Scripture Sense

Letting Scripture lead us to happiness and heaven

01/20/2019

John 2:1-11 There was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding. When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine." And Jesus said to her, "Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come." His mother said to the servers, "Do whatever he tells you." Now there were six stone water jars there for Jewish ceremonial washings, each holding twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus told the them, "Fill the jars with water." So they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, "Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter." So they took it.  And when the headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine, without knowing where it came from — although the servers who had drawn the water knew —, the headwaiter called the bridegroom and said to him, "Everyone serves good wine first, and then when people have drunk freely, an inferior one; but you have kept the good wine until now." Jesus did this as the beginning of his signs at Cana in Galilee and so revealed his glory, and his disciples began to believe in him.

I fell in love with the sacred scriptures while studying theology at Mt. St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland. I earned a master of arts degree in scripture by writing a paper called, “Who the Heck is Melchizedek?” But my love for the Bible was sparked by a brief encounter with a fellow seminarian named Tim Staples. Tim was a former Marine (and he still looked like one), and an Assembly of God youth pastor. One day I was working on a paper on scripture and couldn’t remember a particular passage. Those were the dark barbaric days before the dawn of the golden age of google. I walked out of my dorm room scratching my head and saw Tim coming down the hall. Knowing a little of his story, I asked: “Hey, Tim, do you know where it says in the bible something like ‘Whatever is true, whatever is good, whatever…” But before I could finish stammering, he answered: “Philippians 4:8” and kept on walking, never missing a step. I thought to myself: “Dang, I want to be able to do that!” In that moment a budding bible scholar was born.

Thanks to Tim and my professors, I learned to love and revere the bible not only as the Word of God, but also as the blueprint for human happiness. I love how here at Mass here in Winslow we enthrone the Book of the Gospels after the deacon proclaims it. The bible is not only a relic to be revered, but also a roadmap to be rigorously followed for our salvation as well as for our sanity.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches there are four senses – or layers or levels – of scripture, and all bible believers (including Catholics) should be attentive to each one. They are: (1) the literal sense, (2) the allegorical sense, (3) the moral sense, (4) and the anagogical sense. Today’s gospel of the wedding feast in Cana from John 2 provides a perfect pericope to see these four senses in action. I want to describe these four senses but also draw out some practical conclusions for Christian conduct.

First, we must understand the literal sense of scripture, that is, what the inspired author intended to say to a particular community. All the other three senses should build on the literal level, like a three story house sitting on a solid foundation. In other words, before you ask the question, “What does this passage mean to me?” you need to discover the meaning of, “What does this passage mean to Joshua or to Jeremiah, to St. John or to St. James?” the ancient authors. In the gospel of John, therefore, the inspired author wants to convey a historical event – the wedding at Cana – but also tease out its deeper meaning, using his own gift of literary artistry.  John is an artist who paints with words. Scott Hahn once described this literal sense as “history aimed at a target.” The first question we ask, therefore, when we open the bible to John 2 is: “What target was John aiming at in telling the story of the miracle at Cana?” That target is the literal sense.

Secondly we turn to the allegorical sense, which helps us grasp some facet of our faith. Now we can start to ask, “What does this passage mean to me?” I love to mention this passage from John 2 at marriage ceremonies. I remind the couple (and the congregation) that sooner or later all marriages run out of wine, which symbolizes human love: human trust, human forgiveness, human hope, human patience, etc. The wine of young love starts to taste more like water. But if you invite Jesus to your wedding, he can change the water of human love into the wine of divine love, Jesus own love. And we taste that best of wine in the Mass, where the wine is changed into the Blood of Christ. That is the allegorical sense of John 2, namely, Jesus always provides the wine of his love at Mass for troubled couples.

The third sense is the moral sense, and as you can guess, it refers to how a passage helps us fulfill the two-fold commandment to love God and our neighbor, the basis of all morality. In John 2, the “neighbor” we must learn to love is our own spouse. It may sound easy to love your spouse, but sometimes loving our husband or wife feels more like “sleeping with the enemy.” Did you ever see the movie, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”? The mother gives her bride-daughter, who’s getting cold feet, some advice the night before the wedding. She says: “Remember dear, the husband is the head of the family. But the wife is the neck, and the neck can turn the head.” At Cana in Galilee Mary and Jesus play the roles not only of mother and son, but also (in a sense) wife and husband. Indeed, Jesus’ cryptic reference to Mary as “Woman” evokes her true and deepest identity as an image of the Church, Jesus’ Bride. And how does Mary relate to Jesus at the wedding in Cana? Just like that Greek mother said. Mary “the neck” turns Jesus’ “head” to a particular problem. This gives us a glimpse of how to resolve some – of course not all – spousal spats: the man is the head and the woman is the neck. The moral sense of scripture shows us how to love each other, even our enemies.

And lastly, we arrive at the anagogical sense, and this is my favorite one of all. The word “anagogy” means to climb upward or ascend, and we climb or ascend to heaven, a “stairway to heaven” like Led Zepplin sang (sort of). John 2 suggests that only in heaven will we enjoy the perfect marriage between Jesus and his Bride, the Church. By contrast, all earthly marriages will always be imperfect and always run out of wine. I am convinced this has radical implications for every husband and wife because now you can sort of relax and stop searching for the perfect husband or the ideal wife. Wesley told Prince Humperdink, “Get used to disappointment,” and that is also the lot of all married couples. You could marry a hundred husbands and each one would have a fatal flaw. We are all “looking for love in all the wrong places” like Johnny Lee sang. Earth is the wrong place to look for “wuv, tru wuv,” the right place is heaven, only there will we find true, lasting love that will never disappoint. When we see John 2 as a “stairway to heaven” you catch the anagogical sense of scripture.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church sums up these four senses by quoting a medieval couplet: “The Letter speaks of deeds; Allegory to Faith; The Moral how to act; Anagogy to our destiny” (Catechism, 118). Sadly, I still cannot quote Philippians 4:8 without stumbling over the exact words. But loving the bible and living the bible requires more than remembering random passages. Only the four senses of scripture will reveal its real richness as both a path of peace here on earth and as a stairway to heaven.

Praised be Jesus Christ!