Readings: Isaiah 62:1-5; Psalm 96; 1 Corinthians 12:4-11; John 2:1-11.
Grace and peace to you dear brothers and sisters in the Lord.
Last Sunday, we had the Baptism of the Lord, which officially ended the Christmas season. Now, we have resumed Ordinary time but not pas ordinary people. We must resume as Christmas people. We may have disassembled our Christmas decorations but we must never disassemble our Christmas spirit.
Today, we have a very rich Gospel – the story of how Jesus turned water into wine at a marriage feast in Cana. This is another epiphany in Ordinary time.
This text gives us so much that we can preach on. From this passage, we can preach on doctrinal themes such as:
⦁ The dignity of marriage. Jesus was present at one.
⦁ The theme of Mary’s intercession.
⦁ We can reflect on powerful words like:
⦁ My time has not yet come.
⦁ Do whatever He tells you.
⦁ They have no wine.
We can also preach homilies around:
⦁ The value of obedience.
⦁ Inviting Jesus into our events, our families, our plans, and our agenda.
⦁ Jesus gives the best of everything.
Another approach would be to look at the rich symbolism in the passage. John’s Gospel account is rich in symbols and signs. For instance:
⦁ The wine as a symbol
⦁ Marriage as a symbol
However, today, I just want to keep this simple. I will call our attention to Jesus and Mary, and would like to draw some lessons from their involvement in this narrative.
I. JESUS
Let us learn four things from Jesus in today’s Gospel.
A. Mercy: His time had not yet come but He still helped the distraught couple. As we continue to act based on justice, mandates and law, let us not forget to balance our judgments and actions with mercy, kindness and compassion.
B. Power: Jesus performed the miracle simply by giving instructions. There was no superfluous display or theatrical demonstration. This testifies to His power; He only has to will (Psalm 33:9). That is the person we should put our hope and trust in.
C. Humility: Jesus performed such a monumental miracle noiselessly. He didn’t call any attention to Himself. This is a great lesson for us on humility (Philippians 2:5-9). All we do should be done for God’s glory and not just to seek praise and admiration.
D. Salvation; Jesus saved the couple from great shame. He can save us from shame, guilt, fear, meaningless life, slavery to sin and eternal damnation.
II. MARY
Let us now turn to Mary. I want to bring out four gifts in her that we should all desire and pray for. St Paul, in the Second Reading, tells us that the Holy Spirit distributes these gifts to people for the building of the Body of Christ.
These gifts are:
A. The gift of sensitivity to the needs of others, even without being told. This is an inspired awareness of the needs of people around us. This is the sensitivity of God towards Jerusalem in our First Reading.
B. The gift of help and intercession. This is the desire and the wisdom to help people in need, even if our only help is to talk to Jesus, to report to Him that a certain person, family, group, organisation, Church or nation has no more wine.
C. The gift of love. St Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12:31, 13:1-3 that we should strive for the higher gift, the most excellent gift, which is the gift of love. It was love that moved our Blessed Mother to be concerned. The measure of love in us is the measure of God in us because God is love. Let us pray that the Holy Spirit may bestow on us the gift of genuinely loving people as God loves them.
D. The gift of faith: Mary simply went to Jesus to report the problem, knowing what her Son was capable of. She also told the servants to obey whatever He said. This is great faith and confidence in Jesus (Hebrews 11:6). Let us pray for this kind of faith because through this faith, we will not just obtain blessings, but we can rest tranquil and steadfast amidst the crosses, toils and disappointments of life.
Sermon preached by Fr Emmanuel Baraka-Gukena Okami on January 19, 2025