Reflection for the 2nd Sunday – Ordinary Time, Year C

In his book Overcoming Life’s Disappointments Rabbi Harold S. Kushner recounts this story:

A young woman is set up on a blind date with a young paediatrician. He comes across as nerdy and awkward, a shy, stumbling conversationalist who spills soup on his tie during dinner. The woman is contemplating faking a headache and asking to be taken home early when the doctor is paged. He’s called to an emergency. He invites her to come along, since it was on the way to her home. Seeing him interact with a sick child, she discovers a tenderness in him that surprises her and she begins to speculate about what sort of husband and father he might be. If he isn’t that man of her dreams, she wonders, maybe it’s time for her to change those dreams.

In John’s Gospel, Christ works his first sign by creating wine. Not that Jesus sought to turn faith into an ongoing party — far from it – but in the miracle at Cana, Jesus offers for the first time the “new wine” of hope restored and reconciliation renewed. It’s a sign that should dramatically alter our “dreams” and perspective of God — from debilitating fear to transforming joy, from cold detachment to promising engagement, from resignation in the wake of life’s hurts and disappointments to gratitude for the gift of life itself.

The “new wine” of the Messiah’s coming opens our spirits and hearts to see Christ in one another, to behold the life and love of God in our midst, to dare to dream of a life and a world transformed in the compassion and forgiveness of God.