A home for Jesus

Are you someone who hates to throw away things? I can be like that in my own life, not liking to throw something away in case I might need it or use it someday. I admit that in cleaning out the family homestead, especially my father’s workshop and garage, such salvaging was certainly part of his DNA, so I know where I get it from!

In Sacred Scripture, I noticed a similar circumstance in John 2:1-11, the wedding at Cana in Galilee. From the scene that the evangelist sets, we know that there are six stone water jars empty and bone dry just sitting around for the next ceremonial foot-washing — was there anything else they could be useful for?

Well, Jesus in the gospel indicates that, “Yes, indeed!” they did have a further use — they could be part of His continued Epiphany. … His continued manifestation to the nations! In the ancient liturgical tradition of the Church, the Epiphany of the Lord is represented in three events:  the Visit of the Magi, the Baptism of the Lord in the Jordan River, and the Wedding Feast Miracle at Cana in Galilee.

This last manifestation particularly shows the transforming presence of Jesus when we allow him into our homes and the events of our lives. Furthermore, take to heart the last spoken words of Mary that we find in the New Testament. They are just five words: “Do whatever He (Jesus) tells you. Yet, as suggested by the ever-popular HGTV channel, both can lead to a true “Home Makeover!”

 Case in point, a few years ago, a woman wrote a fascinating article about redecorating her family’s home. Things went well until her husband overruled the interior decorator and hung a 16-by-20-inch picture of Jesus in the most prominent place in the house. The woman tried to get her husband to reconsider, but he absolutely refused. Then, during a discussion with him, she recalled the words of Jesus: “Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father” (Mt 10:32). That settled it. Her husband won!

 Now the wife says that she is glad her husband won, because she believes the picture of Jesus has had a remarkable effect on her family, as well as visitors to the home. For example, one day, a stranger kept glancing at the picture. Finally, he turned to the woman and said, “You know, that Jesus doesn’t look at you; he looks right through you.” And one night, a family friend sitting across from the picture said, “I always feel so peaceful in your home.” However, the picture’s most striking impact, says the woman, is on conversations. It inevitably draws them to a higher level.

 The woman ends her article by saying she knows people will smile at her remarks and even ridicule them, but she doesn’t care. “This much I know,” she says. “When you invite Jesus into your home, you’re never the same again.”

 I believe that is something the young couple at Cana could agree on with that woman. They invited Jesus into their home, and he worked his first miracle there. And they were never the same again. In fact, a little-recognized detail about Jesus is how often he worked miracles in people’s homes.

 For example, when Peter first invited Jesus to his home, the first thing Jesus did was to cure Peter’s mother-in-law (Mk 1:31). And when Jairus, the synagogue official, invited Jesus to his home, the first thing Jesus did was to restore life to Jairus’ daughter, who had just died (Mk 5:41). Neither Peter’s family or Jairus’ family was ever the same again.

 Then there was a leading Pharisee. He invited Jesus to dinner one day, and one of the first things Jesus did was to cure a sick man at his house (Lk 14:4). And who can forget Zacchaeus, the cutthroat tax collector of Jericho? He also welcomed Jesus into his house one day. The two talked for a while, and Zacchaeus ended up giving half of his belongings to the poor and paying back those he had cheated four times what he had taken. 

 And finally, sisters and brothers, there’s that moving episode at Emmaus on Easter night. Two men invited Jesus to supper, although at the time, they didn’t know it was Jesus. Jesus ended up celebrating with them the very first Eucharist after the Last Supper (Lk 24:35), and they came to know his abiding presence with them.

 I don’t know about you, brothers and sisters, but these examples cause me to ask, “Do I invite Jesus into my home … into my life, in a practical way?” For example, if an interior decorator checked over our houses, would he or she see any evidence on our walls that our family follows Jesus? Or would the decorator merely say, “I see you’re a Syracuse Orange fan, or that some here likes the Boston Red Sox, or is a big fan of Taylor Swift.”

 Or suppose one of your children brought home a friend from school or college. Would that friend say to him or her later on, “Your family is really Christian. I can’t remember praying at mealtime as I prayed at your home. And I can’t remember seeing such love as I saw in your house. And you know there was something else. I can’t remember hearing your family put anyone down.”  That friend would never be the same again, because they had met Jesus in your home.

 Brothers and sisters, inviting Jesus into our home … into our lives … is the most important thing we could ever do. And the way we do it can range from concretizing Jesus’ presence with a crucifix, a picture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, or the Divine Mercy image, or a Bible to pray reverently at meals. Or it can range from treating each other with genuine love to never speaking ill of others. Whatever it may be, once you and I invite Jesus into our home, we can expect something special. Jesus never visits a home without doing something special.

 Let me end by sharing this moment of prayer with you —

 Lord Jesus, come into our home and bless it.

Bless the doors of our home. May they always be open to the stranger and the lonely.

Bless the rooms of our home. May they always be filled with your presence.

Above all, bless each member of our family. May their minds be ever open to your world. May their hands be ever outstretched to the need. And may their hearts be ever turned toward you.

Amen.