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Today’s Readings: 1 Corinthians 15:12, 16-20; Luke 6:17,20-26.
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Let us pray.
Almighty God,
who alone can bring order to the unruly wills and passions of sinful humanity:
give your people grace so to love what you command and to desire what you promise, that, among the many changes of this world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever.
Amen.
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Today’s president and preacher is Fr. Bob Hanson. You will need to come to the service to hear his words.
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Reflection on the marriage at cana – the puzzling question! John 2: 1-1
By Barbara
They have run out of wine at the wedding feast; the mother of Jesus remarks on this, which of course he knows already. Jesus answers enigmatically, it seems. He calls his mother ‘woman’, but this address is not abrupt, but neutral in the original text, as is the tone of the question Jesus puts. In various translations there are certain emotional undertones, which are absent from the Greek. For example: ‘Woman, what concern is that to you and to me?’ (NRSV), ‘Woman, what do you want from me?’ (NJB). No English translation captures the sense of the original.
The question is four words in the Greek: ‘ti emoi kai soi’. The literal translation is: What to me and to you? (Verbs can be omitted in certain types of sentence in Greek). This form of question is from the Hebrew Scriptures (see William Temple. Readings in St. John’s Gospel, Macmillan, 1955, p 36). It is used throughout the Bible (see Stephen Verney, Water into Wine, DLT, 1999, p 32). It occurs in many places in the New Testament at exorcisms. Interestingly, examples are seen in the Mass readings for January 31st this year.
In the first reading, King David is in great trouble; he is fleeing from his son Absalom, who has rebelled against him. A man named Shimel comes up and curses David, throwing stones at him. David’s followers want to kill the man, but David says to them: ‘What have I to do with you …?’ The reply follows. David says that if Shimel has been sent by the Lord to curse him, leave the man alone. Perhaps the Lord will look on David’s distress, and repay him with good for the cursing (2 Samuel 16: 5-13).
The Gospel is Mark 5: 1-20, the account of the man living among the tombs, possessed by demons. He says to Jesus; ‘What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?’ The response follows: Jesus cures the man.
There are many other examples. In Hosea 14: 8 the Lord says: ‘O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols?’ The answer is of course, nothing, for ‘The ways of the Lord are right.’ (9b). In the New Testament, the form is used by the man with the unclean spirit whom Jesus cures at the beginning of the Gospel of Mark (1: 23ff).
This question occurs throughput Scripture at moments of tension, when something will happen or be resolved. The form would have been familiar to Jesus and his mother. So we might understand ‘What to me and to you?’ as an indication that there will be a resolution to the situation, and that both Jesus and his mother will be involved.
Jesus knows what he will do. But he says: ‘My hour has not yet come’. This seems puzzling. But suppose we stress ‘yet’. Could the words then imply: ‘not yet …but’, suggesting that something relating to his hour will happen.
As indeed it does. Jesus changes the water into wine, at a wedding feast. Wine is part of the Messianic banquet; we are reminded of the feast the Lord will make on the holy mountain, when he comes to bring salvation (Isaiah 25: 5-10). The feast will be ‘for all peoples’. (6a). At Cana. Jesus tells the servants to fill the stone jars with water; they are filled up to the brim. Water is the stuff of life, ‘out of which we come and of which we are made’, as Verney puts it (p 33). The water in the jars represents humanity, all humanity. The changing of the water into wine is a sign of transformation, the transformation of humanity. It is a promise of the renewal of all creation which Jesus achieves when his hour fully comes at his Passion, Resurrection and glorification. This is the message of the miracle at Cana. This is what the running out of the wine is to Jesus.
And to Mary? First, she relinquishes her maternal authority and gives all authority to Jesus. She says to the servants: ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ Second, she represents the old order, which Jesus transforms in inaugurating the new order. This is a further dimension of meaning in the miracle.
It is the first of the seven signs Jesus makes in the Gospel of John. The nature of the transformation promised here is indicated in other signs: physical, mental, and spiritual healing, the opening of the eyes of the blind to the truth, the raising of the dead. Here Jesus reveals his glory and his disciples believe in him. A pointer to the glory of the Resurrection appearances.
The sign at Cana is far more than keeping the wedding party going. Much can be drawn from this account. We could explore the different levels of meaning elsewhere in John’s Gospel, or consider the importance of water in the Gospel, for example. But for now, I offer a few words on the hour of Jesus, and a focus on those four Greek words and how they may be understood.
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Organ Voluntary
Trumpet Tune in C major – Paul Fey:
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Today’s hymn
All my hope on God is founded:
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Music from Matthew
Sunday 13 February
3 before Lent
This Sunday at the offertory Ruthy will sing Litanei, a Lied by Franz Schubert. Fully titled Litanei auf des Fest Allerseelen (Litany on the feast of All Souls), it has a peaceful valedictory quality. Here is a vintage recording from 1954 of two greats.
Litanei auf des Fest Allerseelen by Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
May all souls rest in peace;
those whose fearful torment is past;
those whose sweet dreams are over;
those sated with life, those barely born,
who have left this world:
may all souls rest in peace!
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (sopnrano), Gerald Moore (piano)
https://youtu.be/wt1Ixrty5yg
During communion, a solo version of Mozart’s motet Ave Verum Corpus, composed during the final year of his life when he was only 35. This has great poise and seems almost to be written in one single phrase. Even with this serene piece, we could still be on the stage of the Wiener Staatsoper as much as in church!
Ave verum corpus by W.A. Mozart (1756-91)
Hail, true Body, born of the Virgin Mary, having truly suffered, sacrificed on the cross for mankind, from whose pierced side water and blood flowed: Be for us a foretaste [of the Heavenly banquet] in the trial of death! O sweet Jesus, O holy Jesus, O Jesus, son of Mary, have mercy on me. Amen.
The Choir of King’s College Cambridge (recorded in 2010)
Stephen Cleobury (director)
https://youtu.be/HXjn6srhAlY
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Gert Van Hoef
First broadcast on Thursday 3rd February 2022:
Includes the Bach ‘St. Anne’ Prelude and Fugue:
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Come to the well
Barbara invites you to Come to the Well on Thursday February 17th, in church, 10. 30 for 11.00 am.
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For your prayers
Please pray for Donald Dille and Chloe Rolfes, nearing the end of their lives.
Also, for the repose of the soul of Seddy Bouzebiba who died last week, leaving a wife and young children.
Also, for Adam Clayton who has returned to hospital.
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Long to reign over us
We marked the 70th anniversary of the Accession of Her Majesty the Queen last Sunday in a very fitting way, including the National Anthem and Matthew playing Walton’s Coronation music. But did you know that when the accession was proclaimed formally on 8th February 1952 at St James’s Palace, our very own Lavinia was there? She was working nearby and went to witness this historic moment. God save the Queen!
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Next Deanery Synod
The next Deanery Synod will take place at Euston Church, Christ the King, Gordon Square on Thursday 24 February. Refreshments from 7 pm, the main meeting at 7.30 pm. The speaker will be Penny Roberts, newly appointed director of the London Diocesan Board for Schools (LDBS), to speak about the new shape and direction of travel of LDBS. There will also be a brief reflection on LLF (Living in Love and Faith) in the Deanery and the Zoom course now completed, as well as an item on imagining the future shape of the deanery.
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The Vicar is still on holiday!
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