God of Delight & Joy. 2nd Sunday of Ordinary Time

The prophet Isaiah proclaims the fundamental dynamic of the relationship between God and his people. The the lord delights in his people, Isaiah says, and he make them (collectively and individually) his spouse. As a young man marries a virgin, your builder shall marry you, as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride so shall God rejoice in you.

 And St Paul tells us this joyful, this nuptial relationship, as all faithful spousal love does, bears much good fruit (spiritual gifts).  It is the gift of relationship that creates beyond itself.

He says - There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit;

there are different forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone.

Theses many gifts all seem to flow from the creating love that God has for us and from the result of one simple and profound insight (from Mary, I might add) - do as he tells you.

 We know the first thing Jesus did before beginning his public mission was to pick companions from Galilee.  He picked men who were ordinary, flawed, who did not have any special education or status.

 One would imagine that Jesus would want to give these new companions some spiritual and intellectual formation. Share time in the desert, in prayer and reflection to deepen their knowledge and instill new insights into the reign of God.

But, no. Where Jesus first takes them - is to a wedding feast.

 It is there, amidst tables of food and wine, under the shade of bright cloth, with the air full of joyful talk and singing that they will begin their journey of faith with Jesus.

A wedding feast, was and is, a time of rejoicing. A time of gathering family and friends from near and far to share in the joy. It was always a good party. Whatever the time, place or culture weddings and marriages are a beautiful human experience. Full of the immediate joy of the day and confident hope in the future, expressed in song and dance, good food and, of course, drinking. 

 And so Jesus plunges his new disciples into the reality of God's reign, shows them what his kingdom looks like, and what his very presence feels like through sharing in the joy of the human experience.

 Gathering around the wooden tables I cannot imagine Jesus sitting serious and stern. I imagine him fully enjoying himself, profoundly happy to celebrate with people he knows and those he doesn't. I imagine Jesus especially engaging the wall flowers. Drawn to those who were a little lonely even in a crowd, drawing out the socially awkward, the uncomfortable, the self conscious. Jesus would always share table fellowship with these people.

 Why a wedding feast? Happenstance perhaps. A timely invitation or a lucky opportunity? Who knows, but whatever the reason Jesus knew a wedding is a celebration of love.

It was a perfect sign of God's own delight in us, his love of us, which is nuptial; because it is self giving, indwelling, accepting, creating, abundant and faithful. God's love, like married love, is never restricting, never a tiresome fidelity to another. It is not a burden, but a gift. It is a love that instills freedom and always points towards the ever expanding horizon of fulfillment. Perhaps, most importantly, this love opens the human person to God's ways of acting: forgiving and compassionate.

 At this wedding, in Cana of Galilee, Jesus will perform his first miracle, or as John say's his first  sign. This is important. Jesus in his signs always points to the Father. I can do what I see the father do he says. This miracles are signs of the reign of God. Today, Jesus will do what God always does, changing the ordinary into the extraordinary.

In the middle of the festivity there is a disaster. The party is in full swing and the wine runs out! This is terrible news, an unexpected humiliation and disappointment for the wedding couple and their families. Jesus' mother sees the situation and instead of rushing off to the couple or the stewards to gather money to buy more, she turns to her son Jesus and says - they have no more wine. Jesus says to her - what is this to me?

 This first moment in the public ministry of Jesus shows Mary interceding for those in need.

And his response, which seems to be a dismissal, fills her, not with disappointment, but with confident hope, and she goes to the servers and tells them (what she tells each of us)

 do whatever he tells you.

 We do not know what Jesus was thinking, but we do know Jesus sets people in motion.

Fill those six purification jars with water he tells the servants. These were very large jars and this would not be easy and would require many buckets of water, many trips to the well.

After the water was collected, Jesus tells them to take some to the head steward.

Was the whole party watching this? Or was it only witnessed by a few ? We don't know, but this action must of seemed crazy and pointless, especially to the servants who had just gathered the water. But, they had followed Mary's advice and they had, for some reason, trusted her still unknown son.  One wonders how did their simple faith play into the miracle

 So with reasonable hesitation they bring a newly filled flagon to the head steward.

And to their surprise - the water, which they themselves had drawn and poured, had become wine. And not only wine, but good wine, very good wine indeed. The best wine.

The headwaiter upon tasting, is delighted and goes happily to the wedding couple, who themselves must of been amazed and confused, and he praises their generosity - Everyone serves good wine first and then when the people have drunk freely, an inferior one, but you have keep the good wine till now.

We are not talking about bottle or two of good stuff but roughly 180 gallons of the best wine. What does all this mean? What is Jesus showing his companions? Jesus uses this free gift of abundant new wine as a sign of God's own free gift of overflowing mercy and love for us and the endless joy and bountiful harvests that God's reign will usher in. And he uses the wedding feast as a sign of the nuptial quality of that love that is mirrored in the free self-gift of bride and groom. 

Jesus, by bringing his companions to the celebration not only shows them something about God, but also something about us, that every person desires and needs to love and be loved. Each of us need to  take delight in another's very existence and importantly, to be faithful to that delight and love.

This nuptial relationship, both devine and human, is not merely a part of our journey towards salvation, it is intrinsic too it. In it each person becomes sharers and bearers of the gift of God's love. And we, as Church, can and do, and will share in the wedding feast. As scripture says

"Let us rejoice and exult and give him glory, for the marriage of the lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready."

Or more simply - the Spirit and the Bride says, Lord Jesus, Come