A lot of things were/are significant about that epic moment at Cana.
MarkB says : “if this passage is to be taken at face value , then Mary goes to Jesus and says: Hey—do something!!!! We’re at this wedding and you’re contributing nothing and they’re outta wine. Get moving. Jesus says No way. I’m not ready yet. Mary says to the staff: get moving......so on the face of it, Jesus disses his mother in public, but when it comes down to crunch time, He does what she asks. Yeah, that’s putting her in her place. And very Jewish, by the way.”
I heard a conference given by the late, great Archbishop Fulton Sheen about this public moment of Jesus the Lord.
First of all, the good and learned Bishop said that the accurate translation of what Jesus said to his mother was “What is to me, is to you”—NOT “what is that to you”. The words “what is to me is to you” hearkens back to the prophecy of Simeon when Joseph and Mary presented Jesus in the temple. That passage also occurs in Luke’s Gospel. Simeon told Mary that a “sword would pierce her heart, that would lay bear the thoughts of many”. It was a prophecy of Mary’s suffering in the hour of her son’s Passion, and that the sword that pierced his heart would reverberate to hers.
Also, every time that Jesus refers to his “hour” He is speaking of his Passion; every time He mentions his Day, it refers to his Resurrection and Coming in Glory.
We read in Luke that Mary, at the Annunciation of Gabriel, was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit. That overshadowing surely must have remained with her—even as today we Christians believe with our whole hearts that we are helped and comforted and guided by the Holy Spirit-—and surely the Holy Spirit’s presence in the house of Nazareth was never gone, for the Incarnate Word was there —for 30 years.
Someone had to tell Mary that there was no more wine. We aren’t told who that person was, ,but we can easily believe that Mary was moved by the Holy Spirit to let her Son know. Mary’s response to that prompting led her to inform her Son. She didn’t tell him what to do. She didn’t think He “wasn’t contributing anything”. She didn’t say “get moving”. She simply let Him know that there was no more wine. Period. Then she spoke to the chief steward: “Do whatever He tells you”. This is—and always is—Mary’s only message to us—we who are in the bridal party of the great Wedding Feast of the Lamb.
Those poorest of the poor in that area, witnesses to the opening of the public ministry of the Lord, are our forebears—we who are the poorest of the poor—the anawim of the Lord—yet richly blessed and relieved of our thirst for union with Him. Because He heard his mother’s report of their need He responded to it, just as He knew from all eternity that He was going to do that day.
Mary’s intercession was for those whose need was made known to her and she spoke to her Son on their behalf.
Interesting that Luke’s Gospel closes with Jesus at another meal—one to which he was invited—in which “He was recognized at the breaking of the bread.”
My thoughts on the wedding in Cana, and this is my speculation by my own admission just in case anyone wants to flip out over it.....
Wedding in those days were family affairs. And as in every wedding, the family throws the party. Now, my suspicion is that it’s a wedding in Jesus’ family and Mary was responsible for provisions or somehow connected with it. Since there was no mention of Joseph in the NT after Jesus childhood and the Jesus in the Temple episode, one could conclude that he had died.
That would leave Jesus as the oldest child. Therefore, when Mary realizes that there’s no wine, she comes to Him with the problem. Or maybe she was just worrying about it out loud to Him.
Anyway, she comes to Him with this problem probably expecting Him to fix it but certainly not knowing HOW He’s going to do that. Regardless, He takes action to rectify the situation and instead of sending out the servants to BUY more wine, He makes it.
I seriously doubt that she knew He was going to provide it miraculously and it passage does not support the idea that Jesus cannot refuse any request of His mother, as I’ve heard Catholics argue.
laid “bear” should have been laid “bare”
I will understand your smiles