Audio: https://sites.google.com/site/sktdeaconed/home/mp3/homily%2001.20.13.mp3?attredirects=0&d=1
I Got Nuthin.
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A
parishioner friend of mine once suggested to me that I consider saying that for
my homily some time - “I got nuthin” - you know, some time when the right words
just don’t come to me, just get up
there, he told me, shake your head, shrug your shoulders and say “I got
nuthin.” And go sit down. “The people will appreciate your honesty,” he
told me.
Those
words came back to me in reading today’s Gospel, for I imagined a beleaguered
bartender at this fancy Cana wedding feast, when asked for one more glass of
red wine, simply shaking his head and shrugging his shoulders and saying
“Sorry. I got nuthin. Just ran out.
You’re out of luck, dude.”
And
the same words come to me whenever I pause to reflect on what my life would be
like if Jesus Christ weren’t in it, on what it would be like if Jesus (and His
mother!) weren’t my invited guests.
How could I hope to endure day to day and moment to moment in this twisted,
mixed up and even violent and evil world if I didn’t have the love and the
grace and the strength of Jesus Christ in my life?
You
know, I often wonder just how folks who don’t have Faith in Christ do cope, how
do they get by, how do they find meaning in their lives, if indeed they do? Just how do folks deal with their own and their
loved ones’ illnesses, job losses, the loss of parents, siblings, a spouse and even a
child, all the “stuff” that happens in this world, this fallen world, how do
they do that without the power of Christ in their lives? As for me, without Him, I got nuthin.
But
the Lord’s grace is more than a crutch, a life-preserver to cling to in the
stormy seas of our lives. The Lord’s
grace is also the power that enables you and me to fulfill our calling
as Christians – to live good, holy lives, to live in and raise up good and holy
families, to BE His hands and feet, mind and heart, ears and mouth in a world
so hungry for Him, a world that doesn’t even know it’s hungry for Him.
For
as feeble a husband and parent as I can be from time to time, I shudder to
think what would happen without Faith in Christ, without His grace and power
and mercy in my life. And unworthy as I
am, called to serve here at this altar and stand at this ambo, what could I
possibly do if it weren’t Jesus Christ Himself using me and speaking through
me? The words of Peter come to mind,
“depart from me, Lord, for I am a weak and sinful man.” Without Him, I got nuthin.
On
the other hand, contrast that with the Lord Himself. For as sparse and forsaken and desolate as our
lives can seem, the Lord’s love and mercy and power are plentiful. Overflowing.
Extravagant!
Do
the math – six stone water jars each holding twenty to thirty gallons of water
– that’s 150 gallons of new wine! If my math
is correct, that’s 587 litre-bottles of wine.
And not just any wine – the best wine!
Later on in John’s Gospel the Lord takes a couple fish and a few loaves and
feeds five thousand! What He gives us,
what He feeds us - His mercy, His love, His grace, His POWER – they’re
overflowing! There’s no limit to
it! By myself - I got nuthin. With Jesus, there’s no limit. With Jesus, I got everything!
But
here’s the thing. The crux. We find them in Mary’s words today: “Do whatever He tells you.” If the waiters had ignored what Jesus told
them, nuthin would have happened. No
miracle. No amazing sign would have been
given. It took their cooperation, indeed,
their trust, for anything to have happened that day. And what cooperation it was. These jars must have weighed 50 pounds and I
assume they had to carry them to the well, and then bring them back, and filled
to the brim they weighed over 250 pounds!
That’s a lot of work to carry six of them back to the wedding
feast. A lot of cooperation. So Jesus did the miracle, but it only
happened when the servants pitched in and did their part.
And
so it is with you. And with me. If we ignore what He is telling us, nuthin
happens. But if you and I listen to His
quiet voice and gentle urgings, His tugs at our hearts, there is no limit to the
grace He will pour into our lives. No
limit to what He can accomplish through us. Through you or me. Through our Church. In our world. The Mother of Jesus says to the servants, and
she is saying the same thing to you and to me: “Do whatever He tells you.”
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We
wrap up today a very special week in our liturgical year, a week devoted to
vocations awareness. A week in which we
pray and contemplate on our own vocations, on the way in which Jesus Christ is
calling each of us, right here and right now.
In what way each of us, as baptized followers of the Lord, will indeed
“Do whatever He tells us.” And a week in
which we pray for vocations to ministry in the Church.
To
each is given different gifts for different forms of service. It may be a vocation to love one other person
for a lifetime in the Sacrament of Marriage.
And through that Sacrament to be open to bring new life into the world,
and raise up faith-filled children. It
may be in the single life, to chastely and devoutly serve God and our fellow
humankind. And some are called to
religious life. To the holy
priesthood. The permanent
diaconate. To become consecrated
religious – sisters and brothers. Called
in a unique way to give their lives to the Lord and His Church, His people.
So
even though we are now completing this vocations awareness week, let us
continue to pray and contemplate on our own vocations, and let us pray that God
will call forth good and worthy and holy servants of His Church and His people.
And that each of us will listen to
Christ’s call in our own lives so that we may give ourselves to Him fully, to
the glory of God the Father. Amen.
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