Additional Homily for the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

This homily was preached by Fr Nicholas King SJ

Scripture readings: Isaiah 62:1-5; I Corinthians 12:4-11; John 2:1-11

Today is Peace Sunday, and later on we shall be hearing from that splendid organisation Pax Christi. What we have to do is to recognise the qualities of God to make for a peace that passes all understanding, which yields a harvest of newness and freshness. So what holds together the readings you have just heard is that undying freshness and newness of God, as the poet sings: “you will be called by a new name”. We need to remember that the Jerusalem to which he was singing his oracles was in a complete shambles, and his hearers did not know what God could possibly be doing. Into that baffled darkness he comes with his fresh authority: “You are to be called ‘Hepzibah’ and ‘Beulah’ (= “my Delight in her” and “married”)”. And, best of all the poem ends like this: “as the bridegroom rejoices in his bride, so will your God rejoice in you”. Today we should feel that freshness of God’s peace. 

 The same newness or freshness is there also in our psalm: “sing a new song to the Lord;” That “new song” is what we must try to sing today with all the freshness that we can possibly muster, and so bring peace to our world. 

 In the second reading, Paul is trying to persuade the Corinthians to see reason and chart a way to peace; they have been squabbling among themselves, and he wants to see something new, something different. He draws a picture of how the Spirit operates, to overcome all divisions. The key point here, and the source of the freshness in this passage, is that the Spirit is always the same, but operates differently in each of us: some have the gift of preaching, he says (but you will say that not all of us have the gift of preaching!); others have the gift of faith, or healing or doing miracles or prophesying, or discerning the spirits or speaking in tongues. The point here is that in each case the Spirit is freshly and newly at work. There are many different gifts; but (and here is the vital bit), they all work together in the Spirit. and, used properly, they all lead to peace 

 This same freshness runs all the way through the gospel reading that you have just heard, the extraordinary story of the marriage feast at Cana a great celebration of the outbreak of peace. This is the first of the “signs” performed in the gospel, the turning of water into wine; and it is Our Lady who encourages him to do something in the face of the shortage of wine. Jesus responds that his “hour” has not yet come; and for the reader of the gospel, that “hour” is the moment of his Passion and Death. And you will remember that Jesus’ mother was also present, standing helplessly  by at that moment; that was her contribution to peace. So her function in this gospel is to “bracket” Jesus’ ministry, to be present at both its spectacular beginning and its lethal end. In this gospel we are present here at the sign of the newness and freshness of what God has done in Jesus’ ministry. 

 One great sign of this “newness” is in the very first line; when the evangelist tells us that the “sign” took place “on the 3rd day”; when the first Christians heard that phrase their minds will certainly have turned towards the Resurrection, the source of all our freshness. When his mother draws Jesus’ attention to the crisis, it seems as though he is dismissing her request; but notice what happens next: “she said to the servants, ‘whatever he says to you, do it’.” Mother and son are breathing the same divine air, and something very fresh and very new is happening. The “sign” takes place quite undramatically: Jesus simply says, “fill the water-jars with water”, then tells them to give a taste of it to the steward. And then, without any drama at all, the evangelist notes that “the water had become wine”, and the steward is heard commending the host for the quality of the wine that he has served at the end: “you have kept the good wine until the present moment”. This is how God operates with us, with freshness and newness, leaving the best wine until the last. And that is still not quite the end; for there is a tail-piece: “Jesus did this as the beginning of the ‘signs’ – in Cana of Galilee; and revealed his glory”. Then it continues: “and his disciples came to faith in him”. Who is not mentioned here? Why, his mother, of course; and the reason that she is not named is that she already belonged in that fresh new world which has come to be in her son. There is much for us to reflect upon here. If we get it right, as we listen, we should be driven inexorably towards God’s peace. let us pray for the gift of peace today.