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Commentary on Mark 4:21-25

We are still with Mark’s Gospel in a section of parables and images.  Today we see a number of disparate sayings.

No one lights a lamp and then covers it up.  Our Christian faith is a light for the world and not to be kept hidden. Our message is not meant to be kept secret, but to be broadcast and shared.  How many know that we are Christians?  How many see us practise our faith openly?  How many are influenced by our living according to the Christian vision?  Our faith, our knowledge of Jesus and his gospel, is not something private to be kept to ourselves.

A ‘good’ Catholic is not just one who keeps all the Commandments, goes often to Mass and stays in the ‘state of grace’, but rather ‘good’ Catholics are those who radiate their faith, share it generously with others and very much want others to have the same experience of loving and being loved by God as they have. If we are not seen to be Christians we have somehow failed, no matter how good our inner lives may be. To be a Christian is not just to be a good person, but an apostle, an evangeliser, a sharer of faith by word and action.

What we give out to others is what we ourselves will receive—and even more:

For to those who have, more will be given, and from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.

That is what happened to the man who buried his master’s money in the ground so as not to lose it.  Those who invested it got even more in return.  In the Christian life, we gain by giving, not by getting.  It is only when we give that we can get, and when everyone gives, everyone gets.

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Commentary on 2 Samuel 7:18-19,24-29

Today’s reading contains a prayer of David. David immediately responds to the word of God which has come to him through the prophet Nathan and which was the reading for yesterday.

The reading does not contain the whole prayer (see vv 18-29). It is a prayer of praise and thanksgiving made for the promises to establish an everlasting dynasty through David. It expresses wonder that God could make such commitments to him and his descendants. But he also acknowledges that what God had pledged to him was for Israel’s sake; its purpose is the fulfilment of God’s covenanted promise to his people—and that its ultimate effect will be the honour and praise of God throughout the world now and for always.

David “went in and sat before the Lord”. This presumably means that he went into the tent where the Ark was kept. And the ark was the symbol of God’s presence among his people. This is very similar to our praying before the Blessed Sacrament, the real and sacramental presence of Jesus among us.

In a way David is alarmed by his new calling:

Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far?

David, deeply aware of his own inadequacies (soon to be made very evident), begs God to make sure that what he has foretold will be realised, praying:

O Lord God, as for the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house, confirm it forever; do as you have promised.

David is fully aware that the fulfilment of God’s promise will depend entirely on God and that he, David, is a very fragile instrument in the process.

Again and again, we will see this beautiful characteristic of David—his humility and acknowledgment of his weakness. But as Paul will point out later, it is precisely in and through our weaknesses that God’s work is carried out. And David is confident because the Lord has made the solemn promise:

I will build you a House.

So he prays:

…may it please you to bless the house of your servant so that it may continue forever before you, for you, O Lord God, have spoken, and with your blessing shall the house [i.e. the dynasty] of your servant be blessed forever.

God continues to build his Kingdom through the cooperation of our feeble efforts. Let us realise that it is precisely in our weakest moments that he can achieve the most in us and through us. As Paul will say:

I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
(Phil 4/13)

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Commentary on Mark 4:1-20

Today we see Jesus teaching by the seashore. The crowds were so great that Jesus had to use one of his disciples’ boats and preach from there.  Generally speaking, Jesus teaches the crowds near the sea, but when teaching his disciples, he tends to go to a mountain or secluded place.

For the first time in Mark, we come across a number of parables spoken by Jesus.  Before we go on to discuss the parable in today’s passage, let us make a few remarks about parables in general.   In the New Testament the word ‘parable’ represents a wide range of literary forms.  In general, however, it can be said that a parable is a way of illustrating a point of Jesus’ teaching through an illustration from daily life.  Sometimes there may be an exaggerated element only to make the point of the parable more striking.

Strictly speaking, the difference between a parable and an allegory is that the former just makes one point using a comparison, while in the latter each of the items in the story has a symbolism of its own.   Generally speaking, Jesus’ parables were of the first kind, but allegory cannot always be excluded.  We will see that today’s parable of the sower  is a parable in the strict sense, but when Jesus explains the parable to his disciples it is made to look more like an allegory.  That said, this is not a point to argue about.

The parable of the sower, as presented here, is in three parts.  The first part seems to be close to what Jesus actually said and, like most parables, just makes one point.  That point is that God’s sowing represents his plan to build the Kingdom and to make his reign effective in the world. Although it may seem to meet with partial or total failure in some areas, overall it will certainly succeed.  God’s plans will not be frustrated.

It is a parable to induce confidence, especially for a tiny Church in times of difficulty and persecution (which Mark’s Church would have been experiencing). The parable concludes with the call:

If you have ears to hear, then hear!

Listening is a very important element in our relationship with God and Jesus.  In the gospel, listening involves:

• actually hearing the message,
• understanding the message,
• assimilating the message into one’s own thinking, and…

Once we have reached the third stage, the fourth and final stage will inevitably follow:

• acting on the message.

Once a way of seeing life becomes part of us, then we will want to behave accordingly.  We will not have to force ourselves to act.  This is the freedom that comes with being one with Christ and his Way.

The next part of the passage may seem strange.  It seems to say that Jesus spoke in parables so that those outside his own circle would not be able to understand.  That does not really make sense.  Was his message not for all?  In fact, Jesus is quoting a rather cynical passage from the Hebrew (Old) Testament about people who keep looking, but never see and keep listening, but never hear (see Is 6:9-10).  Why? Because if they did see and understand, they might be converted and change, but they do not want to be converted or to change.  They have already made up their minds.  We certainly meet people like that today.

In fact, the parables, using graphic images from familiar scenes in daily life, were spoken precisely to help people understand the message of Jesus.  But as we have seen, there were those who simply did not want to see even the obvious.

Finally, there is another interpretation of the parable in response to a request by the disciples for an explanation. The explanation somewhat changes the emphasis on the parable itself and it becomes more an allegory than a parable. In the original parable the emphasis is really on the Sower, i.e. God, and the ultimate success of his work.

In this alternate interpretation, the emphasis is on the soil in which the seed is trying to grow. It describes different responses to the Word of God (the seed).  We have to realise first that, in Palestine at this time, the sowing took place before the ploughing.  Then we need to visualise a rock-strewn field lying fallow since the last harvest.  There are public paths going across it.  Weeds and brambles have grown up in parts.   This is where the farmer will scatter his seed.

Some seed falls on the barren paths.  It gets no welcome and never even begins to grow.  Birds come and eat it up.  This refers to those who come in contact with the message of Jesus, but it never even gets a start in their lives.

Some falls on the rocks, where in the crevices there may be some moisture.  Though the seed begins to grow, it soon runs out of moisture and nourishment, and it withers and dies.  This soil is compared to those who embrace Christianity with enthusiasm, but once they meet with some opposition or persecution (which would have been common in the early Church), they fall away.

Some seed falls among the weeds and brambles. It takes root, but the weeds are growing too, and they eventually choke out the wheat.  This is a picture of the Christian who gets caught up in the prevailing (materialistic) values of the surrounding society and ends up producing nothing.

Finally, there is seed which falls on fertile soil and yields a good harvest in varying amounts.  These are the Christians who really ‘hear’ the word (see above) and produce much fruit.

Notice that to be a Christian, it is not enough just to be fervent and observant, but one also must be productive:

…every good tree bears good fruit…Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
(Matt 7:17,19)

Perhaps we may reflect today which of the above categories best describes us.

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Commentary on 2 Samuel 7:4-17

David is now comfortably set up in his new palace in Jerusalem and there is relative peace as his enemies are, for the time being, lying low. It is in this situation that David begins to think of the Ark of the Lord. In a verse prior to the reading today, he approaches the prophet Nathan and says:

See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the Ark of God stays in a tent. (2 Sam 7:2)

Nathan seems to agree and tells David:

Go, do all that you have in mind, for the Lord is with you.
(2 Sam 7:3)

In this, the prophet is not quite right because that very night the Lord had a prophetic message for Nathan to pass on to David.

The prophecy is built round a contrast—David is not to build a house (a temple) for God; rather he is to build a ‘house’, that is, a dynasty. The essence of the prophecy is the perpetuity of the Davidic house and this is how David understands it. And that is reflected in the Responsorial Psalm for today:

I have made a covenant with my chosen one;
I have sworn to my servant David:
I will establish your descendants forever
and build your throne for all generations…
Forever I will keep my steadfast love for him,
and my covenant with him will stand firm.
I will establish his line forever
and his throne as long as the heavens endure.
(Ps 89:3-4,28-29)

Up to this, every experience David has had points clearly to a special calling to be the shepherd of his people. He has led his people to victory over their enemies. All this is part of establishing David as head of a dynasty giving security to his people for generations to come.

The prophecy, then, stretches beyond Solomon, David’s immediate successor, to whom it is applied a little later in the passage and in other Old Testament texts. It also points to a very special descendant who will enjoy God’s special favour, namely, the Messiah Jesus. And the Acts of the Apostles explicitly applies the text to Jesus. Peter, when addressing the crowds on the day of Pentecost says:

Fellow Israelites, I may say to you confidently of our ancestor David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Since he was a prophet, he knew that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would put one of his descendants on his throne. (Acts 2:29-30)

First, in his message to Nathan, God questions whether David should be the one to build a house for the Ark and second, since the days when the Israelites left Egypt the Lord has never had a house and has always lived in a tent. And never once in all those years did the Lord ever ask why his people had never built him a proper house. Of course, David’s intentions were commendable, but God had other tasks for him. His gift and his mission was to fight the Lord’s battles until Israel was securely at rest in its land.

David misunderstood the Lord’s priorities. He was reflecting the pagan notion that the gods were mainly interested in human beings only as builders and maintainers of their temples and as practitioners of their cult. Instead, the Lord had raised up rulers in Israel to shepherd his people, and that is why David the shepherd boy was brought from one kind of pasture to one of a much more important kind.

The Lord, through his prophet, implies that the main priority is to set up God’s people in security:

I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place and be disturbed no more, and evildoers shall afflict them no more…

And, instead of David making a house for the Lord, it is the Lord who is going to make a house for David. In fact, God has been building up Israel ever since the days of Abraham, and now he commits himself to build David’s royal house so that the promise to Israel may be fulfilled—secure rest in the promised land.

It is God’s work that brings about David’s kingdom. Like those made with Noah, Abram and Phinehas, this covenant with David is unconditional, grounded only in God’s firm and gracious will. It will find its ultimate fulfilment in the kingship of Christ, who was born of the tribe of Judah and the house of David.

After David’s death, a son (Solomon) will be his heir and the beginning of a secure dynasty that will last forever. It is Solomon “who shall build a house for my name”. It is when Israel is at rest, and David’s dynasty in the person of his son is secure, that the Ark will find a deserving resting place, the great and magnificent Temple that Solomon built.

And God will act towards Solomon as a father to a son. If he does wrong, the son will be chastised, but unlike the case of Saul, God will never withdraw his favour from him or his successors. In Jesus Christ this promise will find its ultimate fulfilment.

And then there is the final promise:

Your [David’s] house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever.

The promise of an everlasting kingdom for the house of David became the focal point for many later prophecies and powerfully influenced the development of the Messianic hope in Israel. In the years following, there would be many ups and downs, much good and much evil down the centuries, but the promise held good with its culmination in the coming of Jesus, the Son of David. In fact, through Jesus, the descendant of David, the House of David continues and will continue to the end of time.

Looking at this reading, we can also reflect on the place of our church building in our Christian life. In the early Church there were, paradoxically no church buildings, but many churches—in the sense of Christ-centred communities.

We need always to remember that, although our church buildings have a very important symbolic and sacramental meaning, the real presence of Christ is in his Body, in his people. For us Christians, our Temple is the temple of our own bodies, individually and collectively.

As we mentioned earlier, if the city of Rome and all in it were to be obliterated by a massive earthquake, it would not make a jot of difference to the continuing existence of the Church. The same can be said for our own parishes. And, in fact, we see parishes being closed down and new ones being established all the time.

Another point for reflection might be our understanding of what God wants from us. David was sure that he should build a house as a dwelling place for God, but the Lord had very different ideas. Do I really know what God wants me to be doing? Are my plans the same as his? Maybe we should spend a little time today thinking about this.

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Commentary on Mark 3:31-35

We know that many of Jesus’ family already thought he was mad, and he had become an embarrassment to them. Now they come to the house where Jesus is teaching and, standing outside, send in a message asking for him. Do they want to talk with him or to remove him from what he is doing?

The message is sent in:

Your mother and your brothers are outside asking for you.

To which Jesus replies:

Who are my mother and my brothers?

And pointing to those sitting at his feet listening to his teaching, he says:

Here are my mother and my brothers!

And he clarifies that further by adding:

Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.

We should note that Jesus’ family is described twice as being on the ‘outside’. They are ‘outsiders’. By implication, those sitting in a circle with Jesus are on the ‘inside’—they are the ‘insiders’.

What Jesus is clearly saying is that being on the ‘inside’ is not just a question of location, but of relationship. That relationship is not by blood, but by identification with the Way of Jesus. To be a Christian is to enter into a new family, with stronger ties than those of blood, and where everyone is seen as a brother or a sister. The ‘insider’ is defined simply as anyone “who does the will of God”. So, it can include those who are not Christian at all.

A disturbing question that might arise from this passage is the status of Jesus’ mother, Mary. Was she also on the ‘outside’? The answer is an unequivocal no! We know from Luke’s Gospel that, when invited by the angel to be the mother of Jesus, Mary gave an unconditional ‘Yes’.

Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word. (Luke 1:38)

This was her total surrender to the will of God, and it was something that she never withdrew through all the difficulties she experienced and, most of all, when the “sword of sorrow” pierced her heart as she saw her own Son’s heart pierced on the Cross. She was with him to the very end, and finally would share his joy in the Resurrection.

On one occasion, when Mary was praised as blessed and privileged for having a Son like Jesus, Jesus replied:

Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it! (Luke 11:27-28)

Mary is on the ‘inside’, not because she was the mother of Jesus, but because of her totally identifying with his mission and being with him to the very end. May we be able to say the same.

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Commentary on 2 Samuel 6:12-15,17-19

Today’s reading describes a very joyful occasion as David has the Ark of the Covenant brought into Jerusalem. This was in fact a second attempt. The Ark had been in the house of Abinadab in Baala of Judah. From there, the Ark was mounted on a cart to be brought to the city. It was guided by Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, who walked beside it, while David and the people played instruments and sang songs. At one point, when the oxen seemed to be causing the cart to lose its balance, Uzzah reached out and touched the Ark to steady it. Immediately he was struck down for his sacrilegious act which caused great distress to David. He was even afraid now to bring it into Jerusalem. Reverence for God can so easily degenerate into superstition. For us Christians, that is also so true.

For three months the Ark remained in the house of Obed-edom, and this brought him many blessings from the Lord. It is at this point that our reading begins today.

Having seen how God had blessed the house of Obed-edom and that God’s anger had been appeased, David decided to bring the Ark up to Jerusalem with great fanfare and jubilation.

However, after the bearers of the Ark had only advanced six paces, David offered a sacrifice of an ox and a fatling. Thus, he showed his great reverence for the presence of God which the Ark symbolised.

We are told in the First Book of Chronicles, when speaking to the Levites, David says:

Because you did not carry it the first time [when the Ark was brought from Abinadab’s house], the Lord our God burst out against us because we did not give it proper care. So the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the Ark of the Lord, the God of Israel. And the Levites carried the Ark of God on their shoulders with the poles, as Moses had commanded according to the word of the Lord.
(1 Chron 15:13-15)

A little later we are told:

And because God helped the Levites who were carrying the Ark of the covenant of the Lord, they sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams. (1 Chron 15:26)

As the Ark was brought up, David, in his great joy, danced before it “with abandon”, wearing just a linen loincloth. He had just offered sacrifice and was about to give a blessing. The garment he was wearing was a close-fitting, sleeveless pullover, normally of hip length and was different from the special ephod (a type of apron) worn by the high priest.

In a verse omitted from today’s reading we are told that David’s wife, Michal, who was the daughter of Saul, was quite disgusted to see her royal husband making a show of himself, “leaping and dancing” before the Lord. His behaviour was quite unworthy of the dignity of a king.

After it had arrived in the city, the Ark was placed, for the time being, in a special tent prepared for it. David, as king, offered holocausts and peace offerings and then blessed the people in the name of God. Food was then distributed to all—for each one a loaf of bread, a cut of roast meat and a raisin cake. At the end all returned to their homes.

The Ark represented the presence of God among his people. It was, to some extent, seen as a “real” presence and, in that sense, could be seen as a forerunner of our church tabernacles.

On the one hand, let us use every opportunity to spend some time before the special presence of Jesus in our church tabernacles (the word really means ‘tent’). At the same time, let us deepen our awareness of God’s very real presence in every single person, thing and event of our lives, a presence of which the Eucharist is the sacrament and sign.

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Commentary on Mark 3:22-30

We have seen how the religious leaders have tried various ploys to expose Jesus as a violator of the Law. They now try a new tactic to discredit him by making two accusations:

1. He is possessed, not just by any ordinary demon, but by Beelzebul the prince of demons.
2. It is through the power of the demon in him that he expels evil spirits from others.

Jesus answers both charges. He responds to the second charge by showing its internal contradictions. If the devil were acting against himself, his power would eventually collapse like a divided household. To drive the demon from someone as Jesus did was to liberate that person, free that person from evil powers. Why would the demon want to do something like that? The charge does not make sense. It could only be made by a perverse mind.

Nor can someone:

…enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered.

Clearly Jesus is the strong man who cannot be overcome.

The next statement of Jesus, however, may cause difficulties for some. Jesus says:

Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness but is guilty of an eternal sin…

But why only this sin? Is God’s mercy not infinite and omnipotent?

The Spirit is the origin of all that is good in Jesus, in people, and in the world. God is present in the world through the Spirit. To blaspheme against the Holy Spirit is to deliberately refuse to see that presence, that goodness—as the scribes, for instance, obstinately refused to see the hand of God’s love in all that Jesus was doing. This was something the ordinary people had no difficulty in seeing.

Once we are in a position where we have closed our minds to God’s presence in our lives, how can God reach us? God readily forgives those who reach out to him in sorrow and repentance. Forgiveness came to the Prodigal Son when he turned back to find his father. Forgiveness for God enables reconciliation; it is the healing of our wound. He does not, he will not, reach into a heart that has closed itself tight. He will never force his way in.

Love is not love if it is not free. But the corollary of that freedom is the ability to choose the opposite. That was the choice the scribes were making.

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Commentary on 2 Samuel 5:1-7,10

Up to this point, David had been king of only Judah, the southern kingdom of the totality constituted by the territory of the Twelve Tribes. But now he is also chosen as king over Israel, i.e. the northern kingdom as well.

David is approached by the representatives, including elders and armed soldiers, of the tribes which made up the northern territory known as Israel. They give three reasons why they should recognise David as their king.

First, David himself is one of them:

…we are your bone and flesh.

Even though unity between the north and south had been destroyed in civil strife after the death of Saul, they still recognised the blood relationship.

Second, during the reign of Saul, it was David who led the armies to war and brought them back—often victorious.

And third, because the Lord had said earlier to David:

It is you who shall be shepherd of my people Israel, you who shall be ruler over Israel.

David now makes a solemn agreement with them in the presence of the Lord, accepting to be their king while they accepted their responsibilities and allegiance to him. For the third time, he is anointed king (the first was by his family in the presence of Samuel and the second by the people of Judah). So, while David was elevated as king over Judah by his tribe and later became king over Jerusalem by conquest (as we shall presently see), his rule over the northern tribes was by virtue of a treaty of submission.

It was to be the beginning of a long reign, lasting altogether 40 years—seven years over the southern kingdom of Judah and then 33 years over both Israel and Judah. There is one kingdom, but the old divisions remain. David is called king over “all Israel and Judah”. The two parts will be plagued by internal strife between the two parts until they finally break up in a permanent division.

The second part of the reading briefly describes one of David’s most significant accomplishments, making Jerusalem his capital. Its capture actually took place after David’s victory over the Philistines, which is described a little later on.

Jerusalem, a fort city built on a hill, was at this time under the control of the Jebusites, a Canaanite people. One can understand why David would have wanted control of it. Anyone who held that hill controlled the countryside all around and so it changed hands many times.

The site was first occupied in the third millennium BC and was already a royal city in the time of Abraham. It was located on the border between Judah and Benjamin (where David came from), but was controlled by neither tribe. At the time of the conquest when the Israelites arrived in the Promised Land, both Judah and Benjamin had attacked the city, but it was quickly lost again to the Jebusites. It was even sometimes referred to by the name of Jebus. The Jebusites were a Canaanite people inhabiting the area in and around Jerusalem.

Standing on high ground with very steep sides, the Jebusites regarded the city as impregnable. Hence their jibe that it could be easily defended even by the blind and the lame. But capture the city David did. And, for the first time in the Old Testament it is called Zion, a name whose meaning is not known. Little did David know the long history it would have down to the present day. A city that is full of significance for Jews, Christians and Muslims. (For those with interest in this topic, see the interesting note on the choice of Jerusalem as capital and on its development over the centuries during Old Testament times found in the New Jerusalem Bible in a note about the 2 Samuel 5:9 verse.)

The city David conquered covered somewhat less than 11 acres and could have housed not many more than 3,500 inhabitants. By locating his royal city in a newly conquered town on the border between the two parts of his realm, David united the kingdom under his rule without seeming to subordinate one part to the other.

The city that David captures is, as we have just noted, for the first time called “Zion”. Originally the name appears to have been given to the southernmost hill of the city on which the Jebusite fortress was located. As the city expanded (from the days of Solomon onward), the name continued to be applied to the entire city. And from this point onward, it is also called the “City of David”.

For us, it is a city forever linked with the life, death and resurrection of our Saviour, himself a direct descendant of David. One prays that one day it might become a symbol of unity between the followers of the Book—Jews, Christians and Muslims.

The word ‘Jerusalem’ contains the word salem, which ironically means ‘peace’. It is the same as the Hebrew shalom and the Arabic salaam. Shalom was the greeting the Risen Jesus gave to his disciples and salaam is the word by which Arabs greet each other. In the Malay language, used in Indonesia and Malaysia, the greeting word is selamat. In the Philippines the same word means ‘thanks’. All the religions of the Book are based on a commitment to peace and harmony. As the hymn says:

Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.

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Commentary on 1 Corinthians 1:26-31; Matthew 13:44-46

The memorial readings are clearly related to the situation of Agnes. The Gospel is taken from the 13th chapter of Matthew, which contains a set of parables, all related to the Kingdom of God (although Matthew, out of a Jewish reverence for the name of God, calls it “kingdom of heaven”). Those belong to the Kingdom, or rather the Kingship or Reign of God, who have totally identified themselves with the will of God as set out for us by Jesus, the Son and the Word of God.

Today’s passage is one of two small parables which compare God’s Way as a precious treasure for which everything else is worth giving up in order to make it part of one’s life. There is a slight difference between the two parables. In the first parable, the treasure is found by accident, but once discovered, everything else becomes secondary. In the second parable, the existence of such a treasure is known, but not its whereabouts. But again, once discovered, everything is set aside in order to gain it. The first of these parables in today’s Gospel clearly applies to Agnes who, having found Jesus and his Call, does not hesitate to sacrifice her life rather than be separated from it.

The First Reading from the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians are words of encouragement from Paul to the Christians of Corinth who, in the eyes of the world, were seen as being people of low social status. And, in fact, it is notable that the expansion of the early Church in a pagan and often hostile world was achieved by people of little social standing or influence.

But these words can be applied to the young girl whose feast we are celebrating today:

…not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to abolish things that are…

Again and again in the history of Christianity we have seen how the self-sacrificing victims of the rich and powerful are the ones we remember and celebrate while their executioners have been long forgotten. It is for us to reflect today on where real power and success lies. Not in wealth, status or fame, in what we can get, but in a readiness to be totally committed in freedom to truth and love, in what we can give and share.

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Commentary on Isaiah 62:1-5; 1 Corinthians 12:4-11; John 2:1-12

Are you one of those people who ‘feel bad about feeling good’? There are some, maybe more than we think, who seem to think that, in order to be a ‘good’ Catholic they always have to be denying themselves, or always ‘making sacrifices’. If they go out to have a good time, they come back afterwards with guilty feelings. If they think they are really enjoying life, there must be something wrong. They are being ‘too worldly’.

Yet, in today’s Gospel we read a story about Jesus, his mother and his disciples taking part in a friend’s wedding party. Do we feel that Jesus should have just attended the wedding ceremony (the ‘religious part’) and kept away from the festivities? Do we have a problem with Mary enjoying a glass or two of wine?

Not only that, when the wine runs out, Jesus is the one who sees that there is a plentiful supply. In fact, he provides them with so much that they could not possibly have drunk it all.

One clear message of today’s readings is that our Christian religion is a religion of joy. The genuine Christian really knows how to enjoy life. So many Christians have such a gloomy outlook on life and an even more gloomy attitude towards their religion. When you go into an average church on a Sunday morning, do you get the impression that this is really a happy bunch of people who have come to celebrate? For many people, religion, the Catholic religion, seems a terribly serious business.

Giving life
Today’s Gospel comes from John and the theme of this Gospel is that Jesus is the source of life. In chapter 10 Jesus says:

I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
(John 10:10)

If, then, you are one of those people who feel that to be a Christian is a burden, then it seems that you have not yet grasped the meaning of Christ’s message. To be a Christian is to experience a real sense of liberation—to experience a new life, a new sense of happiness, a new peace, a new relationship with people.

A revelation
During the recent Christmas season and up to now, we have been seeing God revealing himself through Jesus in several ways. First, when Jesus is born, as a refugee and homeless poor person lying in an animal’s feeding box, God is revealing himself in his solidarity with the poor and needy of the world. The first people to visit him are the poor and social outcasts, the shepherds. They recognise their God and worship him with hearts full of joy.

Second, God reveals himself to the foreigners, strangers, believers in other religions and those of no religion, coming from remote parts of the world. This happens on the feast of the Epiphany when we remember those ‘wise men’ who come from ‘a far country’ to worship and offer precious gifts. Again the atmosphere is one of joy and gladness.

Third, God reveals himself when Jesus is baptised in the river Jordan and is filled with the Spirit of God. Of this young carpenter, at this stage still a non-entity in the crowd, God said:

This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him! (Mark 9:7)

To listen to this young man, Jesus, is to listen to God himself.

And now, today, for a fourth time, in John’s Gospel, God reveals himself when Jesus performs his first ‘sign’. (John does not call them ‘miracles’, but ‘signs’ of God acting among his people. There will be seven such ‘signs’ altogether in his Gospel.)

Understanding the symbolism
To understand today’s story we need to be aware that, like much of John’s writing, it is full of symbolic language. We would miss much if we were to see here only a ‘miracle’ by which Jesus helps a young bridegroom who finds himself in an embarrassing position on his wedding day.

In the first part of John’s Gospel, after the Prologue, the events described are seen as taking place over a period of seven days, one week. Today’s story takes place on the seventh day of that week. According to the Hebrew Testament, when God created the world, when he gave life, he used six days for his work and rested on the seventh. In John’s Gospel, too, it opens with a seven-day period which represents a “new creation”, when new life is given to the world through Jesus. And, on the final day of this ‘week’, we celebrate the life that God has given us through Jesus.

Even more significantly, today’s passage begins with the words “on the third day”, that is, on the third day after the previous incident was described, but overall, the seventh day of that creative work. Of course, the phrase “on the third day” is a foretaste of that ‘third day’ on which the crucified Jesus rose to new life, a new life which was to be shared with all of us. So as God rested on the seventh day when his work was complete, in John’s Gospel the seventh day is one of joy and celebration for the life we have received.

Six water pots
The Gospel today says there were “six stone water jars” which were full of water. They were there for the ceremonies of purification which were required by tradition on coming into the house and before eating. In this story, they represent the laws and religious customs of the Hebrew dispensation. And there are six, which is one short of the complete number, seven. (John tends to give a lot of meaning to numbers, especially the number ‘7’, in his Gospel.)

Through the intervention of Jesus, the water in these jars is transformed into wine and a first-class wine at that. Says “the person in charge”:

Everyone serves the good wine first and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.

This wine represents the Christian Testament, the new life and the new Way of Jesus. It takes the place of the ritual water of the old Covenant.

A similar image is presented in the other Gospels. In the confrontation between the Jewish leaders and Jesus, he speaks of the “new wine” which cannot be put into old containers. The ‘new wine’ which he gives needs new wineskins. In other words, the new vision of life that Jesus brings can only be understood by leaving behind traditional ways of thinking and doing.

And there is an awful lot of wine. Each jar, we are told, could hold up to 20 or 30 gallons. Altogether 120-180 gallons of wine! Even the grandest party thrown by the super rich would hardly provide that much—and this is just a village wedding! Again, this is a symbol of the generosity and liberality of God and the fullness of life which he wants us to experience. It reminds us of the feeding of vast numbers of people in the desert when so much was left over. God wants to give us life, “life in abundance”. There is no need to feel bad about feeling good. No one should be enjoying life more than the disciple of Jesus.

A wedding
All this is taking place at a wedding banquet. In the Hebrew (Old) Testament, as the First Reading indicates, Israel was visualised as the bride of God. In the Christian (New) Testament, the Church, the Christian community, is the bride of Jesus. This image is spelt out in the Letter to the Ephesians where it is also linked to marriage (see Eph 5:25-27).

When we wish to celebrate—a wedding, a birthday, an anniversary, or whatever—we normally sit down together to eat. In the Scripture, too, life with God and with Jesus is pictured as a banquet. It is not a time for self-denial and sacrifice, but a time to enjoy and be happy together. Why should the disciples fast when the Bridegroom is with them (see Matt 9:14-15)?

Reminder of the Eucharist
And so this wedding today reminds us of the meal we celebrate every Sunday, the Eucharist, when we gather to eat and drink around the table of the Lord. Our Mass is also a time of celebration. There is something sadly missing if we find it a boring experience. It is tragic if we regard ‘faithful attendance’ (the phrase is revealing) as a kind of ‘sacrifice’ or ‘penance’ or even a ‘duty’—thinking “Even though Mass is terribly boring, I never miss it.”

And what is there to celebrate? At its deepest, we celebrate all that God has done for us in Jesus Christ through his life, his teaching, his suffering, death and resurrection—all signs of God’s overwhelming love for us.

In the Second Reading, too, Paul reminds us of the treasury of gifts that has been given to each one of us. These gifts are not merely to be used for ourselves. They are the means, the ‘talents’, we have been given, through which we make our unique contribution to our Christian community and to the overall task of building a society based on love, justice, freedom and peace. And we have much to celebrate and be thankful for in so far as so many people have used their gifts to promote my well-being and help me in my needs. The degree to which each of us does this decides the level of celebration in our Eucharist. Perhaps our Eucharists are not very exciting because, in fact, we have not been using our gifts for each other as much as we should.

Place of Mary
Finally, Mary is there at the feast. It was through her sensitive awareness that Jesus came to know about the bridegroom’s predicament. In this story, she is not only the mother of Jesus; she also represents the Church.

It is through the Christian community that Jesus comes to us. It is through the Church, through our brothers and sisters in the community, that we learn about the life that God in Jesus wants us to enjoy and share with him.

Through the Church, we receive the help we need to lead that ‘full life’. And through me, because I, too, am a member of that community, others are helped to fullness of life. And so the Second Reading speaks of the unique gifts that each one has been given. These gifts have one purpose only—the building up of the community to greater fullness of life.

That is the life of the Church: we all give and we all receive. Today, what will I give to help others towards enjoying a fuller and happier life?