Sunday, January 17, 2016

Jesus expands our joy –John 2:-12, 1 Cor 12:4-11, Isa 62:1-5

OT Wk 2, Yr C; Notre Dame (Farley Hall)

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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