"And when the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus, said to Him, "They have no wine." And Jesus said to her, "Woman, what do I have to do with you? My hour has not yet come." His mother said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it."" John 2:4-5 NASV
I was recently looking at a book by Jack Miles about Jesus. He talks at length about this exchange from Jesus and Mary. Jesus has begun to establish his earthly ministry and has started to gather disciples around him and they are invited to a wedding. Some days in the ceremony, the wine gives out. Some think that perhaps Mary had some role in the wedding to help provide for the ceremony, but that is not necessary to the story. Mary realizes that this is a huge embarrasement to the family and in her own way tries to help. Somewhere along the way, she has realized that it is a good idea to bring these kinds of problems to her eldest son, who happens to be Jesus.
Jesus' words sound harsh to us because we don't particularly know for certain how this was phrased or caught by Mary. It seems though, that Jesus was stating to her that though he obeyed her under her roof for many years as her son, now things were changing. No longer was she the one who would be telling Jesus what to do. Now Jesus is following the leading of the Spirit to do the work of the Father. Yet, it is a good example for us to follow that Mary shows us, that we should bring things to Jesus.
Another good lesson from Mary is what she tells the servants. It seems to suggest from her words that she has seen Jesus solve problems before, if not to do miralces. It also seems to suggest that she wants the servants to understand that no matter how odd or unusal the request may be, they are not to question, but to obey. Mary has come to see that sometimes Jesus' words and commands did not always make sense at first, but to trust Him anyway. That is a good lesson for us as well.
Unlike raising Lazarus from the dead or healing the blind to see this miralce may have gone unnoticed by many in the party that day. Jesus himself did not raise his hands or shout or draw attention to himself. Yet, he responds in compassion to those in need. He simply says, "Fill the waterpots with water." Seems like an odd thing to do. The waterpots were for ceremonial washing. Some have said that this is to show that the need for the old ceremonies are over and that something new has come. As much as wine is better than water. Perhaps that is part of the idea, but I don't think John had that in mind when he wrote it. Rather, it seems these pots, which were pretty large, were the ones available at the time.
After Jesus is born, we hear very little from Mary throughout the gospels only to see her briefly once or twice and then again at the cross and resurrection. Yet, Jesus has shown to her through the way he was raised and by his wisdom that he understands how to solve problems. He cares about the little and big things. And it would be right for us to do what Mary says and does here and to bring it to him and then to do what he says.
