John 2:3-5 - When the wine gave out, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no wine." Jesus said to her, "What is that to you and me? My hour has not yet come." His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."
I love this interaction between Jesus and his mom. He knows what she's asking, but he doesn't want to do it. His first response can be paraphrased, "yeah, not really our problem, is it?" Then I imagine him seeing the look on his mom's face and hastily adding something more official and less whiny - my hour has not yet come. I picture Mary rolling her eyes as she talks to the servants. I can see her walking away, leaving him stuck there with the servants. Check and mate.
This interaction seems so human to me. So often people read the liturgy in a monotone, giving me, and maybe you, the impression that Jesus is always making deep pronouncements. This is one moment where his human nature peeks through that, where he learns that maybe he is not the best judge of when his time has come. Maybe he really, like a lot of us, didn't want to go through with his ministry - at least the human part of him. Or maybe he was afraid the other guests would turn him into a party trick, or mob him, or worse. What he does looks very much like magic. And they had been drinking for three days at this point.
This interaction makes Jesus real to me in a way that others don't. He thinks he's in charge, only to find out that no, not really. Human Jesus wants to be in control, like we all do from time to time. Being in control makes us feel safe - everything is just how we like it. I think Jesus learned that day that ministry - and love - are about NOT being in control. To love is to invite people into our hearts, which means all of them, the "good" and the "bad." There is no way to love another and be in complete control of the relationship. We have to accept whatever they bring; and that is scary. Maybe even for Jesus - at least at first.
That's why Jesus is always pushing us out of our comfort zone; so that we can learn to love others and to truly follow him. He pushed his disciples to feed the crowds and to go from town to town preaching the good news. We cannot get what we want by sitting at home wishing or praying for things to change; we have to go out of our comfort zone and do our part. If we want to follow Jesus, we need to get out of our comfort zone and do our part. Because of today's story, a story in which we see Jesus pushed out of his own comfort zone, we know that he understands our own reluctance to leave. Yet we cannot do the work of Christmas without doing so.
Do we want peace, love, joy, and hope in our lives? We can start by being peaceful, loving, joyful, and hopeful ourselves. Of course, we'll fail miserably at first, but we'll get better the more we practice.
No comments:
Post a Comment