Homily
2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time C
20 January 2018
St. Lawrence Catholic Center at the University of Kansas.
How's your marriage going? Welcome to the first pivotal question of this semester.
Now I know, I know. Only 50% of us in this room are currently in a marriage to another person, a spouse. That number is probably even less here at KU. I don't mean to leave 50% or more of the room out of this homily.
In asking how is your marriage going, I'm asking about your marriage to God. Yes, that's right, your marriage to Christ. How's your marriage going - the marriage that is celebrated right here and right now, and consummated as Jesus the eternal bridegroom becomes no longer two, but one flesh with us, as we eat his flesh and drink his blood. That's the marriage I'm talking about. How's that marriage going?
You see, not just half of us, but all of us, are called to be married. Marriage is a huge deal, which is why Jesus performs the first of his signs at a wedding in Cana. This first sign of Jesus is not a warmup to his other signs. This first sign might outwardly look like a trivial use of Jesus' power, a sign he reluctantly performs after his mom nags him to keep everyone drunk. Yet this first sign of Jesus is no less significant than Jesus's final sign in the Gospel of John, the raising of Lazarus. No, this first sign is the archetype of all signs, and a powerful announcement that we are all destined to be in a marriage that will always be celebrated and will never run out.
So how is that marriage going, the one between you and Jesus?
Now some of you might feel more married to the Chiefs right now. There has been a definitely falling in love, and a dramatic coming together of the Chiefs and their city and fans. I don't know who is the bride and who is the groom in this scenario, but after a long exile, this marriage is on fire. Still, it pales to the marriage that Isaiah prophesies about in the first reading, the marriage between God and his people that will be consummated when the Israelites come out of centuries of exile, of being out of favor and out of love. Nothing the Chiefs can inspire today could compare with that it would be like for a nation to come out of occupation and be married again to their homeland.
Still greater, however, is the marriage between Christ and his Church. Which is why we never move or cancel Mass for a Chiefs game, no matter how much we love the Chiefs. Remember two years ago when KU played Villanova in the Final Four, right during our most solemn celebration, the Easter Vigil? Nobody is a bigger fan than I am of sports, and still I hardly remembered while celebrating Jesus' resurrection that KU was playing. There is just no comparison. Shame on me if there is. We all know that loving the Jayhawks in no substitute for this marriage which is for everyone and destined to never run out.
That is not to say, of course, that I will be celebrating the 5pm Mass tonight when the Chiefs play the Patriots for the AFC Championship, in an epic game the likes of which Kansas City hasn't seen in decades. Even though there is no comparison between Mass and the Chiefs, every once in awhile my spouse, the Church, can say 'honey, you can go to the game.' There will be a holier priest than I, our alumnus Fr. Vince Huber, celebrating the 5pm. Sports and religion is not always a either/or zero sum game. Sometimes you can do both.
Yet we never cancel or move Mass. That's the rule. And it's a great one. Because as Jesus shows in his first sign, there is nothing more important than marriage. And there is no more important marriage than the one in which we participate right here, right now.
We can marry the Chiefs for a moment. We can consummate a marriage with a spouse and family for a lifetime. Yet the ground of all marriage, of two becoming completely one, is the saying of Jesus that unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you. Yet if you are no longer two but one with me, you have eternal life.
You see for Jesus and his mother, it's not really about keeping people drunk at the party. No, for them, marriage is a matter of life and death. For unless these two reverse the great divorce between God and our first parents, Adam and Eve, we will all die. Yes, that's right, unless we are married, we will all die. Yet if we are married to Christ, through the intercession of his mother, we will live.
So there is nothing more important than marriage. It's always a matter of life and death. So when the wine runs out at this wedding, it's a huge deal. If everyone goes home early, they die. Which is why Jesus makes an absurd amount of wine, as a sign that the wine that is ultimately Him, joined to his saving sacrifice at the Last Supper, will never run out. At Mass we are invited to the new Cana, to receive the wine that is Jesus that will never run out.
I need this wine badly. So do you. It's easy probably, to make fun of the couple that didn't make enough wine. But that couple is you and me. We all run out of wine. The demands of love are always too much for us. We always run out of wine, no matter how hard we try not to. And that's ok. Jesus knew we would, which is why he is here today.
He is here so that we don't quit. He is here so that we don't run out. He is here so that we don't go home early. He is here to offer marriage to us, lest we die.
Which is why we never cancel or move Mass. For long after the Chiefs party has ended, and long after our love for each other has fallen short, the wine that is Jesus will still be here. It will always be here. The groom has promised to always meet us here.
So - how is that marriage going?
2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time C
20 January 2018
St. Lawrence Catholic Center at the University of Kansas.
How's your marriage going? Welcome to the first pivotal question of this semester.
Now I know, I know. Only 50% of us in this room are currently in a marriage to another person, a spouse. That number is probably even less here at KU. I don't mean to leave 50% or more of the room out of this homily.
In asking how is your marriage going, I'm asking about your marriage to God. Yes, that's right, your marriage to Christ. How's your marriage going - the marriage that is celebrated right here and right now, and consummated as Jesus the eternal bridegroom becomes no longer two, but one flesh with us, as we eat his flesh and drink his blood. That's the marriage I'm talking about. How's that marriage going?
You see, not just half of us, but all of us, are called to be married. Marriage is a huge deal, which is why Jesus performs the first of his signs at a wedding in Cana. This first sign of Jesus is not a warmup to his other signs. This first sign might outwardly look like a trivial use of Jesus' power, a sign he reluctantly performs after his mom nags him to keep everyone drunk. Yet this first sign of Jesus is no less significant than Jesus's final sign in the Gospel of John, the raising of Lazarus. No, this first sign is the archetype of all signs, and a powerful announcement that we are all destined to be in a marriage that will always be celebrated and will never run out.
So how is that marriage going, the one between you and Jesus?
Now some of you might feel more married to the Chiefs right now. There has been a definitely falling in love, and a dramatic coming together of the Chiefs and their city and fans. I don't know who is the bride and who is the groom in this scenario, but after a long exile, this marriage is on fire. Still, it pales to the marriage that Isaiah prophesies about in the first reading, the marriage between God and his people that will be consummated when the Israelites come out of centuries of exile, of being out of favor and out of love. Nothing the Chiefs can inspire today could compare with that it would be like for a nation to come out of occupation and be married again to their homeland.
Still greater, however, is the marriage between Christ and his Church. Which is why we never move or cancel Mass for a Chiefs game, no matter how much we love the Chiefs. Remember two years ago when KU played Villanova in the Final Four, right during our most solemn celebration, the Easter Vigil? Nobody is a bigger fan than I am of sports, and still I hardly remembered while celebrating Jesus' resurrection that KU was playing. There is just no comparison. Shame on me if there is. We all know that loving the Jayhawks in no substitute for this marriage which is for everyone and destined to never run out.
That is not to say, of course, that I will be celebrating the 5pm Mass tonight when the Chiefs play the Patriots for the AFC Championship, in an epic game the likes of which Kansas City hasn't seen in decades. Even though there is no comparison between Mass and the Chiefs, every once in awhile my spouse, the Church, can say 'honey, you can go to the game.' There will be a holier priest than I, our alumnus Fr. Vince Huber, celebrating the 5pm. Sports and religion is not always a either/or zero sum game. Sometimes you can do both.
Yet we never cancel or move Mass. That's the rule. And it's a great one. Because as Jesus shows in his first sign, there is nothing more important than marriage. And there is no more important marriage than the one in which we participate right here, right now.
We can marry the Chiefs for a moment. We can consummate a marriage with a spouse and family for a lifetime. Yet the ground of all marriage, of two becoming completely one, is the saying of Jesus that unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you. Yet if you are no longer two but one with me, you have eternal life.
You see for Jesus and his mother, it's not really about keeping people drunk at the party. No, for them, marriage is a matter of life and death. For unless these two reverse the great divorce between God and our first parents, Adam and Eve, we will all die. Yes, that's right, unless we are married, we will all die. Yet if we are married to Christ, through the intercession of his mother, we will live.
So there is nothing more important than marriage. It's always a matter of life and death. So when the wine runs out at this wedding, it's a huge deal. If everyone goes home early, they die. Which is why Jesus makes an absurd amount of wine, as a sign that the wine that is ultimately Him, joined to his saving sacrifice at the Last Supper, will never run out. At Mass we are invited to the new Cana, to receive the wine that is Jesus that will never run out.
I need this wine badly. So do you. It's easy probably, to make fun of the couple that didn't make enough wine. But that couple is you and me. We all run out of wine. The demands of love are always too much for us. We always run out of wine, no matter how hard we try not to. And that's ok. Jesus knew we would, which is why he is here today.
He is here so that we don't quit. He is here so that we don't run out. He is here so that we don't go home early. He is here to offer marriage to us, lest we die.
Which is why we never cancel or move Mass. For long after the Chiefs party has ended, and long after our love for each other has fallen short, the wine that is Jesus will still be here. It will always be here. The groom has promised to always meet us here.
So - how is that marriage going?
No comments:
Post a Comment