Breaking Open the Word
By James Cavanagh
Jan. 17: Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Scripture readings:
• Isaiah 62:1-5
• Psalm 96:1-3, 7-10
• 1 Corinthians 12:4-11
• John 2:1-11
Overview: After Christ’s first manifestation to the Magi in Bethlehem and then to the crowds at his baptism, the next manifestation of the Lord’s divinity was at a wedding where he performed his first miracle (or “sign” as John calls it) by changing water into wine. As our first reading shows, God is like a bridegroom rejoicing over his bride. It was clearly chosen to match this week’s Gospel reading. There are many images used to describe God’s relationship to Israel: father, judge, rock, fortress, warrior, etc. But perhaps the most evocative image is that of a husband. The first reading comes from that section of Isaiah which celebrates the return of the Jews from their long exile in Babylon. Jerusalem, which had long since been “forsaken” and “desolate,” shall once again be vibrant and fruitful as the people come home. God rejoices over the city as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride. In our second reading, St. Paul talks about how the Church is not like the body of Christ but is his body. Each member of the body therefore is equal in dignity though each has a different function. All work together for the good of the whole. The presence of Christ at the wedding at Cana and the miracle he performed was a sign to his disciples that the divine bridegroom, foretold by the prophets, had come. The miracle signifies the transformation of the old order into the new. When they saw the water that had become wine, John tells us, they “began to believe in him.”
Key verse: “As a bridegroom rejoices in his bride so shall your God rejoice in you” (Is 62:5).
“Catechism of the Catholic Church”: “The entire Christian life bears the mark of the spousal love of Christ and the Church. Already baptism, the entry into the people of God, is a nuptial mystery; it is so to speak the nuptial bath which precedes the wedding feast, the Eucharist” (No. 1617).
Pope Benedict XVI: “Conjugal love is a sacramental sign of Christ’s love for his Church, a love culminating in the cross, the expression of his ‘marriage’ with humanity and at the same time the origin and heart of the Eucharist. For this reason the Church manifests her particular spiritual closeness to all those who have built their family on the sacrament of matrimony” (“Sacramentum Caritatis,” 27).
