Sunday Gospel Reflection (January 19, 2025)

Three to Get Married! 

This Sunday’s readings all reflect one of the biggest themes in the entire Bible, because it also reflects one of the biggest themes in the human experience, which is marriage. More specifically, the readings show how the relationship between God and His people is like that of a husband and wife, or, more accurately, how the relationship between husband and wife is a reflection of the relationship between God and His people. 

Isaiah makes reference to the Promised Land as the “spouse” that was once desolate. This image has long been a part of human imagination with the Sky Father acting upon Earth Mother to bring forth life. Now we have God bringing life out of a lifeless people. The language of adornment is found in this First Reading from Isaiah, but with what will the bride be adorned?

This is where St. Paul’s First letter to the Corinthians comes in. This is his famous list of spiritual gifts, or charisms. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that these gifts are given in order to build up the Church (paragraph 799), giving new life to her like a bride gives new life to children. The Church uses this passage from St. Paul because the spiritual gifts are what makes the Church more beautiful or “adorned.” This prepares her for her wedding with the Bridegroom, Christ. 

This reality is not just prophesied but dramatized in the Gospel reading from John 2, the Wedding at Cana. While Jesus is not the literal bridegroom, or course, John uses this story to tell a profound reality about Jesus’s relationship with the Church. The Catechism makes clear the image of Jesus as “Bridegroom” in paragraph 796, but shows that true image of this love is in the sacrifice Jesus makes for her. What is to come from this sacrifice? Jesus prepared us for it back in John 2. It is the new and better wine that Jesus himself produces.