Better late than never- Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Is 62:1-5
1 Cor 12:4-11
Jn 2:1-11

"Grow old with me, the best is yet to be." When I read this Gospel this quote from Browning came to mind. Today we live in a world and a culture that is dedicated to youth, to the idea that everything must happen now, or it’s not worth it. There is nothing worth waiting for, everything must come now. When I was a member of that youth that was being catered to, I certainly thought I was entitled to everything now, and I certainly did not think that I should wait for anything. Getting older was something that was going to happen, but it would be awful, perhaps made better only by getting everything I wanted before this disaster befell me. But as I grew older I found out the profound secret that you can’t know when you are young, it really does get better. Sure, there are physical problems to deal with, but there is also the realization that the best hasn’t happened yet. Great things may have already happened, but that doesn’t mean that no great things await. The best is yet to be.
At the wedding feast, when the wine runs out, Jesus reluctantly performs the great miracle, changing water into wine. The steward finds it remarkable that the best wine has been saved for the last, rather than being served first. By making this wine so good, perhaps Jesus was trying to tell us something. We can’t always appreciate the good until we have experienced the bad, and that takes time. As we live we experience the bad, and later, that makes the good that much better. If we live, and trust, and allow the experiences of life to lead us to growth in our faith, the best is yet to be. If we live and trust and keep the faith, Jesus wants us to grow with him, for the very best is yet to be.
Deacon John
The Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Jan. 14, 2006