Jesus' response to Mary at the Wedding at Cana

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I have a question about Jesus’ response to Mary at the Wedding at Cana. Well, anyway, here is the whole story from the Gospel of Saint John:

On the third day there was a marriage at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; Jesus also was invited to the marriage, with his disciples. When the wine failed, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “O woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now six stone jars were standing there, for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the steward of the feast.” So they took it. When the steward of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, “Every man serves the good wine first; and when men have drunk freely, then the poor wine; but you have kept the good wine until now.”
(John 2:1-10 RSV)

I have emboldened the response of Jesus to Mary telling Him that they had no wine. Okay, I don’t understand Jesus’ response to His Mother here. It honestly seems a little bit rude even though I know it can’t be since Jesus would have never been rude to His Mother. Can someone please explain this to me?
 
First, the word woman is a very important clue. It links Mary back to Eve. It is why Catholics think of Mary as the New Eve, the mother of all the new living. The second is to look at the phrase that Jesus used. “What have you to do with me?” When we look at it, we have to look at it understanding who Jesus is and how the bible portrays him. It portrays him as a man who followed the Jewish law completely, without sin. So we know he wasn’t being rude, so what was he saying? It has more of a tone of “That is not our concern” or “It’s none of our business”.

It’s almost as if Jesus is saying “Do you realize what you are asking of me? It’s not the time I planned to start my ministry. You want me to perform my first miracle here?”

I just found this description of the interaction that explains it much better than I did above.
In the first place Jesus is using a Jewish expression as he speaks to his mother. The English translation we use at Mass renders it rather poorly. The Greek text of the Jewish expression is τί ἐμοὶ καὶ σοί (ti emoi kai soi) which is literally rendered: “What to me and to thee?” What this expression does it to denote a relationship between the one who is asking and the one who is asked. In effect it is something that someone says when they are reluctant to do what the asker wants but, based on their respect for the one who asks, they agree to do it. Maybe the closest English expression is, “What is that between friends?” or “You don’t even have to ask!”
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So in this interaction between Jesus and Mary we DOnote some reluctance on Jesus’ part for his hour had not yet come. And yet, because it is his mother who asks he does it. After stating his reluctance he says,“But what is that betweeen you and me?” Mary clearly takes it as an affirmation not a rebuke for she never misses a beat and turns right to the steward and says, “Do whatever he tells you” (jn 2:5).
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The wedding at Cana
 
Holly3278 said:
I have a question about Jesus’ response to Mary at the Wedding at Cana. Well, anyway, here is the whole story from the Gospel of Saint John:

On the third day there was a marriage at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; Jesus also was invited to the marriage, with his disciples. When the wine failed, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “O woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now six stone jars were standing there, for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the steward of the feast.” So they took it. When the steward of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, “Every man serves the good wine first; and when men have drunk freely, then the poor wine; but you have kept the good wine until now.”
(John 2:1-10 RSV)

I have emboldened the response of Jesus to Mary telling Him that they had no wine. Okay, I don’t understand Jesus’ response to His Mother here. It honestly seems a little bit rude even though I know it can’t be since Jesus would have never been rude to His Mother. Can someone please explain this to me?
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D-R Bible, Haydock Commentary:

Ver. 4. Some of the Fathers have spoken without sufficient precaution on this action of the blessed Virgin; supposing she was actuated by some inclination to vanity, in begging her Son to perform a miracle on this occasion; that some of the glory of it might accrue to her, and that on this account our Saviour answers her with severity, saying, Woman, (not Mother) what is it to thee or me. Other Fathers, with more reason, attribute the interference of the blessed Virgin to her charity and compassion for the new married couple. Whatever turn be given to our Saviour’s answer, it must be acknowledged it has in it the appearance of something severe. But the Fathers have explained it with mildness, observing that our Saviour only meant to say, Mother, what affair is it of ours if they want wine? Ought we to concern ourselves about that? Others think that he wished, by these words, to let his Mother know that she must not forestall the time appointed by the heavenly Father, as if her demand were unseasonable and out of time. But most of the Fathers and best commentators understand, that he speaks here not as man and Son of Mary, but as God; and in that quality, he observes to his Mother, I have nothing in common with you. It is not for you to prescribe when miracles are to be performed, which are not to be expected in compliance with any human respect. I know when my power is to be manifested for the greater glory of God. (Calmet) —See the like forms of speech, Mark i. 24; Luke iv. 34; &c. — My hour is not yet come. It is not yet time. He waited till the wine was quite done, lest any should believe that he had only increased the quantity, or had only mixed water with the wine. He would have his first miracle to be incontestable, and that all the company should be witnesses of it. (St. Augustine, et alii patres passim. — Christ’s first miracle in the New Testament, was a kind of transubstantiation in changing water into wine; the first miracle Moses performed when sent to the Jews, was transubstantiation. (Exodus iv.) The first Moses and Aaron performed, when sent to the Egyptians, was transubstantiation. (Exodus vii.)
 
DaddyGirl said:
The way this anecdote reads in the bible compared to how it is actually interpreted here is so different. Makes me worry that much we read there can be misinterpreted.
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That is precisely why the church encourages us not to try to interpret it without light of tradition and comparing to the church fathers. It’s very possible that my interpretation and the one in the link is flawed. I tend to think it’s a valid one, as I’ve seen it expressed the same way in several books by Scott Hahn who I respect a great deal.
 
bmullins said:
In the first place Jesus is using a Jewish expression as he speaks to his mother. The English translation we use at Mass renders it rather poorly. The Greek text of the Jewish expression is τί μο κα σοί (ti emoi kai soi) which is literally rendered: “What to me and to thee?” What this expression does it to denote a relationship between the one who is asking and the one who is asked. In effect it is something that someone says when they are reluctant to do what the asker wants but, based on their respect for the one who asks, they agree to do it. Maybe the closest English expression is, “What is that between friends?” or “You don’t even have to ask!”

So in this interaction between Jesus and Mary we DOnote some reluctance on Jesus’ part for his hour had not yet come. And yet, because it is his mother who asks he does it. After stating hisreluctancehesays,“But what is that betweeen you and me?” Mary clearly takes it as an affirmation not a rebuke for she never misses a beat and turns right to the steward and says, “Do whatever he tells you” (jn 2:5).

The wedding at Cana
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You are right on both your and your source’s interpretation. That’s a very sound read of it. If I could also add that a lot if people try to mislead folks by focusing on this snapshot of text. But john chapter 2 is all about the symbols, he is foreshadowing a lot to come and this text is probably the very smallest detail of the whole chapter.
 
Holly3278 said:
I have a question about Jesus’ response to Mary at the Wedding at Cana. Well, anyway, here is the whole story from the Gospel of Saint John:

On the third day there was a marriage at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; Jesus also was invited to the marriage, with his disciples. When the wine failed, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “O woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now six stone jars were standing there, for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the steward of the feast.” So they took it. When the steward of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, “Every man serves the good wine first; and when men have drunk freely, then the poor wine; but you have kept the good wine until now.”
(John 2:1-10 RSV)

I have emboldened the response of Jesus to Mary telling Him that they had no wine. Okay, I don’t understand Jesus’ response to His Mother here. It honestly seems a little bit rude even though I know it can’t be since Jesus would have never been rude to His Mother. Can someone please explain this to me?
Click to expand...
The answer to your question is in this video:

The Truth About Mary and Scripture: MUST SEE!
youtube.com/watch?v=kUdYeYy3NQA
 
Holly3278 said:
Okay, I don’t understand Jesus’ response to His Mother here. It honestly seems a little bit rude even though I know it can’t be since Jesus would have never been rude to His Mother. Can someone please explain this to me?
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I laughed aloud reading those verses just now. It is such a great scripture, and so telling.

Jesus may be more than just a little bit apprehensive about jumping into his public ministry just then, telling his mother, “But Mother, my hour has not yet come…” Mary’s response to her Son here is to basically tell him ‘Wanna bet?’, and so proceeds to commit Jesus to it by telling the servants to “Do whatever he tells you.”

Mary knows best. She intercedes for us, and Jesus listens (She is his mother after all). She is kick-starting the ministry of our Lord right here. :cool:

" And Jesus said to her, “O woman, what have you to do with me? :eek: My hour has not yet come.”
His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” 👍

Now, thanks to Mary, they’ve got peoples attention, and Jesus has to follow through.

Ready or not, here he comes. 🙂

Praise God.

.
 
Holly3278 said:
I have emboldened the response of Jesus to Mary telling Him that they had no wine. Okay, I don’t understand Jesus’ response to His Mother here. It honestly seems a little bit rude even though I know it can’t be since Jesus would have never been rude to His Mother. Can someone please explain this to me?
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He’s teasing her. Remember, the last time we saw them together, she had found him in the temple when he was supposed to be on the way home in the caravan and they have to go all the way back and they find him and Mary says, “Son, why have you done this to us…we were worried sick!” (Okay, I paraphrased that last but that’s what she says pretty much.) (2nd chapter of Luke)

So he goes home and is obedient to them, not following His path publicly, but obeying her. But now they are at Cana, in public, and Mary seems to know what He can do, and now she wants him to do it. So He gets all disingenuous and says, “Me? What? You want me to do something?” LOL!

But it’s a great story, because of course she knows him, I can almost see her raise an eyebrow and ignore his cheekiness and tell the stewards, “Just do what he says.” Complete confidence. BUT - also - this moment He is released by her to us.

I think it’s a great story of human love and warmth and relationship between mother and son.
 
Okay, if I understand it correctly this is how the dialogue between Jesus and Mary went in simple language that an every day Catholic American would understand:

Mary: “Jesus, Son, they have no wine.”
Jesus: “Are you sure we should interfere here? Is it really our business to do that? Besides, it is not yet time for my first miracle.”
Mary: “Servants, do whatever Jesus tells you to do.”

So do I have it right?
 
This anecdote has always held a great deal of mystery for me, and I freely admit that there is a lot about about which I reserve understanding until I can ask in person.

There is one thing that sticks out to me, and that I don’t think I’ve ever heard mentioned. Subsequent Scripture calls this Jesus’ first public miracle. Mary mentioned the lack as if she expected him to do something about it, as if she knew he could do something about it. This tells me that there may have been private miracles at home, such that she knew that he could miraculously supply what was lacking.

Also (putting on me Language Geek hat), the “what does that have to do with me” phrase still exists in modern Arabic. In one dialect that I have studied it is “Shu baini w-bainak?”, translated “What between-you and between-me?” I don’t have time right now to check the OT Hebrew, but I will.
 
I’ve got a single DVD of Bishop Fulton Sheen at one of the last retreats he gave. It’s a bit grainy since it was originally 8mm film way back in the late 1970’s, but he dealt with this episode.

The way he put it, Christ was saying to Mary, “Do you realise what you’re asking of me? If I start my public ministry with this miracle at your request, you are asking me to begin walking the road that will lead to Calvary and the Cross. **You’re **involved in this!”

Thus the Mother of Christ makes the initial request which will lead Him to the Cross, or as Simeon said “A sword will pierce your own soul also…”.

Luke 2:34, 35 - Then Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against (yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”
 
I have also been perplexed by this passage. I like the idea that Christ is kind of giving his mother hard time when he and she both know he will do as she asks. A good boy loves and respects his mother. (I know he wasn’t a boy per se at this time, it’s just an expression). I also like that she more or less disregards his comment and kind of puts him on the spot by immediately turning to the servants and instructs them to do as he says. She’s putting him on the spot!! Way to go Mom.

On a larger note, this is a good example of why sola scriptura is inadequate. It can cause us to overlook the real and very human aspect of Christ’s life. This is an exchange between a mother and son with heavenly implications. Does she really know that he is capable of performing the miracle? Do they both already know that his first miracle will performed at this wedding at this time? Is Mary fully aware that by asking this of him she is placing him on the path to crucifixion? If so, what a beautiful expression of submission and sacrifice to God’s purpose rather than her worldly impulse. That is, to protect her son.

Finally, I have wondered about the relationship between Mary, Jesus, and the couple being married. What was their relationship? Think about it…Christ chooses their wedding to perform the first miracle which leads to the salvation of the world. Who were these people that they should be honored so?
 
One way of looking at it is to consider the fact that Jesus might have helped drink some of the wine that had run out. In those days a wedding feast could last a couple of days.

Jesus may have been feeling humorous and been teasing Mary.

A very important aspect of this gospel story is the fact that Jesus turned the water used for purification RITUAL into wine.
 
Jesus never in scripture at any time, elevated Mary ! Yet, did he not say of John the baptist**

Matthew 11: 11** Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than** John the Baptist**

Yet, strangely, no such credit is ever given to Mary !

**Jesus even gives what the woman who poured ointment over Him a memorial, but no such memorial is ever given to Mary !!

Mark 14: 9** Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.
 
Moses with his elder sister Miriam were also involved in water miracles.

From the rescue of Moses from the reeds to the miracle of the Red Sea and Miriam’s song there, and then to Miriam’s well, which kept the thirst of the Hebrews quenched for forty years in the desert, Miriam had always been associated with miracles and extraordinary events pertaining to water.
Upon her death, and when the well abruptly ran dry, and the subsequent faithlessness of Moses without his big sister, where he struck the rock instead of speaking to it like God told him to, the relationship between Jesus and Mary is also redemptive for Moses, who was never allowed to enter the promised land as a result of his striking the rock to get the water to flow as his days with Miriam, instead of believing in the word of God to be sufficient.

Now not just water, but the purest wine that foreshadows the New Covenant and the very life blood of Jesus, is what flows from the faith of Jesus here in Cana. Mary’s submissive role relative to Jesus’s clearly dominating words role in this miracle demonstrates that it was never Miriam, nor now even Mary who is glorified by the miracle of waters, but God himself, in the Person of Jesus.

Whatever else then, this miracle is redemptive to the correct relationship between Moses and Miriam, and describes the correct relationship where the man does not place his faith in women and mothers, but draws his faith from God himself.
A man must leave his mother, however painful that must be, in order to fulfill his destiny here at the wedding.

Unlike Adam and Even at the time of the fall, the New Adam does not listen the words of the woman as Adam listened to Eve; Mary now assumes her proper role not as a temptress, but as a help mate, looks out not for her own passions, but to the fulfillment of the wedding feast itself, and Jesus glorifies God through a miracle that replenishes the wedding feast splendidly.
He is the bridegroom here, and we, the Church are his bride.
 
InDefense said:
Jesus never in scripture at any time, elevated Mary ! Yet, did he not say of John the baptist**

Matthew 11: 11** Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than** John the Baptist**

Yet, strangely, no such credit is ever given to Mary !

**Jesus even gives what the woman who poured ointment over Him a memorial, but no such memorial is ever given to Mary !!

Mark 14: 9** Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.
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You assume that Jesus is separate from God with those statements. The Bible says clearly that God sent Gabriel to Mary with the Annunciation. What greater elevation can a woman have than to become the living Ark through which God will enter the world? Not to mention the specific use of the word “woman” when addressing his mother. Many want to interpret this to mean Jesus was being rude. We can see very clearly that the fact he calls her ‘woman’ at the cross while assigning his mother to his beloved disciple that it was not a negative term, but one that carried significant meaning.

Jesus did indeed elevate his mother, it is only when we try to read the bible with preconceived notions that we ignore what is there, and see only what supports us. I did it for many years finding proof for all of protestant beliefs. It wasn’t till I sat down one day and said God, if I have it wrong… show me. I then began to truly study the bible for what it says and not what I ‘thought it said.’ It wasn’t long before I realized that a few of the things Catholics believed were right… so I started looking for others… guess what I found?
 
bmullins said:
First, the word woman is a very important clue. It links Mary back to Eve. It is why Catholics think of Mary as the New Eve, the mother of all the new living. The second is to look at the phrase that Jesus used. “What have you to do with me?” When we look at it, we have to look at it understanding who Jesus is and how the bible portrays him. It portrays him as a man who followed the Jewish law completely, without sin. So we know he wasn’t being rude, so what was he saying? It has more of a tone of “That is not our concern” or “It’s none of our business”.

It’s almost as if Jesus is saying “Do you realize what you are asking of me? It’s not the time I planned to start my ministry. You want me to perform my first miracle here?”

I just found this description of the interaction that explains it much better than I did above.

The wedding at Cana
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Just a note>>>>>I loved this response!!!👍
 
6 x (20-30) = 120 Noah - 180 gallons.

180 - 120 = 60…

5 have fallen, 1 is, 1 is not yet come… and then the 8th…

120/12 =10.

180/12 = 15.

25 56.6975 days held back until the appointed time.

7 Egypt and 11 Cainaan is written in Genesis.

11 x 365.2425 = 4017.6675; - 2556.6975 = 1460.97 days or years x 2 = 2921.94 = 900.94 BC + 2021.

450 Paul x 2 = 900.

Living waters floating His Bread and dashing His children concerning the stones until The Wedding Feast comes.
 
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