Become a Sign
I
along with My Church i.e. Syrian Orthodox Church are on toes to welcome The
Great Lent which starts today at 6:00pm. The Lection set apart by the Church to
inaugurate the Lent is John 2: 1-11 – the Wedding at Cana. Last year I
commenced my Lenten Meditations writing on the same text with the title Testimony
of Jars. This year let us meditate on a different perspective - Become a Sign.
The
wedding at Cana is the first ‘sign’ performed by Jesus in the Gospel of John. There
are total seven ‘signs’ performed by Jesus in the Gospel of John. They are;
1.
Changing water into wine (2: 1-11)
2.
Curing the nobleman’s son (4: 46 - 54)
3.
Healing the paralytic (5: 1-15)
4.
Feeding the five thousand (6: 1-14)
5.
Walking on water (6: 15-21)
6.
Opening the eyes of a blind man (9: 1-41)
7.
Raising Lazarus from the dead (11: 38-44)
It
is of prime importance to note the term used here i.e. ‘sign’. This word holds
in itself a mystery urging us to look beyond towards a greater version of
reality. Thus a literal appropriation of these texts would compromise on the
magnitude of revelation they inspire us to discover. They are only ‘signs’ and
not the destination. Shall we look beyond to decipher what the text or rather the
‘sign’ intends to communicate. I would predominantly focus on the Orthodox
Church’s interpretation.
The
Gospel of John offers a unique Christology. The authors presents Jesus the
Christ as the ‘logos’ – the word – of God. “In the beginning was the Word, and
the Word as with God, and the Word was God.” (1:1); “The Word became flesh and
dwelt among us.” (1:14). Thus the Orthodox Church believes that Jesus the
Christ is both divine and human; the two are in union without confusion in one
nature. Christ does, however, ‘energize’ human nature with divine energy so
that human nature is redeemed from sin and death and brought into union with
God. Thus Incarnation of Christ is nothing but the deification of humanity.
Coming
back to our pericope (2:1-11) the setting of the text is of a wedding. In the
Old Testament times, marriage feasts symbolized the union of God with His
bride, Israel. Jesus being present at Cana and the marriage which is said to be
happening ‘on the third day’ sets a
resurrectional tone pointing towards the fact that the marriage of God and the Church
would be fulfilled on the resurrection of Christ on the third day. Because of
the marriage overtures offered by the text this passage is read at Orthodox
weddings and the images are incorporated in many of the prayers of the wedding.
Wine is considered to be a symbol of life; hence “They have no wine” indicates that a marriage is incomplete without
the presence of Christ and also the old covenant is incomplete to bestow life.
Yet
another parallel between the wedding at Cana and the resurrection of Christ (20:1-18)
is that, both involve a woman named Mary who makes an appeal and in both
passages the disciples are invited to witness the event. In the wedding at Cana
it is Mother Mary who appeals to Jesus to cater to the deficiency of wine (2:3)
and in the resurrection of Christ it is Mary Magdalene who proclaims the news
of resurrection (20:18). This is really subversive for me. Women who are
usually kept at bay by the present Church reprimand the fact that they were the
initiators and consummators of the Gospel.
Another
thing that intrigued me was Jesus’ choice of stone water jars. According to
rabbinical teaching, water jars were made of stone because stone would not
contract ritual impurity. Also the water stored in those jars were the water
used to clean the feet of guests. The decision of Jesus to choose these water jars
and water to inaugurate his kingdom teachings is a clarion call to affirm the
sanctity of the defiled and to shatter the notion of purity and impurity. The overabundant
gallons of wine (2:6) reminds us of the overflowing grace that Christ grants to
all. The grace of Christ purifies everything and everyone.
We
should also consider the fact that the first sign was made possible when humans
(Mary, Jesus, servants, etc.) and ecology (stone, water, wine etc.) came together.
This enlightens us that our theology and spirituality should never be
anthropocentric. Humans and ecology are mutually interconnected and
interdependent for the fruitful existence of both. This is what Lent is all about.
The
reason the Church sets apart this Lection as the precursor of Lent is to
educate us that Lent is all about reconciliation both with humans and ecology.
This Sunday is known as ‘Pethurtho’ which means ‘to return’ in Syriac. The six
stone water jars represent six Sundays of the Great Lent. The challenge before
us is to productively use this time to transform ourselves through the grace of
Christ so that our lives also become a divine ‘sign’.
The
Lent also demands fasting. Fasting is not a dietary detox but the celebration
of the image of God permeating the entire cosmos. John Chryssavgis reminds us;
We Orthodox fast
from dairy and meat products for half the year, almost as if to reconcile one
half of the year with the other, secular time with the time of the kingdom.
What does fasting imply? To fast is to learn not simply to give up but to give.
It is not to deny but to offer; it is learning to share, to reconnect with
human beings and the natural world. Fasting means breaking down barriers with
my neighbour and my world: recognizing in others’ faces, icons; and in the
earth the very face of God. Ultimately, to fast is to love; it is to see
clearly, to move away from what I want to what the world needs. It is to be
liberated from control and compulsion, to value everything for itself and not
simply for ourselves. It is to be filled with a sense of goodness, of
Godliness, to see all things in God and God in all things.[1]
As
we enter The Great Lent let our focus be not more on abstaining but on providing;
not on refusing but on embracing; not on dividing but on uniting; not on
denying but on affirming; not on destructing but on creating. May we pray
unceasingly to acquire the strength to be submissive to the will of God; repent
with contrite hearts in the pursuit of transformation and most importantly
reconcile with the entire cosmos to reap the most this Lent has to offer. I
conclude with the prayer of Metropolitan Anthony Bloom;
“Lord
may my life become like the dirt and soil of the earth; an ordinary, unobstructed
place where the pain and poison of this broken world silently fall, are
absorbed, and miraculously transformed into new life.”[2] Amen
Prayers
Dn.
Basil Paul
[1] John
Chryssavgis, “A New Heaven and a New Earth: Orthodox Theology and an Ecological
Worldview” in The Ecumenical Review (Geneva:
WCC, 2010), 217.
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