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Word To Life
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Sunday Scripture Readings, Jan. 17, 2010
By Jeff Hensley
Catholic News Service
January 17, Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Cycle C Readings:
1) Isaiah 62:1-5
Psalm 96:1-3, 7-10
2) 1 Corinthians 12:4-11
Gospel: John 2:1-11
God is a God of surprises. Many times when we think we have things all figured out, he will turn around and reverse our expectations -- in a good way -- giving us the opportunity to be happy to be wrong.
The passage from John describing the wedding feast at Cana offers us one of those surprises and a bit of humor. Mary tells Jesus the hosts are running out of wine. He seems to reject her entreaty but, full of faith, she tells the servants to fill some gigantic stone water jars -- holding between them 120 gallons to 180 gallons -- with water, which Jesus then proceeds to turn into wine.
One imagines that when the headwaiter addresses the bridegroom after tasting this water made into wine his tone is one of indignation. He has discovered this wine, the source of which he is unaware, to be superior to the wine served previously, "Everyone serves good wine first," he says, "and when people have drunk freely, an inferior one; but you have kept the good wine until now."
The miracle at Cana, of course, is one of the signs pointing to Jesus' divinity, but it also is a parallel to Jesus' coming as Messiah to Israel, having been saved until this moment, late in the Jewish people's long journey toward God's salvation.
But how similar is this to surprises God sometimes offers us?
When my father was well advanced in age, my mother developed congestive heart failure. In response, my father developed nurturing skills that he had never had, expressing a tenderness toward my mother that was both touching and inspiring -- and totally unsuspected.
He was not a bad man, but he could be difficult as a perfectionist with high expectations for his children and his wife. These new skills seemed far beyond anything he had been capable of before. In the six years after my mother's death, he continued to mellow and become a kinder and gentler version of himself, never becoming someone totally different -- or perfect -- just better.
How wonderful it is when God surprises us by the action of his Holy Spirit and brings good from bad circumstances, makes wine out of ordinary water.
QUESTIONS:
Have you experienced pleasant surprises from God? Have you learned anything valuable from those experiences?
SCRIPTURE TO BE ILLUSTRATED:
"Do whatever he tells you" (John 2:5b).
END
Copyright © 2009 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS Word To Life column may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service.
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