As Jesus was passing through a field of grain on the sabbath, his disciples began to make a path while picking the heads of grain. At this the Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?” He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions were hungry? How he went into the house of God when Abiathar was high priest and ate the bread of offering that only the priests could lawfully eat, and shared it with his companions?” Then he said to them, “The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath. That is why the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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There’s only one group of people whom Jesus cannot stomach. Surprisingly, perhaps, isn’t tax collectors, prostitutes, or sinners.
He loved them and forgave them.
The ones whom Jesus cannot tolerate are the hardened religious leaders of his day, who pressed the Jews into following hundreds of man-made laws, including a law which forbade people from eating grain on the Sabbath, as we hear in today’s Gospel.
What good is it to follow a series of rules if doing so does not lead to a transformation of the heart?
This is why Jesus says elsewhere, the scribes and Pharisees are like “whitewashed tombs,” religious rule-followers on the outside, but defiled within.
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Catholics also follow a series of rules. We attend Mass on Sunday. We say our prayers. We avoid eating meat on Fridays during Lent. These guidelines are meant to lead us to an inner transformation.
Receiving Jesus in the Eucharist becomes “food for the journey.” Praying the rosary allows us to intercede on behalf of others. Avoiding meat on Fridays in Lent reminds us of the sacrifice that Christ made in his flesh on the Cross.
But if we aren’t mindful of why we’re doing these things, then their lasting impact begins to wane.
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Today’s Gospel isn’t meant to upend the “rules” we follow or the devotions we practice. Rather, it’s meant to make us more aware of why we follow them – to encounter the Divine.
What is my religious practice like? What difference has it made in my spiritual journey? How do I encounter God?
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Anyone who puts their heart and soul into seeking Christ will not only find him; slowly, they will also become more and more like him – holy, innocent, and pure of heart.
May that include us today.
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Image credits: (1) Radically Christian, Wes McAdams (2) Bread for Beggars (3) Ottawa Church of Christ
Brothers and sisters: Every high priest is taken from among men and made their representative before God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal patiently with the ignorant and erring, for he himself is beset by weakness and so, for this reason, must make sin offerings for himself as well as for the people. No one takes this honor upon himself but only when called by God, just as Aaron was. In the same way, it was not Christ who glorified himself in becoming high priest, but rather the one who said to him: You are my Son: this day I have begotten you; just as he says in another place, You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. In the days when he was in the Flesh, he offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered; and when he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.
The Word of the Lord.
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These are some of the most honest, humbling words I’ve read about priesthood in scripture. In our first reading from the Letter to the Hebrews it is written:
“Every high priest is taken from among men and made their representative before God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal patiently with the ignorant and erring, because he himself is beset by weakness.”
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He himself is beset by weakness.
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Before a priest is ordained, he makes three promises: prayer, celibacy, and obedience. Some also make the promise of life-long poverty.
Why don’t priests promise something easily achievable? Or something requiring less sacrifice?
Each of our promises are sown into the fields of human weakness, and that’s precisely the point.
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One of the first lessons learned in the spiritual life is that we cannot become holy – or pleasing to God – on our own. We depend upon the Lord.
By God’s grace, every priest can live out his promises faithfully, even joyfully.
And by extension, every Christian can live a joyful life pleasing to God. We can live as devoted spouses, generous servants, faithful friends, and holy intercessors, even as we are beset by weakness.
Faith is not trusting in what we can do on our own; it’s trusting that we can do all things, even what seems impossible, through Christ who strengthens us.
This is the transformative power Jesus is speaking about in today’s Gospel – pouring new wine into fresh wineskins.
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“He himself is beset by weakness.”
Today, let’s pray for all priests, especially those who struggle, that God’s grace, often dispensed through friends, would sustain their ministry. And let’s pray for one another, that each of us would be stretched into the saint God created us to be.
Not by any effort of our own, but by the power of Him who has loved us and given himself for us.
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Image credits: (1) Diocese of Westminster (2) Freepic (3) Lewis Center for Church Leadership
There was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding. When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servers, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now there were six stone water jars there for Jewish ceremonial washings, each holding twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus told them, “Fill the jars with water.” So they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, “Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter.” So they took it. 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 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.” Jesus did this as the beginning of his signs at Cana in Galilee and so revealed his glory, and his disciples began to believe in him.
The Gospel of the Lord.
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There’s an old Latin saying, In vino veritas.
“In wine, there is truth.”
Such is the case in today’s Gospel.
In this wine at this wedding in Cana, there is truth. Truth about Jesus, truth about Mary, truth about ourselves.
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Interestingly, this is one of only two appearances of Mary in John’s Gospel. She shows up at this wedding in Cana, inaugurating the Lord’s public ministry, then three years later at her Son’s crucifixion.
But Mary’s name isn’t used in either scene.
She’s only referred to as, “the mother of Jesus.” Such an intriguing fact points to the style of John’s Gospel – it’s highly symbolic and theological, built with layer upon layer. At each stage in his Gospel, there’s another lesson to be learned.
Today is the beginning.
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“They have no wine,” Mary says to Jesus.
She’s the one who notices the shortage. Thus, from the beginning, John depicts Mary as the attentive mediator between God and man. She points out our needs to Jesus, then turns and instructs us to, “Do whatever he tells you.”
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Although Jesus hears her concern, he gently rebukes her, saying, “Woman, how does your concern affect me?”
Notice Jesus does not refer to Mary in intimate terms; he uses neither “Mary” nor “Mom.”
But “woman.”
Properly translated, this word means, “lady.” In the ancient world, “woman” was a term of respect. But it never would’ve been used to refer to one’s mother.
Thus, when Jesus uses this term, he is not speaking to Mary in the context of their mother-son relationship. Rather, he’s speaking to her as her Lord, and she listens as his disciple.
This language signals to Mary that the time has come. Jesus will not return home after this wedding. Tonight, his power will be revealed, his ministry, and ultimately his journey to Jerusalem, will begin.
Their privacy, their time alone, the joy of their home life has concluded.
Although Mary does not know all that Christ’s ministry will entail – preaching, healing, death by crucifixion, or being raised from the dead – she signals that she’s ready to share Jesus with the world.
“They have no wine,” she says.
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Although he yields to Mary’s request, Jesus does not automatically provide the wine; first, he tests the faith of the waiters who remain anonymous. John doesn’t name them so that they could be any one of us.
“Fill the jars with water,” Jesus commands them. This must’ve made little sense at first – what good is extra water if they’re searching for wine?
Still, the waiters place their trust in Christ, heeding Mary’s advice to, “Do whatever he tells you.”
Suddenly, the water is transformed, not just into wine, but into the “choicest” wine, and an incredible amount at that, somewhere between 120 and 180 gallons!
John uses this miracle to speak of God’s abundance. Whereas the couple could not keep the wine flowing in spite of their best efforts, after all their human planning and resources have run dry, the joy does not end; God intervenes.
So, it is in our own lives.
Once we cease taking control and allow the Lord to act, divine transformation begins. Water is turned into wine. Scarcity into abundance. Ignorance into wisdom. Sin into grace. Death into life.
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Meanwhile, the headwaiter tastes the wine and responds stunned, “Everyone serves good wine first, and then when people have drunk freely, an inferior one; but you have kept the good wine until now.”
From a human perspective, the logical thing to do would’ve been to serve the best wine first. But God reminds us through the prophet Isaiah, “My thoughts are not your thoughts; nor are your ways my ways.”
God chooses to write straight with crooked lines. He directs our path and leads us to make decisions that, at the time, may defy human logic.
But, as Saint Paul says, “All things – even a shortage of wine at a wedding – work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose.”
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So, what does this mean for us?
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Invite Jesus to the wedding.
And don’t be afraid to include his Mother, either.
Just as the couple in today’s Gospel included Jesus in their celebration, so the Lord wants to be part of the daily rituals of celebration and sorrow in our own lives. When he’s invited, he transforms water into wine; scarcity into abundance; death into life.
The old saying is true, “In vino veritas.”
In wine – in this wine at Cana – there is Truth.
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Image credits: (1) Creative Fabrica (2) Catholic Faith Corner (3) Fine Art America
