My question for today’s reflection is a personal one. Now that the season of Christmas is over and the lights and decorations have been put away, what has happened to the gifts you and your family received? How many of the toys are broken – or discarded because of a lack of interest? What did you do with Aunt Gertrude’s “whatch-you-call-it” that she gave you with such love, but you really can’t stand? Which gifts have been shoved away, unused – waiting the time to be re-gifted in a white elephant sale? And which ones do you really like and use every day?
Each year, all of us receive material gifts we never use, as well as those we truly love. But what about the other gifts we have. The ones we have received from God? Yes, the focus for today’s reflection is rightly on these gifts: a focus on how do we use the gifts – the talents and abilities which God has given to each one of us?
We are, of course, reminded of those gifts in the reading we heard from Saint Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. Paul, who seems to like to list things, speaks of the gifts of: “expression of wisdom … [and] of knowledge; faith, healing, mighty deed, [and] prophecy …” that is, speaking out on behalf of God. He identifies the gift of “discernment of spirits,” the ability to tell the difference between good and evil. To these seven, he has also added the gifts of speaking in tongues and of interpreting them, gifts which are related to our ability to pray to God and to understand what God says to us in prayer.
All of these gifts are ways to understand how God works in our lives and how we are to share this understanding with others. Saint Paul reminds us that there is a relationship between these gifts and our responsibilities for the use of these gifts. Our reading began with the words: “There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; there are different forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone.” He also said: “To each person the manifestation of the spirit is given for [the common good.]”
It seems from this, that each one of us is given a gift that we are to use in the service of others. To receive a gift and honor the giver, means that we are to use the gift and that we are to share this gift with others. If you put Aunt Gertrude’s whatch-you-call-it away in the closet, you please yourself; you do not please Aunt Gertrude, who thought you needed whatever it was she gave you. Perhaps the Holy Spirit is much like Aunt Gertrude. We receive gifts from the Holy Spirit but don’t know what to do with them and so we stack them away, unused. So, maybe it’s time to think about how we respond to a gift.
To approach our attitudes about these gifts, we might take a closer look at today’s gospel reading: the story of the wedding feast at Cana. Here at Christ the Good Shepherd, we are reminded of this story every time we look at the Marian window. Most of you probably know that the central panels in our window show Mary and Jesus at the wedding in Cana, where she asks him for his help and he performs what John calls the first of his signs of glorification: the turning of water into wine.
Biblical scholars tell us that the Gospel of John is a special theological approach to Jesus and is noted for its symbolism. It’s for sure that today’s gospel reading has a high level of symbolism. First of all, we have six stone jars filled to the brim with water and this is done under the authority of Jesus. The total volume of water turned into wine is over one-hundred-fifty gallons or something like six-hundred bottles of wine. Now that’s a wedding party, considering that the original supply had already run out!
In symbolic terms, some see Jesus taking the Jewish tradition of the law, signified by the water used for purification rites, and transforming it into the superabundance of the new covenant. They see relationships between the first sign of the glorification of Jesus in the Gospel of John and the last sign of his glorification at his crucifixion. Here, at the beginning of John’s gospel, Jesus addresses Mary in terms of the woman who does not recognize that his time has not yet come. At the end of John’s gospel, Jesus addresses her in terms of the woman who is told to look upon her new son, the beloved disciple who represents all of us. The water changed into wine is seen in terms of the water and blood which pour from the pierced side of Jesus, a scene that is unique to John’s gospel.
And in between, the superabundance of the water turned into wine is also viewed in context with the other times water is emphasized in John’s gospel.
● Times which include his telling Nicodemus we need to be born again with water and the spirit.
● Or the living water Jesus talks about with the woman at the well.
● Or the cure of the paralytic at the pool of Bethesda.
● Or the man who was born blind and who was cured by washing in the pool of Siloam.
● And of course, there is the time when Jesus washed the feet of his disciples.
All of these stories involving water are found only in John’s gospel. So, it’s easy to see how John was deep into symbols and how important water and purification are in his theology.
With the use of symbols so strongly in mind, it’s not unfair to use the symbols of the wedding feast at Cana for a deeper understanding of gift giving. But rather than water and wine, the symbols I want to consider are the people, themselves, whom we encounter in today’s reading. People who might be you and me. The real question for our reflection today is this: If I were at the wedding feast in Cana, who would I be?
There are many different kinds of people at this wedding party. Each one of them had both a different knowledge and a different understanding about the gift Jesus provided for them: the gift of the water turned to wine. And as a result of this understanding, they responded in different ways to his gift.
First of all, what was the understanding of the servants who poured the water into the jars and drew out the wine to be served? They saw what had happened, but they did not really understand what they saw. How many of us see our own gifts from God, but do not understand what they are? We continue to carry a miraculous gift but do not appreciate the wonder of what we carry.
And what about the chief steward? He tasted the new gift, but thought that the bridegroom had kept it hidden all this time and was only now making it available to his guests. How many of us attribute our own gifts to human effort and do not recognize the true origin of our talents and abilities?
Then there is the bridegroom who readily accepts the gift but does not question it’s origin. What concern is it of his? So long as people are happy with it and he saves face. Are there those of us who go through life taking advantage of their gifts from God but are unconcerned about how we came by them? Who consume their gifts without even a “thank you”?
And then there are the disciples who saw what was going on and who, according to John, believed in him. They apparently understood the true origin of the gift. But how deep was their understanding? Did this belief change them at the time? Or were they still uncommitted to do anything about it? And what about you and me? Do we momentarily understand the source of our gifts but then fail to act upon this knowledge?
Finally, there is Mary. She was the one who encouraged the initiation of the gift, who was confident that something would happen, even if she was uncertain exactly what it would be. She was the one who sought out a gift, not for herself but for the welfare of others. Do I have the courage to look for my gift and expect to find it? And when I receive it, do I take delight in it and truly use it for my own good and for the welfare of others?
And so, who are you at the wedding feast? What is your understanding about the gift you have received and your need to use it, to share it with others?
Our gifts come in many sizes and shapes. (The holy spirit and aunt Gertrude may have much in common) but this weekend, we are reminded of one person who did recognize that his gifts came from God and that he was meant to share these gifts with others, even if other people might not be ready to accept them. Tomorrow many of us are given an opportunity to celebrate the memory of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., a man who had the gift to move people and to lead them in a non-violent effort to change a way of life many thought could not be changed. It seems to me that Dr. King understood that his gifts were from God and that he must use them no matter what the cost might be to him. It is that kind of understanding which each of us must have about our own gifts. To realize that they are from God and are to be used for the good of others.
Sometimes it’s difficult to recognize our gifts. Sometimes we attribute them to our own efforts. Sometimes we use the gifts of others without realizing the source of these gifts. But like Martin Luther King, Jr., it’s essential that we do understand what our gifts are; that we acknowledge their true source; and that we use them for the good of others, no matter what the cost might be to us. Although Christmas time is over for another year, perhaps we can still open those gifts of Christ, those gifts of the Holy Spirit, and using them, transform our lives and the lives of those we meet.
Second Sunday in Ordinary Time; January 19, 1992
Is 62:1-5; 1 Cor 12:4-11; Jn 2:1-12