Re: Wedding at Cana

Posted by Karl on January 23, 2004 at 15:51:29:

In Reply to: Wedding at Cana posted by Joe A. on January 23, 2004 at 14:03:07:

Before a discussion erupts:

Any serious homiletical effort here must not only take the text (as translated and in the original manuscripts) into account, but the Church's own tradition of interpretation of it into account. The text never stands on its own; the Biblical texts arose as part of Revelation and always must be considered in context of that greater Revelation.

Our homilist this past week took a novel (and probably anachronistic/ahistorical, for that matter) tack: he compared and contrasted precisely that passage with the passage in Luke regarding the finding of Jesus in the Temple. In each case, Jesus appears to make a rebuke to Mary, but in the end follows her judgment of when his time had come -- but with opposite results, of course. That is, in Luke, the child Jesus appears to be ready to take on his public ministry as a man, but stays home with his family for another roughly 18 years. At Cana, he appears to resist his mother's indication that it is now finally time for him to begin that ministry, and lets loose a his first miracle.

The homilist then talked about how this all fits with the nature of unity when different people are discerning things within a community (family, village, church). We Americans (Catholics included) tend to treat discernment as a very individualistic process (waiting for God to speak directly to us), rather than something that unfolds in the context of relationships.

I found the comparison very interesting, and have not really had the opportunity to dwell on it consciously.

In any event, that is just an example of one of myriad approaches that does not fall neatly into the dichotomy you outline.

Replies:

• Re: Wedding at Cana Joe A. 22:50:56 1/24/04 (1)
  • Re: Wedding at Cana Patty 00:02:43 3/04/04 (0)

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: Before a discussion erupts: : Any serious homiletical effort here must not only take the text (as translated and in the original manuscripts) into account, but the Church's own tradition of interpretation of it into account. The text never stands on its own; the Biblical texts arose as part of Revelation and always must be considered in context of that greater Revelation. : Our homilist this past week took a novel (and probably anachronistic/ahistorical, for that matter) tack: he compared and contrasted precisely that passage with the passage in Luke regarding the finding of Jesus in the Temple. In each case, Jesus appears to make a rebuke to Mary, but in the end follows her judgment of when his time had come -- but with opposite results, of course. That is, in Luke, the child Jesus appears to be ready to take on his public ministry as a man, but stays home with his family for another roughly 18 years. At Cana, he appears to resist his mother's indication that it is now finally time for him to begin that ministry, and lets loose a his first miracle. : The homilist then talked about how this all fits with the nature of unity when different people are discerning things within a community (family, village, church). We Americans (Catholics included) tend to treat discernment as a very individualistic process (waiting for God to speak directly to us), rather than something that unfolds in the context of relationships. : I found the comparison very interesting, and have not really had the opportunity to dwell on it consciously. : In any event, that is just an example of one of myriad approaches that does not fall neatly into the dichotomy you outline.

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