All of Us are Miracles 我們都是神跡

Second Ordinary Sunday, Year C
Theme: All of Us are Miracles 我們都是神跡

Today, we have the opportunity to meditate on what is painted on the beautiful mural of this Church. Yes, it is the first miracle performed by Jesus Christ written down by his beloved disciple John. The other three canonical gospels do not mention it, perhaps because it was too trivial a miracle. Comparing this turning water into wine with the miracle of 5 loaves and 2 fish, it was truly trivial because the number of guests attending the wedding would not have been more than 500, would it? Whereas more than 5000 men alone, not counting women and children, had eaten from the 5 loaves and 2 fish. Therefore, it is fair enough for the other three authors to brush this miracle aside.

Naturally, we would wonder why the Evangelists of the Synoptic gospels did not write about it. According to the gospel of John, Simon Peter had already become a disciple of Jesus (John 1:42) and perhaps Matthew had not yet been called. He might not have attended the wedding and witnessed the miracle and it is understandable that he did not mention it in his gospel. But the gospel of John mentioned that both Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding. Therefore, Simon Peter must have been there together with Jesus (2:2) and saw the miracle. Mark the secretary of Peter in the future would have it written down in his gospel if Peter had mentioned it. Obviously Peter hadn’t. He had been a fisherman before and perhaps because of that, He didn’t think wine was as essential as bread and fish, did he?

The gospel of Luke is the last one to deal with because the situation is more complicated. He was a physician and probably had taken care of the Blessed Virgin Mary in her old age. His gospel is very prayerful and the Blessed Virgin Mary must have provided Luke the physician with a lot of insider/private information about Jesus. That’s why we have the Annunciation, the Visitation and the visit of shepherds etc., viz. the Joyful mysteries of the Rosary. Now the most prominent figure in this miracle was none other than the Blessed Virgin Mary. In this Cana miracle, the mother of Jesus occupied the most important position because it was she, who knew and informed her son that the host had run out of wine and to a certain extent, had “pushed” the miracle to happen! Let’s think about it. Right from the very beginning, the BVM had never been able to understand the son she gave birth to. She would keep all those things, reflecting on them in her heart even up to when Jesus was lost and found in the Temple at the age of 12 (Luke 2:51). The Church has always regarded the BVM as the perfect disciple because she had brought Christ to this world and had been following Him up to His crucifixion. What she had told Luke must have been the “cream” of the life of a disciple. If the BVM had hesitation about telling Luke this miracle and decided not to mention it, her humility is truly laudable! Perhaps she felt uncomfortable about dismissing her son’s reply and pushing ahead her insistence (John 2:4-5). But she didn’t have to because Jesus has affirmed her blessedness when a woman exclaimed, “Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breasts at which you nursed.” (Luke 11:27) Jesus replied, “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.” (11:28) The BVM did it in the most perfect manners possible!

Let’s return to the wedding and I would like to meditate on the reaction of the disciples. The beloved disciple puts it this way, “Jesus did this as the beginning of his signs in Cana in Galilee and so revealed his glory, and his disciples began to believe in him.” (John 2:11) First of all, the miracle was the beginning of a series of signs Jesus was going to perform in Galilee. Secondly, Jesus performed those miracles/signs to reveal his glory. Thirdly, perhaps impressed by those signs, his disciples began to believe in him.
The first point is evident because Jesus continues to perform different kinds of miracles to reveal the mercy of the Father. The second point needs more elaboration because the term “glory” as used in John’s gospel carries different meanings. The word appears 42 times in 28 verses, most of which refer to Jesus’ passion and resurrection. The link between a miracle during a wedding and Jesus’ passion and resurrection doesn’t seem to be obvious. However, on a second thought, Jesus likes to use “wedding banquet” as a symbol of the Kingdom of Heaven. To a certain extent, this miracle is pregnant with symbols for our contemplation of heaven! It took John more than 60 years of meditation to grasp the significance of this miracle. Perhaps Simon Peter had martyred too early to be able to understand its symbolism!

Now, let’s turn our attention to the disciples’ response. They “began to believe in him.” Do we need miracles in order to believe in Jesus?
First of all, some people demand a higher threshold in order to acknowledge miracles. For examples, Jesus has already performed a lot of miracles. Yet some Jewish authority demanded “a sign from heaven”, such as a raining of manna or a jumping down from the cross to prove that Jesus was the Messiah (Matthew 16:1, Mark 8:11, Luke 23:35-37). They ignored all those signs Jesus had previously shown, such as exorcisms, cures, calming of the sea and multiplication of loaves etc. Of course the Jewish authority would never believe even if Jesus performed specific miracles they demanded because their intention was to find fault with Jesus, not to find faith in Him. They had rejected Jesus and had hardened their hearts. No miracle would be able to convince them, “If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.” (16:31)

The gospels and indeed the whole Bible is a record of human responses to God’s invitation. Some people are lucky enough to have miracles happened on them, such as lepers, the possessed men and the deaf-mute etc. Their faith in Jesus is rewarded and of course they would believe wholeheartedly! But I’m sure nobody wants this to happen to them but it is actually a tremendous amount of grace. It brings salvation. In most cases, we are like the bride and bridegroom in this miracle. They don’t even notice the existence of this miracle even though they benefit from it. Most of us do not notice because we didn’t ask for it! Luckily, God is generous and doesn’t mind our ingratitude!
Some see miracles and cures happen on significant others, i.e. family members and friends and believe, such as the friends of the paralyzed man, the crowd around the bleeding woman and Jairus’ family etc. They are joyful and amazed and most likely would believe in Jesus. Some make more use of their rationality and believe, for example, Nicodemus. Probably he had only heard of Jesus’ miracles and did not have the opportunity to witness them in person. But his hunger for the truth, for the salvation of Israel and an open heart facilitated his belief in Jesus. Perhaps our faith in God is inversely proportional to the threshold we demand on miracles.

Brethren! St. Paul says in the second reading today, the Holy Spirit has given each one of us different gifts, “But one and the same Spirit produces all of these, distributing them individually to each person as He wishes” (1 Corinthians 12:11). All of us have received the Sacrament of Confirmation and are filled with the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Thus we are God’s miracles in different situations with different talents! We represent God’s presence in the situation and are carriers of God’s grace. In other words, we are sacraments. Like God’s miracles, we do our best. Whether people believe in God or not after meeting us is not our concern. It depends on the threshold they demand on miracles. Just bear in mind that the Holy Spirit is accompanying us in bearing witness to Jesus Christ our Lord. We ourselves are the first benefactors!Without Jesus, water remains water. With Him, water can become wine. Five loaves and two fish are able to feed 5000.
God bless!
2019 Reflection
Picture Credit: Wikiart.org