Sunday’s first reading from Isaiah expresses the special love “the Lord” has for Israel, “as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride so shall your God rejoice in you.” “The Lord” promises vindication for his special love, “No more shall people call you “Forsaken, or your land “Desolate.” The vindication seems outsized for the tiny nation, “All the nations shall behold your vindication, and all the kings your glory.”
Through a book of great historical importance, the Bible, a nation of little historical importance, Israel, and its deity, Yahweh, have become special. The Bible, and specifically Isaiah relay a special belief about a special nation receiving the special love of a special deity. We know from Jesus’ life witness he rejects special. Do we? Many of the Bible’s readers mistakenly believe Jesus shows that same special love for a special nation and a special few. The belief is not realistic. It minimizes the reality of Jesus and of humanity. An example of Jesus being both outsized and minimized is relayed in Paolo Veronese’s Wedding at Cana, this week’s Gospel story. Veronese’s Wedding painting is indeed outsized measuring 32 feet high and 22 feet across. His depiction of the people celebrating the Wedding are likewise outsized and special. It is not realistic. They too minimize the reality of Jesus and of humanity. The picture depicts royalty, pale skinned royals at that; Eleanor of Austria – Queen consort of Portugal and France, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, Queen Mary I of England, and many, many other illustrious figures of Veronese’s time (1528-1588). This particular work of art and that of so many artists of his time are truly beautiful. And just as truly, through an artistry of great historical importance, the Renaissance, Jesus, has been minimized. The truth is that Jesus was a poor man and dark-skinned. The truth is he was celebrating the marriage in a village that was filled with people who were also poor and also dark-skinned. The couple and the villagers are the vulnerable, the rejects, the small, the undersized who love each other as best they can. Love cannot be special in the sense that it cannot fold in on itself. Such a love is like an unhealthy marriage of claustrophobic, exclusive binding. It feels the need for vindication. It may replicate but it does not blossom. Realistic love moves us toward others, to love and be loved. We find such love in the meager and the small, the average and the outcast. We can find such love in the exclusive and the favored too, if they will leave behind being special and join us in being real.
“So now there are two. And they walk together like a dream under the trees. In early June, at the edge of a field thick with pink and yellow flowers I meet them. I can only stare … the blue of the sky falls over me like silk, the flowers burn, and I want to live my life all over again.” (The Meeting – Mary Oliver, Rest In Peace)
Prayer: Spirit, may we always celebrate Love
Question: Who are people helping me blossom for a life in love?
January 20, 2019 Gospel John 2:1-11 Second Sunday in Ordinary Time