January 17, 2016
2nd Sunday Ordinary Time
“The wine runs short!†Today, it would be an opportunity to send revelers home; back then an embarrassment. Weddings are week-long celebrations involving the entire village and visiting members of the extended family. The mother of Jesus is invited as well as Jesus and his disciples. Mary brings this concern to her son Jesus: “They have no wine.†Jesus replies: “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.†It sounds like a rebuke. However, Mary takes no offense but directs the servants: “Do whatever he tells you.†In this brief exchange of words, Jesus gives Mary, his mother, an insight into the mission entrusted to him by God, his father. Jesus is asking: “How does your request fit into God’s plan?†We can imagine hearing the same words from Jesus when we bring our petitions to the Lord. In the “Our Father,†before we beseech God for our daily bread, for forgiveness of our trespasses, and to deliver us from evil, we affirm divine providence: “Your kingdom come, your will be done.†In the garden before his arrest and crucifixion, Jesus prays to his Father to remove the cup of suffering he will endure but ends his plea: “Not my will but yours be done.†There is a second time in the Gospel according to St. John when Jesus calls his mother, “woman.†It comes during the precious “hour†when God’s glory is fully revealed. Jesus looks down from the cross and says to Mary, his mother, “Woman, here is your son.†And to the beloved disciple: “Here is your mother.†The evangelist comments that the beloved disciple takes Mary into his home. We too, as Catholics, take Mary into our homes for she is the model of being a true disciple, that is, one who trusts and acts upon the words of Jesus.
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