These few weeks after the Epiphany are well-placed to reveal God: winter has set in, “earth stands hard as iron”, heating bills and illness seem to accumulate more quickly. This is the Season for seeing God, the “AHA!” moment, the time to say, “Oh! NOW I get it!” Scripture passages to be explored lift up the Good Things that God has provided, reminding those of us overwhelmed by Winter that we do have an extravagant God, a God of abundance who can and does provide us with Hope.
The mysterious Third ISAIAH is writing to those returned from Exile, saddened by the realization that the homeland won’t look like they remembered or were told. Once hopeful, the People of the Return NOW have to address the reality of a ruined Temple and half-Judaized neighbors. Will YHWH change things, or will they have to be content with the World’s agenda? Some of us (the apostle Paul/Saul, for one) need a new Name to signify a fresh start. From Forsaken to My Delight, from Desolate to the loving acceptance of Marriage. Will we shine like a burning torch in the ashes of World & National News? Do we speak for the ones whose light has been only smoldering?
St. Paul tells the CORINTHIANS in chapter 12 about the plethora of holy gifts which God alone can–and does!–give. The humblest can now be proud of her new showing of God for the common good. “…there are a variety of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone.” All of which is to say that TODAY God still blesses us with these gifts, given to YOU! Now how will you discover what immensity you have, and how will you use it in partnership with God? Students at Hogwarts have the Sorting Hat; church-members on the way have Prayer…
Why does St. JOHN include the story of the Marriage at Cana (2:1-11) in his Gospel when the other writers don’t? I think it’s to develop a sense of the process of Jesus’ awareness of divinity, beginning with Baptism and moving toward his ultimate Resurrection. At any rate, it’s a good remembrance of the special abundance of God’s gifts: when you’re touched by Jesus, the result is all Good Stuff! The old dry same-old same-old has now been filled to the brim!
These stories bring up the old question of Theodicy, which is a way of asking, “If God is so good, then why is so much wrong?” Ernest Hess writes, “In a world where many suffer from poverty, disease, injustice and hunger, how do we understand [these] stories of extravagant abundance?….life in this world, with its painful limitations, has been unpredictably invaded by grace…” (FEASTING on the WORD, C 1:265) Where have you seen God, today?
In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King
Join us every Tuesday as we’re touched by the Scriptures to be read and heard on the upcoming weekend; at horacebrownking.com
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