When I was in parish
work, our sacristan had to take a couple of months off to recover from surgery,
and I thought I’d figured out everything she did each week and either arranged
cover or just decided to do it myself.
But, over those couple of months, I gradually realized more and more
things that just somehow got magically taken care of when she was around. During the first week she was gone, one of
our parish school kids, a little second grader, came up to me with a panic
struck expression: “There is no blessing in the church!” Somewhat worried about this exile experience
she seemed to be having, I tried to figure out what was actually wrong, and
eventually figured out that all of the holy water stoups were dry. Problem fixed. I wish every spiritual crisis was as easy for
me to solve!
It might
seem that the problem that Mary draws to Jesus’ attention is somehow lesser
than our second-grader’s mini-crisis, that it’s more mundane or secular, less
holy, but I think the attention that both Mary and Jesus give to it shows us
that that’s not the case. The
second-grader was worried that the church was out of blessing, which would be
very serious if it was true, but Mary is concerned that the party is out of
joy. A wedding feast of the time was
meant to last for days, and it was looking like it might come to an abrupt
halt.
And Jesus
can fix that. He doesn’t always, he
doesn’t always fix problems, so often instead he chooses to suffer with us, but
this time he does. He acts, definitively
to prolong and expand the joy, providing abundant wine. This is Jesus’ first miracle in John’s
gospel, and in many ways the only other miracle that’s all that similar is the
multiplication of the loaves. Only,
then, he acts to deal with physical hunger; this time, he acts to meet another
kind of hunger, the hunger of our hearts for joy.
And it’s a
good miracle to start out with: for John to start his gospel with, for us to
start out regular semester Sunday Masses with, for the Church to start Ordinary
Time with. Because, soon things will get
a lot darker in John’s gospel, and while the darkness will never extinguish the
light, it will threaten to. Soon, very
soon this year, the Church will begin Lent, and we’ll remember Jesus’ suffering
for us, we’ll fast and pray and give, and remember the very true statement that
the Christian life isn’t easy, as we take up our cross and follow him. But, it’s just as important to stop on a
night like tonight, and remember that as true as that is, joy is a gift too, it’s
a vital part of the Christian life here and now, even as we await the fullness
of joy to come.
And if joy’s
a gift, it must be a gift given for the good of the whole community, the whole
body of Christ, as St. Paul reminded us in the second reading. That’s what gifts are for. True joy is a gift which is for others. How often have you experienced a truly
joy-filled person brightening an otherwise dark day? The reality of joy given now, and the hopeful
expectation of the fullness of joy to come are gifts that can transform the
world.
There are
many parts of Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech that people can
quote, but I wonder how many people know the first line? He begins by saying “I am happy.” “I am happy to join with you today in what
will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the
history of this nation.” “I am happy.” Even while standing smarting from
imprisonment and the bad check he was handed marked insufficient funds, he
begins his speech “I am happy.” He will
decry with passion the racial injustices of his day, just as he would those
that remain with us today, but he will not refuse to confess and proclaim his
happiness, in his words, he will not “wallow in the valley of despair.” And his speech inspired, and inspires,
because he pointed those people whose presence brought him happiness to a still
greater happiness to come, one grounded in Biblical promises (like the one we
heard from Isaiah), the happiness of the dream of little children holding hands
as sister and brother.
That beacon
of light is not at full glare yet. But
let us still dare to rejoice. And God
will expand that joy.
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