Part of what makes it sound like Jesus might be dissing his mother is the fact that he refers to her as "woman." We don't talk to women like that today--not if we respect them, and certainly not our own mothers. But the connotations--of respect, disrespect, or other things--that a word has in a given language are quite subtle, and we can't impose the connotations that a word has in our own language on another. Consider: Suppose, in English, we replaced "woman" with a term that means basically the same thing but with better connotations. For example, the word "lady" or "ma'am." Suddenly what Jesus says sounds a lot more respectful. In British circles, "lady" has distinctly noble overtones (it's the female counterpart to the noble honorific "lord"). And even in demotic America, a son can say, "Yes, ma'am" to his mother and mean it entirely respectfully. -Jimmy Akin
Huh?
And then he goes on to IMAGINE what an different word MIGHT mean or be understood as meaning!
Great analysis!