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Pastor's Message

                 Baptism of the Lord

        Jesus said to the servants "Fill the jars with water."     John 2.7

               

            Christmas time is over! Decorations are gone and Christmas Lights are out! The Crib is gone. One may have the feelings of a nostalgia that life was back to normal! This, sometimes may feel a liturgical low point. I guess spirituality has low and high moments but God always uplifts us!

           The Jews in the 1st reading of today return to Jerusalem from Exile in Babylon at the end of the 5th Century BC, to find their beloved city in ruins and their Temple, the physical symbol of God’s Presence among his People, burned to the ground. This sight cast lots of sadness and hopelessness among the people, but from the Isaiah, came God’s assurance; “For the sake Jerusalem, I will not keep silent, for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until her vindication shines out like the dawn, and her salvation as a burning torch.”    

          Yes, Judah had brought this calamity unto itself by deserting the Lord their God; but He was not like them; in his faithfulness, He would abide by the Covenant and his promise: Jerusalem would be rebuilt again; rebuilt to its original glory. Jerusalem would again be “a light to the nations,” not of its own making but as a sign of God’s Love for them!  Surprisingly, Isaiah used an image of a Marriage, to affirm God’s Love for His People; Jerusalem “shall be called ‘My delight is in Her,’ … For as a young man marries a Virgin, so shall your builder marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.” The Chosen People would again be God’s Bride; and in this Marriage, this time, His People would be “His delight.”

          And see what is happening in the Gospel Reading today! Jesus reveals himself to be the fulfillment of all Prophesies with the Miracle of changing of water into wine at the Wedding Ceremony in Cana of Galilee. Jesus is caught off guard by the sensitivity of Mary, his mother. Mary wished to save the newly-weds from embarrassment so she turned to the only One she had; “They Have No Wine;” She said to her Son. Her faith, in her Son being so great, she just told the attendants; “Do whatever He tells you.”

         The servants listened to Jesus and filled six huge jars with water, and at Jesus’ command all turned-into-wine, which at its drinking astounded the chief steward; its quality led to his comment; “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests had become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.”

        John the Apostle called this, the 1st Sign. John calls Miracles Signs, meaning they were pointers and revealers of the Nature of One performing them.

        Notice that the Miracle was perform on the 3rd Day; In the Old Testament this was “the Time for Theophany” (a manifestation or appearance of God to his people) In the central account of the meeting between God and the people of Israel on Mount Sinai, (Ex. 19:16-18) happened on the morning of the 3rd day when there was thunders and lightning and the Lord descended upon it in fire. The 3rd Day also was Christ’s Day of Resurrection.

       John the Evangelist, hints in the Miracle at Cana, that God’s 1st revelation through events of the Old Testament, were being fulfilled in Christ and were being carried forward through him to a definitive fulfillment!

       “Woman why is this a concern of yours?” Jesus responds to Mary. Jesus, wanted to clarify that His Hour came from God and no human being could determine it.

       Jesus despite this, performed the Sign, anticipating his “Hour” at the request of His Mother; giving the Miracle at Cana the privilege of being a Theophany; revealing God among his people!