We Are Brave

Second Sunday in the Ordinary Time

January 17, 2016

John 2:1-11

"Woman, how does your concern affect me (Jn 2:4)?”

We desperately needs courageous people. Our world is torn by so many violence and evil deeds. Wars are raging in many nations. Millions are fleeing their homelands, and facing hunger, exhaustion and uncertainty of their future. Poverty consumes lives across the globe and forces people to horrendous human trafficking. The earth is getting warmer and this causes a tidal wave of destructions to all creatures. In desperation, the world needs brave people to bring a better tomorrow.

However, there is a subtle yet crucial distinction between courage and insanity. Some people called themselves ‘bold and fearless’ as they blew themselves up in Jakarta and shot people at random few days ago. Some people tag themselves as the ‘brave men of God’ as they slaughter the children and turn young women as their sex slaves in the Middle East and Africa. Others exalt themselves as the ‘fighters of freedom and choice’ by aborting innocent and defenseless babies in America and Europe. Yet, what is courage all about?

Today’s Gospel drives home a powerful message. The host was running out of wine. The servants were panicking. The lovely wedding was at the edge of embarrassment and disaster. That was a bad news. A brave woman came into the scene. She implored the Lord of Heaven to help the couple, but she was coldly denied. "Woman, how does your concern affect me?” Adding salt to the wound, this Lord of Heaven is her own Son. Yet, instead succumbing into despair, our mother showed us the true meaning of courage. She pushed herself to the limit and defied even God Himself to save the crumbling humanity. Jesus was moved by her courage and compassion, and the true God came out in the wedding of Cana. The first sign: the ordinary water was turned into the best wine. From Mary, we learn that courage is only genuine if it does not only push us to very limit of our existence but also it is for building up human society and the earth.

Some people, believing doing things in the name of God, destroy human lives and exploit the mother earth. Yet, Mother Mary has taught us even to ‘defy’ our false and poisonous conception of ourselves, of others and of God. The real courage is when we dare to plunge ourselves in the vast sea of human problems and refuse to oversimplify them into one-fit-all answer. It is pretty stupid and even blasphemous to say “God is the only solution and thus, everyone who does not follow our God, is as good as dead.” As we struggle to find the better ways of living in this earth, we join Mary in pushing our own limit of existence and in defying our little gods inside us. The world needs courageous people and it needs people who dare to sacrifice their ego for a better future of our earth.

Br. Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP