Second Sunday in Ordinary Time (Homily)
January 17, 2016 11:00 am · Sergio Muñoz Fita
Years ago, the account of the miracle at Cana was the Gospel reading at every wedding Mass to show Christ’s blessing on marriage. But, the tradition of the Church has seen this miracle at Cana more widely as part of the epiphany of Jesus. The word “epiphany” means revelation or disclosure. Our liturgical tradition has seen three moments as a kind of “rolling epiphany” or disclosure of Jesus as our Savior.
The first epiphany was to the Magi when Jesus was revealed as Savior of all people. The second was His baptism at the Jordan when Jesus was revealed as the Anointed One sent to redeem us from sin. The third is the miracle at Cana when Jesus is revealed as the One who can change water into wine. Of course, it’s about a great deal more than that. It is about the transforming power of Christ not only over water but over human lives. That’s why John calls this miracle a “sign” because it points beyond itself to what Jesus does among us now. It’s about Jesus changing the ordinary things of our life into places of extraordinary grace. We can reflect on this dimension of Jesus’ power through today’s readings. The first reading has Isaiah speaking to the people of Israel in exile, when they were driven from their homeland. He speaks of God’s power in their life when they will be changed from being known as “Forsaken”, “Abandoned” (we would say being called “losers” or “failures”) to being known as “Chosen” and “Blessed”. He speaks of the power of God to change a life.
So often, we think that if our life has been a failure in some way in the past, it has to be so in the future as though we were riding on iron tracks preventing any change. Our future doesn’t have to be the way things were in our past. In the Lord Jesus we can move from failure to a new start, from the experience of sin to a new birth to grace, and from a personal loss to a new chapter in our life. He can help us move from being “forsaken” to being “blessed”. Jesus can change water into wine, our past into a different future.
In his letter to the Corinthians, today’s second reading, St. Paul is writing to a talented but divided community about the variety of gifts people are given. In Christ, our talents can become gifts to the Church, instruments of grace, vehicles of His trust, avenues of His love and ways of building up the Church. Jesus can change water into wine, our talents into tools of the Gospel.
Finally, Jesus performs His first miracle at a wedding in the otherwise little known town of Cana. Cana is a few miles from Nazareth.
In fact, they say that on a clear day you can see Cana from Nazareth. Saint John says this miracle was a sign. A sign of what? Above all, it’s a sing of God’s salvation, not limited to time or place. As we sang in the psalm refrain, his mission was to all nations. In the Old Testament there are several places where an abundance of wine would be a sign of God’s coming as our savior. We read in Isaiah: “on this mountain the Lord of hosts will provide for all peoples a feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines; he will destroy death forever. The Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces. On that day it will be said: behold our God, to whom we looked to save us!” (Is 25:6,9). Or again from Isaiah: “you who have no money, come, receive grain and eat; come without paying and without cost, drink wine and milk!” (Is 55:1). Amos tells us: “The days are coming says the Lord, when the juice of grapes shall drip down the mountains and all the hills shall run with it” (Amos 9:13). In Proverbs we read: “come, eat my food, and drink of the wine I have mixed!” (Prov. 9:1- 5).
Jesus can change water into wine, our past into a different future, our talents into gifts to the Church, small places like Cana into places of “gallons of graces”. Jesus came to make all things new: to change sick people into healthy people, to change sinners into saints, to change death into a pathway into everlasting life, to change bread and wine into his body and blood. Through the intercession of Mary who gives us today a great piece of advice —do whatever He tells you- let’s allow God to transform our sinful lives into beautiful lives in the eyes of the Lord so that his glory can be revealed in us and through us and our brothers and sisters can believe in Him
