Homily for the
2d Sunday of Ordinary Time[1]
Jan. 19, 2025
John 2: 1-11
Our Lady of the Assumption, Bronx
St. Francis Xavier, Bronx
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| The Wedding at Cana (Vladimir Makovsky) |
“There was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there” (John 2: 1).
Only St. John recounts this miracle of
Jesus. He provides an abundance of
details that leave us no doubt about its authenticity. It’s real history. It’s Gospel truth.
Most likely, John was one of Jesus’ disciples who were there (2:2). Perhaps a bunch of thirsty fishermen contributed to the shortage of wine as the feast went on. If John wasn’t there personally, and if, as is generally believed, he’s the “beloved disciple” who appears in the last chapters of the Gospel, the one to whom Jesus entrusted his mother on Calvary (19:26-27), then we may infer that John got the story from Mary herself. She would’ve been the only one who could inform him of her role in the story.
From Mary’s role we can learn 3 important
lessons. The 1st is her attentiveness
and concern for people. She notices the
impending social disaster and wants to do something about it (2:3).
The 2d is how she goes to Jesus to get him
to act in this impending disaster. She
intercedes with him. Altho he seems to
tell her no, now’s not the time (2:4), she persists.
3d, she instructs the servants, “Do
whatever he tells you” (2:5). And the
crisis is averted.
Therefore, we can count on Mary our
Mother—to whom Jesus gave the beloved disciple as a son, and thru him all of us
as her children—we can count on her to care about us and our difficulties and
concerns. We can turn to her, confident
that she’ll pray for us to Jesus, that she’ll prod him to do something;
probably not a miracle, altho that is possible, but such help as will
get us thru the difficulty or challenge.
Her care for us will always lead us to Jesus himself. “Do whatever he tells you” is the soundest
spiritual advice we can ever hear.
St. John calls the miracle of Cana a “sign,”
a word he uses repeatedly in his Gospel.
A miracle, like this one or a healing, isn’t just a wondrous event. It’s a sign pointing to something more: God has burst into our human history. God in Christ does more than we can
reasonably expect.
In Jesus, God can change water into wine,
cure diseases, walk on water, raise Lazarus from the dead. He can change bread into his body, forgive
our sins, and raise us out of our graves on Judgment Day.
In this story from a wedding at Cana, Jesus
implicitly blesses marriage and married life.
Like Israel’s Lord in the Old Testament—our 2d reading (Is 62:1-5)—Jesus
is a bridegroom who rejoices in his bride, the Church. We’re all “espoused” to him (62:4). He vindicates us, bestows righteousness upon
us, holiness; makes us pleasing to God (62:1-2). Our vindication comes from him and not from
ourselves. “The Lord delights in you”
(62:4); Cana is a sign of that.
Finally, a word about the disciples. St. John says that after witnessing the sign
at Cana, they “began to believe in him” (2:11).
They began a long journey. The
disciples will bicker among themselves, betray and deny Jesus, run and hide
when he’s arrested, hesitate to believe Mary Magdalene when she reports the
resurrection. Coming to mature faith
takes most of us a long time. Being
converted from our sins can take a long time.
So we have to be patient and persistent as we try to follow Jesus, as we
try to “do whatever he tells” us.
Listening to him is our way to salvation.
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