Second Sunday of Epiphany
“You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate; but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married;
for the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married.”
Overview
Second Sunday of Epiphany
January is always a hard month for me; the excitement of Christmas is over, the days are short, the nights are long, energy and bank balances are low. So the super abundance, resources, and the excess of joy in our readings this morning feels hard to connect to. In Isaiah 62:1-5 the people of God are told of a future time when they will be a crown of beauty, renamed My Delight is in Her. But for now they are desolate and forsaken. They cannot envisage how they will get from desolation to delight and this is really the point: In John’s gospel (John 2:1-11) Jesus performs his first ever miracle by turning water, gallons of it, into the best wine, but the jars start out empty, they do not even contain water. It is often only when we have run dry, when our own resources have been exhausted, that we allow God the space to do anything at all. And that anything at all is so often more than we could ever have hoped for.
FIRST READING
Isaiah 62:1-5
For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent,
and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest,
until her vindication shines out like the dawn,
and her salvation like a burning torch.
The nations shall see your vindication,
and all the kings your glory;
and you shall be called by a new name
that the mouth of the Lord will give.
You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord,
and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
You shall no more be termed Forsaken,
and your land shall no more be termed Desolate;
but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her,
and your land Married;
for the Lord delights in you,
and your land shall be married.
For as a young man marries a young woman,
so shall your builder marry you,
and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,
so shall your God rejoice over you.
GOSPEL
John 2:1-11
On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.” So they took it. When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.” Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
