son, they have no wine," whether she was fully aware of it or not,

she closed the door on their quiet, private life and launched Jesus on the journey for which he was destined,

from which there would be no turning back.

After he had performed this, the first of his miracles, others would come to know that her son was more — more than anyone who had ever walked the face of the earth.

Did she have mixed emotions that day?

If so, those emotions are shared by every parent who has ever suffered the pain of having a son or daughter leave home.

As those young adults go off to college, to enter the service or to marry or start a career,

every parent knows joy and pride that their children have become adults,

blended with the pain of separation, of seeing them leave the nest.

Today's readings from Isaiah and Paul tie these three events together: Baptism, Marriage, Mission.

Paul assures us that each of us will receive the gifts we need, for we do not all receive the same gifts.

The outpouring of grace we received on the day of our baptism proceeds from the same Spirit, for as Paul says, " ...we were all baptized into one body ."

The same Spirit different gifts.

The extravagance of the gift of wine at Cana is mirrored in the extravagance of these gifts of the Spirit, poured forth with the waters of baptism.

If Jesus had offered one jar of win — 20 gallons — that would have been spectacular.

But later he would say, "I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly ."

Just as at Cana, the gifts we receive in baptism are extravagant.

On that day, we were saturated with God's love, strength, wisdom, goodness.

We need to remember that the gifts were not given us to hoard.

As the wine at Cana was shared, so, too, must our gifts be shared.

We hear Mary's voice:

"They have no food, no shelter, no clothing, no freedom, peace or hope."

We call upon our baptismal gifts, our 120 gallons,

This is our mission — for it is in our actions that our voices are heard.