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Cana and the New Creation

Homily
Sunday, January 14, 2007, 2nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C

Something marvelous happens when we begin to count the “days” mentioned in the Gospel of John. The first verse of the passage of the wedding at Cana starts, “On the third day.

The first day is when the “Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask [John the Baptist], ‘Who are you?’,” to which he responded, “I am not the Christ… I am a voice crying out in the wilderness.” (Jn 1:19-23).

The second day is when John the Baptist saw Jesus and gave his first testimony of Jesus as the Lamb of God (Jn 1:29 ff.).

The third day is when two disciples began following him, and they stayed with him all that day. They followed Jesus, he asked, “What do you seek?” They replied, “Rabbi, which means Teacher, where do you live?” Jesus told them, “Come and see,” and “they stayed with him that day” (Jn 35-42).

The fourth day Jesus calls Nathaniel, by the ministry of Philip. (Jn 43-51).

And thereupon the next verse says, “On the third day.” It was the seventh day of the week, it was the sabbath, the rest of the Lord. And it was on this seventh day when the wedding feast was celebrated, to which Jesus was invited. Jesus was truly the groom. His bride is the Church, whom he sanctified by his death. And so great is God’s love for sinful man!

Jesus had come into the world, he manifested his glory, his disciples believed in him, yes, even before this event for the knew he was the Messiah (cf Jn. 2:11); it was the new week of creation, for Jesus is the new creation, and he re-created sinful man according to Grace. This is why St. Paul says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Cor 5:17)

We have all been re-created, re-born in baptism, re-designed by mercy, rebuilt by God’s grace. Jesus told Nicodemus, “Amen, amen I say to you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again,” and when Nicodemus cannot understand this, Jesus replies, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit” (Jn 3: 3-8).

And what is this new creation like? Here at Cana, Jesus commands them to fill jars with water, and he in turn gives the wedding couple somewhere between 100 and 150 gallons of premium wine. This reminds us of the prophecy found in the book of Joel, “The threshing floors shall be full of grain, and vats shall overflow with wine and oil” (Joel 2:24), prophesies not only of the sacraments of the Holy Eucharist and Confirmation, but foretelling the abundance of salvation to be brought by the savior.

And again, in Amos we read, “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when… the mountains shall drip with sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it; I will restore the fortunes of my people… and they shall never be plucked up out of the land which I have given them,” the land which is really the Church triumphant.

So if this is the new creation, and Jesus has brought it, what does this mean for our lives?

This means we need to live according to what we are. Birds make nests because they are birds; dogs bark because they are dogs; yet men do no live according to their nature, because they all have sinned. Of all the things in the visible universe, man alone is that creature who can decide whether to act according to what he is.

What you are is a new creation, so live as those who have been saved by the blood of Christ. Live for God, follow Jesus Christ and imitate him, cultivate the gifts of the Holy Spirit by humility and good works, grow in all the virtues.

I often meet Catholics that are discouraged because of their own sins, cast down because of the great onslaught which devastates the faith, scandalized at the mediocrity and sins of laity and clergy alike, and downtrodden by so many difficulties.

But why be discouraged, if we have been re-created according to grace? If God lives within, who can cast you down? Why should we not pray with great interior contemplation, just because my neighbor brings me scandal? And if God is for us, who can be against?

Now, here I am not saying we should simply by into the “power of positive thinking,” but something much greater. Pagans and servants of sin can thrive on positive thinking. Christians re-created by grace don’t need the power of positive thinking, because we have the supernatural virtue of hope. By hope we trust that God, in his mercy, and not for any of our own merits, first will bring us to heaven, and second will give us the means we need in this life to attain it.

So let us not live as men who find their happiness in the things of this world, but let us live remembering the love of the groom, Jesus Christ, who fills our souls with his salvation, filling the vessels of our souls up to the very brim (cf. Jn 2:7). To do this, my dear brothers and sisters, I beg you in the name of Christ to make God the most important part of your life. Everything, everything in this world is a means to attain the love of God. Participate in the sacraments – and how strongly I recommend even daily Mass and monthly confession! – follow the commandments, make the beatitudes your law of life, and live in the peace of Christ. Amen.