2022-Jan-16: Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

 

 2022-Jan-16: Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

 

Isaiah 62:1-5

The situation in the passage from "third Isaiah" grew out of the frustration between promise and reality. 
The Jewish faithful had abandoned their God and as a result their land was laid waste by Nebuchadnezzar who not only destroyed the Temple but took many into slavery to Babylon. Some 50 or 60 years later, the Persian King Cyrus in 539 BC proclaimed an end to captivity, and allowed the Jews to return back to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple (allegedly he gave back some of the Temple treasures and provided some funds for the rebuilding). 
The change in name from forsaken/desolate to myDelight/Espoused indicates a change not only in name but also in status, as name changes often did in scripture (Jacob/Israel, Abram/Abraham). 
But the returning Jews came back to a desolate landscape - they were still subjects of foreign rulers — first the Persians, then Greeks, and finally the Romans..  The city seemed forsaken, bereft of God’s sustaining presence. If they were expecting an immediate return to glory then they would surely be disappointed. This is no simple turning the farming land that has laid fallow for a period and suddenly make it bloom. Instead, humans would have to first love and care for the land, seeing their performance of righteousness with their ways land God in his own time would bless them with plentiful harvests and rejoicing.
We too can learn of this bond with God during our own difficult pandemic times.

Psalm 96

Psalm 96 is one of five psalms in Book Four (90-106) of the Psalter classified as pure exultation/enthronement psalms to Yahweh as the divine King. 
  • By singing a new song that looks to the future
  • By confessing his greatness
  • By glorifying him (doxology).
  • By worshiping him

Psalter background

The five book of Psalms relates the story of the life of ancient Israel
  • Books 1 and 2: Psalms 1-72 = from the time of the kingship of David
  • Book 3:  Psalms 73-89: through the reign of Solomon, the divided kingdom, and the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon
  • Book 4: Psalms 90-106 : the exile in Babylon and finally
  • Book 5: Psalms 107-150:  the return from exile to rebuild Jerusalem

1 Corinthians 12:4-11

The Corinthian church (Greek ekklesia) was a vibrant community where members received varieties of gifts from the Spirit but were unclear in their understanding. So one of the central points of St Paul's letter to the Corinthians Chapter 12:1-11 seems to be a celebration of diversity and difference, since all receive these gifts from one and the same Spirit of God.
The Church needs diverse gifts and related works: “The utterance of wisdom,” “the utterance of knowledge,” “faith,” “gifts of healing,” “the working of miracles,” “prophecy,” “the discernment of spirits,” “various kinds of tongues,” and “the interpretation of tongues.” (12:8-10). But all these varieties of gifts come from the same Spirit, however diverse or different they may be and are to be used in the service (Greek diakonia) of God. The implication is that members have to recognize other kinds of gifts and cooperate with one another in their activities (Greek energema) for the greatness of God for the 'common good', strengthening the community by taking care of the weak and the despised in society, through the guidance of the Holy Spirit in communion with Jesus Christ.

John 2:1-11

The inability to provide what the guests needed was a failure in hospitality that would bring shame on the wedding hosts. But Jesus provides the best quality wine in abundance for all present. It means that in Jesus, all of us have an abundant, extravagant source of grace to sustain us, grace that is more than sufficient to provide where we fall short and to give us joy even amid sorrow and struggle. 
The mother of Jesus appears only twice in the Gospel of John, at the wedding at Cana and at the foot of the cross. Therefore Jesus' reply “My hour has not yet come.” Might be referring to his time of his death since throughout the Gospel of John, this is how Jesus refer to his his death, resurrection, and ascension as the “hour”.
The image of the wedding banquet is used frequently in Scripture as a picture of the restoration of Israel, and wine is frequently used as a symbol of the joy and celebration associated with salvation.
John doesn’t call this act a miracle, but a sign (Greek semeion). 
It is the first of seven such signs in John’s Gospel, all pointing to the manifestation of Jesus mission as the Son of God.
Sign 1: Changing Water Into Wine (John 2:1-11)
Sign 2: Healing the Royal Official's Son (John 4:46-54)
Sign 3: Healing the paralytic at the pool (John 5:1-18)
Sign 4: Feeding over 5,000 with fish and loaves (John 6:1-14)
Sign 5: Walking on the water (John 6:15-25)
Sign 6: Healing a man born blind (John 9:1-41)
Sign 7: Raising Lazarus from the dead (John 11:1-46) 

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