2S after Epiphany 18.1.09 Cana.
We just have Christmas and then we have Easter.
It is said that Our Lord was born so that He could die. His death was to be the defining moment of His saving mission.
So the quickness of the time between Christmas and Easter can serve to remind us how quickly a course of action, once embarked upon, will come to its conclusion.
The Gospel story today is a major defining point in the course of Our Lord’s life. It was His first public miracle.
Being public it meant that the public would get hold of the news and start to influence events.
As well as excitement there would be opposition and hatred.
Our Lord had, in effect, signed His death warrant by working this miracle.
As water turned into wine, so wine would turn into blood - His own Precious Blood.
Jesus would be killed because He was such a threat to the kingdom of evil.
And as they treated the Master so they would treat the disciples.
As Cana was a point of no return for Our Lord, so we face a point of no return once we commit ourselves to being His disciples.
This happens at our Baptism or at such time as we fully grasp what it means to follow this Master.
Once the hand is laid on the plough.... (No man who loves father or mother more than Me is worthy of Me...) Again and again we see the radical demands of Our Lord on the disciple.
We may stumble as disciples, and lose fervour, and even sin.
But there is a basic irrevocability about our position. We know there is no escape from being His disciple because, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go’.
No matter how difficult it is to be Our Lord’s disciple there is nowhere else we can go, because this is the Truth. We are compelled to follow.
So we also have a death warrant out for us!
Through the history of the Church the best disciples have been put to death (or failing that, have spent themselves in His service).
So if there is no time of persecution there is still a kind of martyrdom as we spend all our energy in His service.
There is always the temptation to tone down the demands of being His disciple, so that we can have a comfortable life, without attracting attention. But that is to be a lukewarm disciple, or no disciple at all.
The good disciple is prepared to die for his Master.
Even if death does not come, there is a permanent willingness to die.
The saints inspire us, and remind us of what is at stake.
It may sound melodramatic to talk of dying for Christ when we consider what happens in our daily lives.
Much of what we do is routine, very ordinary - like washing the dishes, putting out the rubbish, filling in forms.
But the principle is the same.
Our Lord said: He who is faithful in little things will be faithful in great.
It is not every day that we are asked to die for Him, but it is every day we are asked to put up with inconveniences, little crosses that come our way.
What are these if not preparations for bigger challenges that may be lurking ahead of us?
Perhaps we are not strong enough to die for Christ, just yet, but we can work towards that strength by faithfully doing the tasks each day brings to us.
Our prayer then is not: Lord, save us from death, but, Lord, make us worthy to die for You.
Our first instinct is self-preservation. But with deepening understanding we change that to self-immolation.
The water was changed to wine, the wine to blood, and we are changed from cowardly, half-asleep disciples to full-grown, fully-committed warriors.
The die is cast, there is no turning back, not even looking back. There is only forwards.
Our fate is sealed, yes, but it is sealed for eternal happiness!
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