Scripture:
Hebrews 5:1-10
Mark 2:18-22
Reflection:
In simpler days family weddings must have been really special. How many times does Jesus in the Gospels compare the best and most important things to a wedding feast?
And look at the first miracle in John’s Gospel. It was a celebration of abundance, ushering in a new and powerful sense of God’s presence in our world. Can the wedding guests fast? Surely not, says Jesus! It is a time for new garments and new wine!
The bridal metaphor favored by Jesus is so rich in its implications. As the husband and wife start life anew, there is before them the adventure of an ever deepening relationship, filled with the promise of new life. It is a relationship of intimacy and creativity. It promises a future of fidelity and a long life of happiness.
The Christian life is meant to be like a wedding feast at any surprising moment, if not all the time. It is always possible for the spontaneous joy and the surprising love of God to break in upon our ordinary lives and make of them a feast. We are invited by the Word of God today to take a contemplative stance that has us poised and ready "to meet the bridegroom when he comes."
"If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts."
Fr. Jim Strommer, C.P. is the local superior of Christ the King Passionist Community in Citrus Heights, California.