SECOND SUNDAY OF
ORDINARY TIME

Reading (Is 62:1-5)

 

What is the greatest love between two people? Is it the love of a mother for her child? No, it is love binding together the bride and the bridegroom. So God uses the image of conjugal love to describe his great affection for the people of Israel.

In Isaiah's text that we read today, Jerusalem is compared to a spouse and is being called strange names: Forsaken, Desolation (4). Even the most beautiful girls slowly lose their youthful charm, withered away by age, sorrow and disease. Jerusalem had been unfaithful to her spouse (the Lord), she had offered her graces to her many lovers (the gods of the Assyrians and Babylonians) and these had humbled her, like a prostitute.

How was her marriage with the Lord supposed to end? What do husbands do to their unfaithful wives? Do they welcome them back into the home once dissoluteness has disfigured them? Certainly not, they don’t take them back at all! They normally even avoid the sight of them. The people of Israel, back from their long exile in Babylon, found Jerusalem like a heap of ruins, and began to think that there was nothing to do; they were convinced that God had repudiated her forever. But the love of God is not as weak and fragile as the love of men. Inspite of all the betrayals, he does not reject his spouse. The prophet knew these thoughts of the Lord that is why he promised the discouraged people: Jerusalem will get a new name; it will be called "My Delight”.

What happened to the "Spouse-Jerusalem" is an image of what happens to every person, to every Christian community that betrays Christ. The idols (money, sex, power, glory…) that bewitch with their many hopes of happiness soon turn out to be exploiting lovers. Is there somebody among us who has not been disappointed by these “lovers” time and again?

The reading of today has a message of hope for all those who in life have experienced the destruction and desolation caused by sin: God does not love his spouse because of her beauty, he makes her beautiful by loving her; he does not punish her, does not forsake her because of her betrayals, he makes her faithful with his unfailing love.

 

Second Reading (1Cor 12:4-11)

 

If I give a gorgeous dress to a beautiful lady, she may gift to draw the attention of her husband that was perhaps losing interest in her and was eyeing some younger girls. She may also use it, however, to vie with other women and humiliate those that are not as beautiful, or to seduce lovers. All the gifts we receive may be used for good or for bad.

“Chrism” means "a gratuitous gift of God", and so it is a very good thing, and yet the reading is telling us that within the community of Corinth there was a lot of confusion just because of these charisms. What was the matter? Instead of being used to serve the community, they were used to show off, to prove one’s superiority and so they had caused jealousy, envy and dissension.

Among the charisms there was one that was held in particular esteem: the gift of tongues. It consisted in the ability to go into an ecstasy during community prayers and then speak in strange languages. Something like this happens in our tribal healing ceremonies. During the dance, the healers at a certain point "go into a trance” and begin saying words that the non-initiated cannot understand. A similar thing was taking place in Corinth: some were praising God in this ecstatic manner. Nothing wrong, but it raised some problems: the community saw the ability to pray in this way as a great honor, so many were trying and those who failed were rather annoyed and felt inferior to the other members of the community. Those instead who prayed thus during their ecstasies, did it all together, and there was a lot of confusion.

Paul feels the duty to intervene and in the reading of today he gives some guidelines.

 

1. The charisms, he says, are many and various (4-6), but they all come from the only Father, the only Spirit and from Christ. If they cause divisions, conflicts and disorders, this means that they are used for evil purposes.

 

2. Nobody is left without gifts of God, everybody receives his own charism, but for what? "For the general good", to serve the brothers (7). The fact that charisms are different is providential: the community is thus served better. Imagine a feast where all played drums and guitar and nobody knew how to dance or sing. And what about a meal where only a very good drinks were served but nothing to eat? Can you imagine a world with only mango trees and without bananas, coconuts, rice and beans? Even the Christian community is beautiful and rich because the Spirit has endowed it with a variety of gifts. The risk is that these charisms may be used to compete with each other, causing jealousy, instead of fostering unity.

 

3. Not all charisms have the same importance, they follow a kind of order or hierarchy; but how can they be classified? Their importance is not based on the prestige, privileges and authority they confer, but on the benefit they bring to the community. In the reading of today Paul makes a long list of them (8-10), but his list is not complete, since he names only those of interest to the Corinthians and on top of the list he puts first the charisms that lead to the knowledge of God: wisdom, fostering a better understanding of his plans, knowledge that aids our interpretation of the faith; then come: a sound faith, capable of moving the mountains, the gifts of working miracles and of healing, prophecy, the power of distinguishing the various “charisms”, and finally the power to speak in different languages.

What criteria do we use in valuing the gifts that God has given to every member of our community? What service and what ministries do we think are most important?

 

Gospel (Jn 2:1-12)

 

            What do you think of this tale? Some of the details are certainly rather confusing. Let us list a few:

John in his gospel describes only seven miracles, so could he not have chosen a more interesting one? This deed of Jesus does not seem to help much: why provide more wine to people who had already drank more than enough? And even if it was advisable to provide more wine, why do it through a miracle? It would have been enough to collect some money among the guests. Why is John giving so much importance to this episode? He is stressing the fact that this was the very first miracle of Jesus and that his disciples, seeing this sign, believed in him. Wouldn’t his note have been more appropriate after the miracle of the resurrection of Lazarus? Why are the protagonists of the feast left out? The bride isn't even mentioned while the bridegroom is so insignificant and he doesn't say a word. More importance is given to the president of the feast, to the servants and even to the jars that are described in detail (6). And why were there so many water jars in a private house only for purification purposes? It is not clear also why the mother of Jesus is mentioned here, but she is not called by name. The same thing will happen also when describing the scene at the foot of the cross (Jn 19:25-27). And finally: why did Jesus work the miracle, when he had given to his mother a negative and somewhat curt answer?

When holding in our hands a pineapple or a mango fruit we can admire their dimensions, color and scent, but if we want to find out their taste and relish their flavor we must patiently peel them and eat them. The gospel of John is like a very savory fruit, and one has to know how to eat it: if we look only at its external appearance, if we take it as a collection of news or a list of episodes on the life of Jesus, we miss the most important part of his message. We must learn how remove its peel to discover the hidden symbolic images being used. This is what we shall try to do with today’s passage.

Villagers of a small Galilean town are celebrating a wedding. Guests have been called to share in the joyous atmosphere, but suddenly something disappoints them: there is no more wine or even water, since the jars are empty, full of spider webs (and will only be filled when Jesus gives the order). Rather embarrassing and dismal situation. This is the “peel”, but what is the fruit that it hides?

Let us from the wine: in the Bible it represents love and happiness. For the ancients, a feast without wine turned immediately into a funeral: no songs, no dances, nor cheer, only drawn faces of nervous and disappointed people.

Israel had been promised that God would prepare for them "a banquet of rich food, a banquet of fine wines, of succulent food, of well-strained wines” (Is 25:6), but Jesus finds a sad and disappointed people like people taking part in a wedding feast without wine. Why? The reason is simple: relations between the people of Israel and their God were no longer like those of a bride made happy by the tenderness and attentions her spouse, but like those of a slave forced to obey the orders of her master. Religion had been reduced to a scrupulous observance of countless norms and rules. It was impossible to keep them all, so people felt impure and had to submit to frequent ritual bathing, he needed to keep water always at hand for these ritual purifications. But lo: the jars are empty; even the water for purifications was no longer kept, since it failed to bring any peace.

The wedding at Cana represents the state of this people, its disappointed and dismal situation. The onset of love had been substituted by an observance of juridical norms. This way of serving God has never brought joy.

The mother of Jesus can be Mary, yes, but it can also mean the spiritual community within, which Jesus was born and educated. In the passage of today it certainly stands for those pious people in Israel, who first realized that the religious situation had become intolerable. What did they do? They did not go to see the president of the feast, that is, their religious leaders who had organized the feast and were responsible for its good outcome. They went to Jesus. They had understood he was the only who could give the living water that could be transformed into good wine that brings happiness.

John has placed this "sign" at the beginning of his gospel because it is a kind of synthesis of all that Jesus is about to do.

He is the bridegroom that will celebrate his wedding to humankind. At this feast he will give his water, as he promises the Samaritan woman (Jn 4:10-15) and this water will change into wine, that is, into a fullness of joy. His time has not come yet, he is only beginning his public life. His time will be on Calvary when he will give up his life in love for his bride.

We are not living the period of everlasting weddings. Jesus has said, enough of the old religion that brings sadness; he has cancelled forever the image of a severe God, to be feared and revered, served and respected, he has broken the unbearable fetters that are a burden and an oppression (Mt 11:28). This kind of religion founded on duties to fulfill does not manifest the glory of God, because it does not make people smile. Jesus has proclaimed the tenderness of God, he has given his disciples his wine, the true religion, the religion of love that wipes away all fears, and instills trust and hope. The passage rightly concludes saying that Jesus, by giving his "wine" has manifested his glory, and is in fact glorified not by our cheers but by our joy.

When we see communities whose members are sad, gloomy-faced, disappointed, including even some fathers and sisters, we should begin seeking out the reasons. Personally, I am sure it all comes from having gone back to the religion of "purifications", the religion of legality that voids it of its spontaneity and liberty, of exterior obedience and observance, of solemn ceremonies and rubrics scrupulously imposed and observed. How far is this kind of religion from the real life and problems of people! Can it produce joy? Certainly not, all it can bring is anxiety, worries and interior sufferings. How can the poor open up their hearts to a Gospel that is only prohibitions, norms, directives, and threats of punishment? At times I really don't know if the "wine" given out by some Christians is Christ's wine... It is so sour, it must come from some other cellar!

Theme of the Sunday
A WEDDING FEAST CANNOT BE A SAD AFFAIR

The first reading and the gospel use the image of marriage to describe the relationship between God and his people.

The prophet Isaiah promises that Jerusalem, destroyed and abandoned, will once again be the beloved spouse of God.

Jesus works his first "sign" in the context of a marriage feast, and it is the sign of the new covenant that he has come to celebrate. By giving his wine that Cheers the human heart, he transformed the sterile religion of the Jews.

The second reading deals on a very topical point for our communities: it speaks of human charisms. God grants these to each one of us so that we serve our brothers and sisters better. Whenever charisms are used in this way, then our communities will be filled with love, cheerfulness and peace. This is the sign of the presence of the "wine” given by Jesus.