Mary and the Wedding at Cana (John 2)

       “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” From Gospel for today, the Gospel according to John, chapter 2, verse 4.

     In nomine etc..

     Today’s Gospel story, the story of the Wedding at Cana, is well known. There are paintings and icons depicting the miraculous change of water into wine. Jesus at that moment is usually portrayed as making a polite gesture in the direction of the water jars. What the paintings and icons don’t usually do, is depict how big the water jars actually were, or how big the party really was. There was a lot of wine at this event, a lot. Very likely the whole town was at the wedding. And the art portrays Mary as being demurely deferential, as though she accepted her son’s apparent dismissal of her concern about a lack of wine.

     “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” Conventionally, this remark is heard as a rebuke, a dismissal, at least by English speakers, as though Jesus would rebuke his mother. Mary has been called by the Church for centuries, Theotokos, or God-bearer, and Mother of God in the Western Church. The relationship between Mary and Jesus is theologically very deep, and these words direct us to an understanding of that relationship beyond conventional notions.  Given the setting of this remark, and its pairing with the words, ‘my hour has not yet come’, it is unlikely that Jesus meant his words as a rebuke. There is another meaning here, which we can discover by thinking carefully about the words.

     Today’s story begins, “On the third day there was a wedding in Cana.” On the third day. This numbering is not accidental or casual or irrelevant. It’s a clear reference to the Resurrection, and is paired to the calling of the first disciples. So the wedding story is being placed in context, the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, and the end of his earthly ministry and the resurrection and the beginning of new life shared with God in eternity. When Jesus says, “My hour has not yet come,” he is reminding his hearers, and us, that the wedding at Cana is only the beginning of the revelation of who Jesus is, what his ministry is, and what the role of his mother is in the history of salvation. The wedding is an image of the heavenly banquet; it’s an image of the true calling of the human race: to celebrate our participation in the life of God. It is a revelation that salvation, new life in God, is not our destiny merely as individuals, but is our destiny as members of a community, the Body of Christ, united to each other and celebrating our new life together. We are not raised to new life in God on our own, but together in community, the community which is his body in the world.

      “Woman, what is that to you and to me?” This remark clearly places Jesus and Mary together, on the same level. There is no suggestion in this equality of address, of any rebuke or dismissal or subordination. People down the centuries have certainly heard it as a rebuke, most likely because they took the subordination of women for granted, and so heard what they expected to hear. But that is not what Jesus actually said. “What is that to you and to me?” is not about subordinating Mary, but is about revealing the true meaning of the event: foreshadowing the resurrection and its meaning, new life in God, symbolized by new wine at a celebration.

     “My hour has not yet come.” In other words, this wedding party is only the beginning. The event is a preparation, a beginning of a ministry whose character is revealed in it. The first thing that Jesus does after calling his disciples is go to a party! And he takes his mother with him. That action reveals her place in his ministry, and in the history of salvation. Jesus is about to reveal what the wine, that is, new life, is to him and Mary. The wedding party is the beginning of his earthly ministry, and Mary is important to it right from the start.

     And how does Mary respond to Jesus’s remarks? She says to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Far from being rebuked, Mary is shown to have authority in the community, an authority not restricted in any way, and sharing in the authority of Jesus. She furthers his ministry and shows that it is not limited in any way. “Whatever he tells you” is a very open-ended command, indicating possibility, something new, something unexpected, without limitation. And that is what happens. New wine, that is, new life, comes into the world, and Mary, the God-Bearer, makes it possible in the Incarnation, and in this very revealing beginning to Jesus’s ministry.

     “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour is not yet come.”

     In nomine, etc…