2nd Sunday after Epiphany 15.1.17 Sacrifice
Our Lord revealed Himself slowly when He came among us.
God had come to His own people. He did not advertise the
fact that He was God. He wanted to win people over to the idea, and they would
be changed in the process.
He spent a long time in the private life at Nazareth; and
that teaches us the value of getting the little things right; of making sure
our private life matches our public professions. And the immense importance of
the family in God's plans.
Eventually it was time to go out into the public arena and
be more explicit about His intentions.
The miracle of Cana was His first public miracle. It meant
that forces opposed to Him, demonic and human, would now work harder to destroy
Him.
It was a decisive step towards Calvary, because that is
where it would all lead.
Cana to Calvary. We could say that Salvation came in two
stages:
The first stage is symbolised by the turning of water into
wine (Cana). God takes what is good, and makes it better still. Such as family
life, exemplified in the Holy Family. Such as other miracles of Our Lord where
He healed the sick, calmed the storm, raised the dead.
The miracles of Our Lord were given as indications of His
desire to do good, to repair, to enrich, heal, bless, increase, to overpower
evil with good.
This display of power was just the beginning. He had other
things in mind, and they would be revealed when the people were ready to
receive them.
With His earlier miracles it was a problem that people would
seek only the practical benefit of the miracle, and miss the deeper
significance.
When He fed the thousands with bread they wanted to make Him
King, but only in an earthly sense. He had to escape from them, because they
did not yet understand (Jn 6,15).
Our Lord could have gone about indefinitely healing the sick
and feeding the hungry. But He was looking for a more permanent change in the
human situation.
He shows a greater love. He lavishes things on us, and that
is love to one degree. But to go further and allow Himself to be killed as a
sacrifice – that is the fullest possible love.
The water to wine is the first stage. God enriches,
beautifies etc.
The turning of wine to blood (Calvary) is the second stage, whereby
God gives us a still more powerful drink.
Not just to refresh and rejoice, but to transform us into
copies of Himself - such that we are prepared to lay down our lives, or at
least appreciate what He has done.
This being transformed is much more impressive than just
receiving a plate full of food. It shows us the full extent of salvation to
which we are called.
It is not just going to
Heaven but being made fit for Heaven.
This was Our Lord’s plan all along, and Cana was a major
part of its revelation.
We all want physical blessings, water into wine.
Not everyone wants the next stage - to be a martyr, or to
suffer for much of their lives. Yet we come to accept it, and even rejoice in
it, with sufficient exposure to the grace of Christ.
Gratitude for the first stage of salvation - the many
miracles and blessings - will put us in the right path.
If we are attentive enough to God's interventions around us,
we cannot help but move to a deeper commitment (the second stage), and be ready
to give of ourselves in a sacrificial way.
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