Jan 16th, 2022 Motjari Meeting: Fr. Foeclker’s Lecture Note

[정하상성당]

Jan 16, 2022, Motjari meeting

Today is the 2nd Sunday, the first ordinary Sunday

Today’s Gospel is the story of the 2nd Luminous mystery of rosary, the wedding feast.

 

Jesus was at the wedding feast at Cana, which is part of Galilee (north), coming from Jordan (South)

 

Gospel

Jn 2:1-11

There was a wedding at Cana in Galilee,
and the mother of Jesus was there.
Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding.
When the wine ran short,
the mother of Jesus said to him,
“They have no wine.”
And Jesus said to her,
“Woman, how does your concern affect me?
My hour has not yet come.”
His mother said to the servers,
“Do whatever he tells you.”
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.

 

 

6 stone jars can hold about 720 liters of wine.

This is 5th time Fr. Foeckler talking about this Gospel over this weekend and he enjoys it, because there are a lot of meaning.

 

Most of the disciples were there to witness it, and this was the first miracle.

St. John was added, but he didn’t include, saying this was Jesus’s first miracle. There is only  7 miracles in St. John. He says this was “a sign”, not “a miracle”. 

St. Mark reports Jesus curing a leper as his first miracle.

St. Matthew said 20-30 miracles, St. Mark reported similar number.

 

Wedding in Israel at the time, the feast lasted 7 days. In our culture, usual wedding lasts less than one day. 

 

Jesus wanted to make the disciples understand the meaning of the loaves, the bread of life. There is more than providing bread to people. Jesus also wanted to make the disciples understand the meaning of changing water to wine. The Jewish people would understand, because in the wedding, the Savior will save the wedding, will be the bridegroom. In Isaiah 25:6

 

 

On this mountain* the LORD of hosts

 

will provide for all peoples

A feast of rich food and choice wines,

juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines.

 

7

On this mountain he will destroy

 

the veil that veils all peoples,

The web that is woven over all nations.

 

8

He will destroy death forever.

 

The Lord GOD will wipe away

the tears from all faces;

The reproach of his people he will remove

from the whole earth; for the LORD has spoken.d

 

9

On that day it will be said:

 

“Indeed, this is our God; we looked to him, and he saved us!

This is the LORD to whom we looked;

let us rejoice and be glad that he has saved us!”e

 

 

By telling him there is no wine at the wedding feast, Mary implicitly asks Jesus to bring wine. 

Jesus implied, Mom, you and I are not the host, the bridegroom is.

He also added, my time has not to come yet. Mary knows he is the Messiah.

He meant “I still have to go through my suffering.”

 

He changed water to choice wine as a sign of the Messianic banquet to come. It’s about Mass.

Every time we celebrate Mass, we are celebrating the prefigure of Messianic banquet, where Jesus is the groom.

The eternal banquet of the lamb will be celebrated in heaven, and the blessed are those who called to the supper of the lamb. Those are us.

 

The wedding is the sign. Water changed to wine will become Jesus’s blood.

 

Jesus blesses a wedding. He is pro-life. He made sure the couple to be happy. He was also obedient to his mother, even as important as himself. He was just making a sign to Mary, that he was doing his Father’s business. 

Mary said to the servant, “Do whatever he tells you to do”. Servants played very important roles. Once you do that, miracles start to happen. When you do when the Jesus wants to do, you get involved. The servants know where the water came from. They decided where the water coming from, and later learned that the water they brought became the best wine of the feast. Be a servant here for Jesus is good. All you have to do is do what he says. He says if you love me, Keep my words. It means do what he tells you to do. That’s what holiness and sanctity mean. Happiness. Doing what the lord wants you to do. 

 

There are 7 sacraments, and those are signs, too.

 

Jesus calls his mom Woman only two times in all 4 Gospels. Here in Cana and on in Calvary. Woman leads us to the first woman, Eve. When God curses the serpent, her offspring will crush the head of the offspring of the serpent. Mary was the woman, she was the mother of the Redeemer, and Jesus will crush the head of the serpent. Eve made Adam sin, Mary made Jesus winning the war against evil. Mary is doing the opposite what Eve did. Jesus is showing how Mary is important to his ministry.

 

John wrote 40 years after other Gospels were written, so he didn’t need to repeat what others already had said. John had to bring only the most meaningful stuffs, the signs.

 

Eucharist is the miracle that happens at the Mass every time. It looks like just a wafer, but we are receiving it as the body of Jesus, and it becomes that all the time with faith.

 

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