John 2: 1-4
“On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”
“Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”
John opens the second chapter of his gospel with a dramatic change of scene. In Chapter 1 he walks us through the beginning of creation and introduces us to the battle between light and dark. He then introduces us to his gospel message: If you receive Jesus, if you believe in his name, you have the right to become a child of God, born of God. Then we see John the Baptist introducing Jesus and Jesus calling his first disciples. (Whew!) In Chapter 2, we are suddenly transported to a small village somewhere in Galilee at a local wedding. It is the third day of the wedding ceremony and a scandal is afoot: the host has run out of wine. Mary, the mother of Jesus, brings the problem to her oldest son.
Q: Is there any significance to the way Jesus responds to his mother? If so, what is it?
Mary, Knows His powers and asks Him to use them to correct a problem.
Jesus, Tells Mary it is not yet the time for Him to be showing His powers.
Mary, Tells the servants to do whatever Jesus says to do. In other words she is saying ” Let your will be done, not mine ”
Jesus, Out of love for His mother, agrees to honor her unspoken request.
We must make our requests known to God, acknowledge we accept His will over our own, and move on with our lives. God is sovereign and His will shall always be done.
I like Ron’s response above. I do think the motivation was out of love for His mother. I understand the term woman to be a term of endearment in that culture. It is not similar to someone in our culture saying, “woman, get me my dinner.” Rather, it is respectful and loving. In fact the NLT translates this as “Dear woman…”
His love for His mother is seen in both action and word.
I do believe in their culture it would be somewhat of a social embarrassment to run out of wine. I wonder if the tone of her voice reflected a plea to help her friend from being disgraced.
And if his tone reflected any frustration in that his first recorded miracle was a little driven to keep a social norms. Most of his mirclesbwent against social norms (laws) and were driven by compassion.
None of this answers the question…but Ron kind of covered it.
For Jesus to address his mother as “woman” might have been the norm, but I think not. I heard it explained once that this is a transitional period for Jesus, moving from faithful son and head of a household to itinerant rabbi devoted to the work of his Father in heaven. Referring to his mother using the less personal term, ‘woman’ might have reflected that transition.
Oh wow, I tell you what. I have spent the better part of today off and on researching this one. Seems to be a lot of discussion on his particular event and it’s significance. I finally did something I have never done by myself and researched the original text and the various translations. These four verses just taken in context signify a transition. Mary literally speaks to Jesus as a mother would to her grown son. “Well, they ran out of wine.” Bringing Him an earthly problem, that perhaps an earthly son could fix. His response is something to the affect of “Madam or dear lady (polite, but not how you would speak to the mother that birthed you), this isn’t my reason to be here. My true purpose will be fulfilled on God’s time.” This won’t be the last time that someone in Jesus’s life tries to push Him into action, or to go a certain direction. He says this again later on in John 7: 3-6:
” So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.” For not even his brothers believed in him. Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. Jesus really lets it be known to His mother that He is on God’s clock, not mans.
Chris,
Good for you getting into the original texts and other translations! I find that to be a very valuable exercise. You are correct about Jesus’ response to his mother being a bit formal. Interestingly, Jesus rounds out his response by doing what his mother asked. Our God speaks truth in love.