2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time – Spiritual Gifts

“Now there were six stone water jars there for Jewish ceremonial washings, each holding twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus told them, ‘Fill the jars with water.’ So they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, ‘Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter.’ So they took it. And when the headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine, without knowing where it came from (although the servers who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter called the bridegroom and said to him, ‘Everyone serves good wine first, and then when people have drunk freely, an inferior one; but you have kept the good wine until now.’ Jesus did this as the beginning of his signs at Cana in Galilee and so revealed his glory, and his disciples began to believe in him” (John 2:6-11).
 
The hosts of a wedding celebration that ran out of wine would have been embarrassed in front of their families and friends. Jesus averted disaster for this newlywed couple and their families by changing the water into wine.
 
This passage gives us insight into who Jesus is, and who we are as members of the body of Christ. Just as Jesus turned water into wine, we, as Christians, are led from water (through our baptism) to wine (our participation in the Eucharist). We live our faith, initiated in baptism and renewed by our sharing of Christ’s body and blood.
 
Jesus’ action at the wedding in Cana, as well as the symbolism of changing water into wine, remind us that God’s love and care permeate our entire existence. No concern of ours is unknown to God, for God truly cares for us deeply and personally.
Like Jesus, we can be witnesses to the love of God for others when we, nourished by the sharing in the water turned into wine at Cana, use our spiritual gifts to comfort someone else.
 
Who are you being called to attend to today? How can you meet their needs and be Christ to them?

Adapted from Word on the Go, a downloadable resource from RENEW International.