Emptiness of the Potter-world
One of my New Year resolutions for 2002 was to read Harry Potter – Book 1. I must confess that I was really out of step with the euphoria that was building up in the rest of the world, with four books already published in the series by then. In fact, it was that euphoria that had caught my attention even in the bush in East Africa. I was proud that it did not take me too long to put the resolution into action. I enjoyed reading Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Since then I have read four of the seven books and watched as many movie-versions of them.
What led me into this “Pottermania”? I was intrigued by the reports in the press, including the five page write-up in Time Magazine (Nov 5, 2001), and similar write-ups all over the place. I kept wondering what all this fuss was about? No doubt, J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series is no mere fiction. It is literature. Still, why so much excitement, from the making of a $125 million movie to the commercial strategies of Harry Potter toothbrushes? Over 100 million copies of the books were sold by 2002; and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, fourth in the series, published in 2000, holds the record as the fastest selling book in history. But why did the Harry Potter series make such a big hit? Was it filling a certain emptiness created in the Western world by the loss of the sense of the Sacred?
In the same week that I began reading the Harry Potter series I was invited to preach at an Anglican Church inNorthern Tanzania, to a congregation who were mainly people from abroad. The passage that was given for reflection that Sunday was the Wedding atCana(John 2:1-11), and I could not help making a connection between the emptiness of the “Potter-world” and the abundance of the “Jesus-world.”
Abundance of the Christ World: the Encounter
The text begins with the phrase, “On the third day…”. The count of days in the previous stories since the witness by John the Baptist (Jn 1:19) add up a total of seven days (see Jn 1: 9, 29, 35, 43; 2:1). The count of seven day allude to the story of creation. Therefore, we can assume that in the even toCana– the first of the signs that Jesus performs in the Gospel of John – there is a new creation. This is particularly consistent with the prologue of John: In the beginning was the word…
Secondly, “the mother of Jesus was there” (Jn 2:1b). Given the connection to creation, as said above, some scholars see the mother of Jesus (unnamed in the gospel of John) as the new Eve – who behaves differently from the first one. In fact, she gets mentioned even before Jesus, who with his disciples is mentioned as if they were last minute guests or ‘gatecrashers’. (On a lighter note: the gatecrashers could have caused the wine running out!). In any case, ‘the mother of Jesus’ is also mentioned at the foot of the cross (Jn 19:25). In both the stories, Jesus addresses her as ‘woman’! So there are parallels between Cana andCalvary. The new creation that begins at Cana reaches its culmination atCalvary. In both the stories, Mother of Jesus is there! In our Christian life journey, this perhaps is the role of Mary. She introduces Jesus to us – she could mediate the new creation, that comes out of our encounter with Jesus himself!
Continuing with the image of new creation: we recognise that the wedding atCanacontrasts two opposing scenes – one, before Christ and the other, after Christ. Before Jesus could perform the “sign” (v.11), there was emptiness: “They have no wine” (v.3). They had no fun; the wedding party had lost its sparkle. “There were six stone water jars standing there, meant for the ablutions that are customary among the Jews” (v.6). Six, being a number of imperfection, aggravates the emptiness. They were indeed thirsty. On the other hand, after Jesus reluctantly agreed to perform the ‘sign’, there was abundance: “and they filled them to the brim” (v.7). The empty water jars were filled with wine now – the best wine (v.10). The difference was the ‘sign’ – the revelation of Jesus as the Christ, and that experience made difference in the wedding feast.
The focus of our reflection today is the Encounter with Jesus as the climax of our Christian life journey (the 5th step). There are two powerful, related images in the wedding atCana that are meaningful to our understanding of the encounter: wedding and meal/celebration.
This story in John is parallel to the story of the Magi in Matthew (2:1-10). This is the Epiphany. Jesus self revelation to the world takes place in the context of a wedding. There are several passages and images, both in the Scriptural tradition and later spiritual Christian traditions, that refer to the encounter between God/Jesus and humans in terms of marriage.
In the story of the Samaritan woman (Jn 4:1-4), the place of the encounter was a well. We could perhaps say, Jesus was actually waiting for this woman at the well. In traditional societies, the well is a very significant setting for an encounter, especially between a young man and a young girl. In the Old Testament many Patriarchs encountered their future brides at the well. In Genesis 24:10-67, Abraham’s servant met Isaac’s future wife, Rebecca, at the well. In Genesis 29:1-17, Jacob fell in love with Rachel at the well. Exodus 2:15-21 describes Moses encountering his future wife Zipporah, at the well. So what was Jesus up to? No wonder, later in the passage the returning apostles “were surprised to find him speaking to a woman” (v.27). It was the setting that raised eyebrows! Can we say then that, this passage tells us powerfully that Jesus is like a bridegroom who wants to relate to us as his brides?
This theme is already present very powerfully in the Hebrew Scriptures. In Ezekiel 16 there is a compelling, if not an embarrassing, image of God who cares for me in my utter helplessness. And chooses to love me passionately:
I made you grow like the grass of the fields. You developed, you grew, you reached marriageable age. Your breasts became firm and your hair grew richly, but you were stark naked. Then I saw you as I was passing. Your time had come, the time for love. I spread my cloak over you and covered your nakedness; I gave you my oath, I made a covenant with you — declares the Lord Yahweh — and you became mine (vv.7-8).
In Hosea it is even more surprising. “When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry and have children of harlotry, for the land commits great harlotry by forsaking the Lord” (Hosea 1:2, RSV). God as a passionate lover not only loves me as a faithful lover, but will even come in search of me when I have been unfaithful to Him.
The opening sentence of the Song of Songs is yet more direct: “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for your love-making is sweeter than wine.”
St Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians, would use the image of the love between the husband and wife to elucidate the love between Christ and his Church. He invites husbands to love their wives just as Christ loved the Church and sacrificed himself for her. But as Paul continues his analogy it is not clear what is his main concern? Is he preaching about faithfulness in conjugal love or about the immensity of the love of Christ for his Church? “This is why a man leaves his father and mother and becomes attached to his wife, and the two become one flesh. This mystery has great significance, but I am applying it to Christ and the Church” (Eph 5:31-32).
The mystical marriage is also common in the spiritual tradition. St Catherine ofAlexandria(may be a legendry saint) and Saint Catherine of Sienna (1347-1380) seems to have had visions that describe mystical marriage with Christ. The same was true of St Rose ofLima(d.1617). Mystical marriage is a repeated theme in the writings of Teresa of Avila. Here is one typical example.
“Our Lord said to me one day, in the monastery of Veas, that I was to present my petition to Him, for I was His bride. he promised to grant whatever I might ask of Him, and as a pledge, gave me a very beautiful ring, with a stone set in it like an amethyst, but of a brilliancy very unlike, which He put on my finger” (Autobiography, no.25)
This is not a feminine sentimentality. John of the Cross (1542-1591) in his Spiritual Canticle (which is considered to a fine piece of poetry in Spanish) he sings:
1. Where have you hidden,
Beloved, and left me moaning?
You fled like the stag
after wounding me;
I went out calling you, but you were gone.2. Shepherds, you who go
up through the sheepfolds to the hill,
if by chance you see
him I love most,
tell him I am sick, I suffer, and I die.
It is fitting therefore that during this our Parish Mission Week we have chosen this day as the special day for married couples. After this reflection we will invite married couples to renew their matrimonial vows. As we will do this, it is important to remind ourselves of the analogical parallel between our encounter with God in Jesus and the union between husband and wife.
It is important to note that the epiphany of Jesus in John takes place in the context of a meal and a celebration. There is plenty of wine – of best quality and over 500 litres of it. The symbol that I have chosen for this stage is mountain. The encounter with Jesus, the climax of our Christian life journey, results in abundance: fulfilment and satisfaction in life. This happiness is not absence of suffering – that would be dehumanising; but it is the depth of meaning that we enjoy in being human.