So, if I understand what you posted correctly, what Jesus said to her was essentially.....
*Woman. What are you up to?*
Would that be a fair assessment of the context and intent?
So, if I understand what you posted correctly, what Jesus said to her was essentially.....
*Woman. What are you up to?*
Would that be a fair assessment of the context and intent?
Well, it's closer than "how can I help you?" But I'm not sure it captures the fact that he is telling her there's a gap between what she thinks is important and what He thinks is important. But even the Louw-Nida (LN) suggested rendering doesn't make that point explicitly, though I think it does imply it:
"for what reason are you saying or doing this to me?"
See how it positions Mary to have to justify her request. Jesus had good reason to not go full public with His ministry at that time, and He wasn't going to do something contrary to His planned mission. That I suspect is why He did it in such a way that only the servant who filled the jars with water even knew a miracle had occurred.
I can imagine a subplot here, BTW, that I never thought of before. What would it have been like to be the servant doing the pouring for the guests? You know you just put water in there, and now you walk up to an important guest and start pouring. You're probably thinking, I'm going to get in real trouble once they see I'm giving them water. And then wine comes out! Your eyes get big, and you can hardly contain your excitement as you start to pour for the other guests. And then the compliments start coming. But only you, the servant, and Mary and Jesus, have any idea there was a near catastrophe, and a miracle. Interesting to think about. It tells me we can petition the Lord for things that are of interest to us, and He will hear us, but He will not go off mission either. He is brilliant in all that he does, and can handle the big picture without losing track of the little things that are important only to us. Yet only as His will permits.
Peace,
SR