Isaiah 62:1-5; 1 Corinthians 12:4-11; John 2:1-11
Being Ordinary in “Ordinary Time” of the Church
The partying and festivities are over, it’s time to start working again, no wonder it is called the “Ordinary Time”: it will take a while before (Extra-Ordinary Time or Festive Time) Easter and Christmas come around again and, then, we can party and celebrate. Even at that, my favorite part of partying and celebration is not the clean-up after the party, like the shoveling of snow, after a white-Christmas, not to talk of dealing with slush, after winter days. I would rather live in condominium than own a private house, where I need to shovel snow; I will rather attend another person’s party than invite people to mine, and deal with cleaning up afterwards – how lazy I am, to abandon the scenery of a private house, the courtyard and space for barbecues in summer and playing ground for children. What is the solution: should we stop partying? By no means, life will be too boring!
There is a solution – I need to grow up! The traditional African solution to a lazy man’s life is to give him a wife – responsibility brings about industriousness, especially the arrival of a wife and children. A married man gets a new name – husband; a married woman’s status changes – she becomes a wife; husband and wife go on to increase their responsibilities and status – they become Dad and Mom. If you add uncles, in-laws, etc, the list of responsibilities becomes really long. Only grown-ups – adults – delight in work and take pride in new adventures called marriage, parenthood, etc., they accept the normality or ordinariness of life!
In this season called “Ordinary Time,” the Catholic Church welcomes you to adulthood and the responsibilities that go with it. Today is the Second Sunday of Ordinary Time, the first Sunday was last Sunday, the Baptism of the Lord. Analogously, welcome to the meaning of the Baptism of the Lord, as well as your baptism – a point from which you become an adult before the world and before God, the moment when God considers you worthy of being entrusted with responsibility. At his baptism, Jesus got a new name: my Son, the beloved! After his baptism, Jesus started doing God’s will, God’s work of spreading the good news of salvation. Now, our first reading begins to add up – “you shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will give” (Isaiah 62:2): new name equals new job – Christian job! But where will the Lord see me and change my name to a new name? Who told him that I need a new name, anyway? What a rude awakening after the festivities of Christmas, now I will be given a job; a new name indeed!
The moment we step forward or our parents make the conscious choice of presenting us for baptism, we encounter the Lord who gives us a new name and identity. We do not need to ask him to give us a new name, the very act of baptism gives us a new name – we are anointed with the oil of Chrism to become Christ-like. And to be Christ-like is to begin to live like Christ – do the will of God, the job of godly life. Our new name is actually a job – we become employees of God through baptism, and every employee has working hours assigned to him/her. In Catholic parlance, the “Ordinary Time,” begun by the Baptism of the Lord, last Sunday, is every Christian’s working hour, not to say office hour.
Our second reading makes the necessity for each one of us to be at work and duty conscious, when it 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. To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit” (1 Cor 12:4-6). This simply shows that no human being, the way God sees it, can ever be jobless, since each person has a manifestation of the Spirit of God in him/her each person has a job, a God-given gift.
It is true that today’s gospel presents Jesus to us as a superstar – he turns water into wine. But a simple question will help us to see other superstars at the wedding feast of Cana – the drinkers of the wine! Why change water into wine, if there are no drinkers of wine? Or, the simple request of Mary to Jesus – “they have no wine!” In Jesus, Mary and the wedding guests, we see three kinds of gifts of God. 1) In Jesus, we see the power of God to work miracles: with God everything is possible – changing water into wine; 2) in Mary, we see the power of prayer: there are many people whose gift is the ability to pray, we call such people intercessors – they pray for others, not only for themselves – Mary’s prayer/request leads to the changing of water into wine; and, 3) we have the remainder of the guests at the wedding feast: those who prove themselves as friends and respond, without finding excuses, by attending a friend’s function and festivities, those who make sure that wine and food are consumed, not wasted – the gift of appetite!
“Ordinary Time,” is the invitation to you and me to live out our baptismal promises in ordinary ways: to be the best father, mother, teacher, lawyer, wife, husband, etc. My ability to cook well, sing well, dance well, laugh heartily, all come from God, and benefit my brothers and sisters; my life of pray is a gift from which my brothers and sisters can benefit, like Mary helping a couple to avoid embarrassment on their wedding day; that when I drink responsibly, I am like Jesus who attends parties and eats and drinks, and he’s sometimes called glutton and friend of sinners; when my holiness of life does not prevent me from mingling with known sinners, it is a gift of God because sinners too are children of God, and they too need friends; when I have a party, I invite others, and not just limit the list of guests to my family members.
The fact that Jesus spends his life, after baptism, in doing good to all, in ordinary ways – eating and drinking with sinners, keeping the Sabbath and preaching the good news of the kingdom, defending the woman caught in adultery from being stoned to death, and healing the sick and multiplying loaves to feed the hungry, weeping for a dead friend, Lazarus, while being friends with Mary, Martha and Zacchaeus, he invites me to the same simple life; Jesus neither fired/sacked Peter for denying him, nor condemned humanity for hanging him on the cross. It is now high time I found one of these attributes of Jesus to imitate during this Ordinary Time of the Church. Ordinary Time is clean up time after the party, it’s snow-shoveling time for adults, it’s work time for every Christian: viva Ordinary Time, for ordinary works, not miracles!
Assignment for the Week
What attribute of Jesus in the gospels do you want to practice all week long, especially in remembrance of your baptismal vows? Or, could you find the history of your patron saint and read it this week?
God answers Prayers of Faith!
Step I: What does the Text Say?
On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. (John 2:1 NRS) Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. (John 2:2 NRS) When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” (John 2:3 NRS) And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” (John 2:4 NRS) His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” (John 2:5 NRS) Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. (John 2:6 NRS) Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. (John 2:7 NRS) He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.” So they took it. (John 2:8 NRS) When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom (John 2:9 NRS) and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.” (John 2:10 NRS) Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him. (John 2:11 NRS)
Step II: What does the Text Mean?
Since variety is the spice of life, let us look at our homily from a narratological or dramatic approach. The table below shows three actors and, from their interactions, we can deduce the meaning of today’s gospel.
| Jesus | Mary | Crowd/Disciples | |
| Action | “They have no wine” | ||
| Re-action | “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” (John 2:4 NRS) | ||
| Action | “Do whatever he tells you.” (John 2:5 NRS) | ||
| Re-action | “Fill the jars with water.” “Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.” | ||
| Re-action | “the steward tasted the water that had become wine, . . “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.” | ||
| Further re-action | his disciples believed in him |
- Without any suggestion of lobbying, Mary takes the initiative to ask her Son to multiply wine for an embarrassed couple, who run out of wine. The action of Mary is magnanimous and faith-based, since Jesus had not performed any signs up until now (John 2:11); seemingly, however, Mary is aware of his powers.
- Jesus accepts to make an exception, after his protestation that his hour had not arrived, he transforms water into wine.
- The revised order of things shocks the steward who expects the best wine first, instead of the bad wine in its stead. Nonetheless, the servants were aware of the sign Jesus accomplished – transforming water into wine.
- Jesus’ disciples believed in him, says the gospel (John 2:11). But what about the servants who knew the source of the water prior to its transformation into wine: did they believe too? Jesus’ sign was to elicit faith.
- Interestingly, “disciples” is a term that goes beyond apostles, and depicts all those who believe in Christ. The servants, who took water to the steward, may possibly have believed, alongside the disciples of verse 11.
- The fact that Mary believed her Son was able to turn water into wine ahead of others, who only believed after Jesus’ sign, makes her a model for faith.
Step III: Steps for Homily
- Using Mary’s role as an example, one may preach about “mediation” or “intercession.” The emphasis will be the power of prayer and the need to pray for others, not just ourselves.
- “Hospitality” or “generosity” are virtues that one may preach about today. The invitation of Jesus and Mary to the wedding of Cana turns out to be a blessing, when they ran out of wine, Jesus works a sign.
- “Marriage” is a possible topic for reflection. One may underscore the role of prayers in family life: how the daily recitation of the rosary can bring about Mary’s intercession for a family.