Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Title

The Image and the Reality

Outline

Scripture often speaks to us in images that stir our deepest intuitions and go deeper than our thoughts

This is not to disparage thought, for it enlightens the mind, but it is to point out that we are more than mind

Thus in Isaiah we catch a picture of Messianic vindication for the people of God pictured as a city, Zion, Jerusalem.

It is coming and it is public

It will involve the nations of the world coming in celebration

Then the image turns to that of a rejected wife or woman, who is instead chosen, “espoused,” delighted in, married rejoiced in.

There is an individual - collective sense here, in that we receive this individually and also collectively, just as we see a city and then a people, the new wife of the builder of the city.

That is what bursts on the scene with Jesus. They are images to be turned over in one’s mind, meditated upon, and savored until hope and joy well up in one’s soul.

Paul pictures this bride as a people, a family, perhaps at Christmas

God has handed out to the people gifts which are both necessary to fulfill its ministry and which are differential to bind it together.

No, you did not get a better gift than I, but a different gift than I. You need to cook, so you have a cooking utensil, while I need to put furniture together and so received a wrench and screwdriver. For the household to work age appropriate and differential gifts are needed so each can fulfill their function. Boasting in one’s gift is silly, childish, as is jealousy of another’s gift. Notice that speaking in foreign languages, needed for evangelism, is put last, because the Corinthians valued it too highly. (Modern speaking in tongues is more similar to the “prophecy” of Saul and the Sons of the Prophets in Samuel.)

Finally Jesus brings the familial and nuptial images together at a wedding with sacrificial overtones

Mary is joyfully doing her duty at a family wedding when the wine runs out, as sometimes happened with poorer families.

When she presents the issue to Jesus - perhaps not knowing what he might do - he answers strangely: “It is no affair of ours.” But it is family. “My time has not yet come.” “There will be a time when I give a cup of wine, but not now. And it will not be simply wine, but my blood.” The time for this is not yet.

Mary’s trust is implicit: “Do what he tells you.” Perhaps she had seen his eyes shift to the water jars used for purification. His wine would bring purification. “Fill the jars up.” We are talking about 120 to 180 gallons of water in the full jars. “Take the water you saw to the master of ceremonies.” He tastes what the slaves did not see: the best wine. And yes, God, in marrying his people had saved the best wine, not for Abraham, not for Israel, not for David, not for after the exile, but for now, when Jesus came, when his time did come.

The chiding of the confused bridegroom only underlines the miracle, the type of miracle that the gift of miracles Paul speaks of was supposed to produce - the purification of evangelism, the revelation of the presence of God.

Sisters, there are great and deep truths hidden here

We have looked at some of them.

Yet we really get them when we like Mary hide them in our hearts and turn them over and over, like a bride who dreams in the arms of her beloved, or a bride, as in our story, who looks again at her wedding gown and remembers the wonders of that day and ponders its meaning in 33 AD now that she knows the true cost and meaning of the wine.

Readings

Catholic Daily Readings 1-16-2022: Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

FIRST READING

Isaiah 62:1–5

1 For Zion’s sake I will not be silent,

for Jerusalem’s sake I will not keep still,

Until her vindication shines forth like the dawn

and her salvation like a burning torch.

2 Nations shall behold your vindication,

and all kings your glory;

You shall be called by a new name

bestowed by the mouth of the LORD.

3 You shall be a glorious crown in the hand of the LORD,

a royal diadem in the hand of your God.

4 No more shall you be called “Forsaken,”

nor your land called “Desolate,”

But you shall be called “My Delight is in her,”

and your land “Espoused.”

For the LORD delights in you,

and your land shall be espoused.

5 For as a young man marries a virgin,

your Builder shall marry you;

And as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride

so shall your God rejoice in you.

Catholic Daily Readings 1-16-2022: Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

RESPONSE

Psalm 96:3

3 Tell his glory among the nations;

among all peoples, his marvelous deeds.

PSALM

Psalm 96:1–3, 7–10

1 Sing to the LORD a new song;

sing to the LORD, all the earth.

2 Sing to the LORD, bless his name;

proclaim his salvation day after day.

3 Tell his glory among the nations;

among all peoples, his marvelous deeds.

7 Give to the LORD, you families of nations,

give to the LORD glory and might;

8 give to the LORD the glory due his name!

Bring gifts and enter his courts;

9 bow down to the LORD, splendid in holiness.

Tremble before him, all the earth;

10 declare among the nations: The LORD is king.

The world will surely stand fast, never to be shaken.

He rules the peoples with fairness.

Catholic Daily Readings 1-16-2022: Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

SECOND READING

1 Corinthians 12:4–11

4 There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; 5 there are different forms of service but the same Lord; 6 there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. 7 To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit. 8 To one is given through the Spirit the expression of wisdom; to another the expression of knowledge according to the same Spirit; 9 to another faith by the same Spirit; to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit; 10 to another mighty deeds; to another prophecy; to another discernment of spirits; to another varieties of tongues; to another interpretation of tongues. 11 But one and the same Spirit produces all of these, distributing them individually to each person as he wishes.

Catholic Daily Readings 1-16-2022: Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

2 Thessalonians 2:14

14 To this end he has [also] called you through our gospel to possess the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

GOSPEL

John 2:1–11

1 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4 [And] Jesus said to her, “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servers, “Do whatever he tells you.” 6 Now there were six stone water jars there for Jewish ceremonial washings, each holding twenty to thirty gallons. 7 Jesus told them, “Fill the jars with water.” So they filled them to the brim. 8 Then he told them, “Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter.” So they took it. 9 And when the headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine, without knowing where it came from (although the servers who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, “Everyone serves good wine first, and then when people have drunk freely, an inferior one; but you have kept the good wine until now.” 11 Jesus did this as the beginning of his signs in Cana in Galilee and so revealed his glory, and his disciples began to believe in him.

Notes

Catholic Daily Readings 1-16-2022: Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

SUNDAY, JANUARY 16, 2022 | ORDINARY TIME

SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

YEAR C | ROMAN MISSAL | LECTIONARY

First Reading Isaiah 62:1–5

Response Psalm 96:3

Psalm Psalm 96:1–3, 7–10

Second Reading 1 Corinthians 12:4–11

Gospel Acclamation 2 Thessalonians 2:14

Gospel John 2:1–11

GREEN