John 2:4 - Jesus' response to Mary at Cana

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Jesus knew, as did Mary, that as soon as He revealed Himself publicly the road to the cross was entered, and there was no turning back. Mary had the joy of keeping Him to herself for 30 years and He was kind enough to allow her the occasion to release Him to the world. If she had decided not to reveal Him would He have waited? He gave her the privilege of deciding.

In John, Jesus refers to His mother as “woman”, which is where we draw the concept that she is the new Eve.
Wonderful reflection! 👍
 
No sane person wants to die.
Like Paul, I am looking forward to it.
2 Cor 5:6-8 So we are always courageous, although we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight.
Yet we are courageous, and we would rather leave the body and go home to the Lord.

Phil. 1:21-23 …My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.
And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, "Father, if thou art willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done." (Luke 22:41-42)
Yes, Jesus always wanted to do the Father’s will. One might say it was His greatest “want”, superdeding any others .
(eg, John 4:34; 5:19; 8:28; 14:31)
 
That is what my interlinear shows also.
Here’s an internet link. biblehub.com/interlinear/john/2-4.htm
*Ti emoi kai soi gynai?*Ti (what)
emoi (to me)
kai (and)
soi (to thee/you)
gynai (woman)?I guess I just have a hard time understanding how that would get translated as “What have you to do with me”. In this translation Jesus separates Himself from a person - “you” - Mary. I’m wondering what in the Greek could show that as a possible meaning - rather than to the situation Mary mentioned (lack of wine).
“What have you to do with me” Doesn’t seem like a very good translation, does it.
 
Interestingly, that’s also the English translation in Redemptoris Mater, mentioned earlier: 🤷

*Mary is present at Cana in Galilee as the Mother of Jesus, and in a significant way she contributes to that “beginning of the signs” which reveal the messianic power of her Son. We read: “When the wine gave out, 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’” (Jn. 2:3-4). In John’s Gospel that “hour” means the time appointed by the Father when the Son accomplishes his task and is to be glorified…

*vatican.va/holy_father/jo…-mater_en.html
 
“What have you to do with me” Doesn’t seem like a very good translation, does it.
Well part of the problem is that Greek sentences can be arranged in any order and it doesn’t really matter so long as the subjective and and objective declensions and the verb tenss is understood properly then it does not matter how the words are arranged. Hence “and the God was the Word” is properly translated “and the Word was God.”.

So it is possible that the schismatics may have an argument for translation, but given that it is also a foreign insertion to Church History, foreign to the Magisterium and alien to Church Orthodoxy it should at least give us pause.
 
Whatever it was - miracles, ministry, turning water to wine, helping the bride and groom - he didn’t want to do it.

-Tim-
I would recommend reading Fulton Sheen’s chapter on the wedding at Cana in his book, The World’s First Love.

He gives a beautiful explanation about how Jesus was asking Mary if she truly understood the consequences that would result in performing this miracle, namely initiating his messianic mission and bringing him one step closer to his hour or the words of Simon in Luke 2:35. This was a second fiat for Mary.

The Greek expression does not imply an unwillingness, but rather a misunderstanding/conflicting view of two parties.
 
If He didn’t want to do it, He wouldn’t have done it!
Nita,

I would add that Jesus waited until all the wine was consumed so that there would be no doubt to his miracle, that there would be no claim that the wine was mixed with water. Christ wanted his first miracle to be without dispute. God, who is beyond time and space, knew from the beginning of creation (and even before that) that his “hour had come” with this miracle.

Verse 4 sets up verse 5. In this verse, Mary, as she always does, points us to follow her Son, that we are to DO, whatever he tells us. This includes our receiving him in the Eucharist, that we should be baptized, that we need to follow the Commandments, that we should listen to The Church established by Christ and be One in Faith etc.

His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
 
I don’t think it was a reluctance to start His public ministry - mainly because He had already started it by publicly being baptized and already choosing some to be His apostles and having them join Him in His travels.

He says “My HOUR has not yet come.” That is an expression used elsewhere to refer to His passion and death. There was an “hour” when Jesus would provide a living wine for those who had none, but the hour for that had not yet arrived at the time of the Cana wedding.
John 13:1 Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 13:2 And during supper, …

See also John 7:30; 8:20; 12:23,27; 17:1
This made me think of St. Igmatius ’ prayer, the Anima Christi
Code:
Soul of Christ, sanctify me
Body of Christ, save me
Blood of Christ, inebriate me
Water from the side of Christ, wash me
Passion of Christ, strengthen me
O good Jesus, hear me
Within Thy wounds hide me
Separated from Thee let me never be ("Permit me not to be separated from Thee")
From the malicious enemy defend me ("From the malignant enemy defend me")
In the hour of my death call me
And bid me come unto Thee
That I may praise Thee with Thy saints ("That with thy Saints I may praise Thee")
Forever and ever
Amen
 
This made me think of St. Igmatius ’ prayer, the Anima Christi
Code:
Soul of Christ, sanctify me
Body of Christ, save me
Blood of Christ, inebriate me
Water from the side of Christ, wash me
Passion of Christ, strengthen me
O good Jesus, hear me
Within Thy wounds hide me
Separated from Thee let me never be ("Permit me not to be separated from Thee")
From the malicious enemy defend me ("From the malignant enemy defend me")
In the hour of my death call me
And bid me come unto Thee
That I may praise Thee with Thy saints ("That with thy Saints I may praise Thee")
Forever and ever
Amen
That is the prayer I say after receiving Holy Communion.
I particularly like contemplating Our Lord’s Soul being present within me. Can just get lost (for lack of a better word) in that; - the reality of it overwhelms.

Do you have a favorite line?
 
Whatever it was - miracles, ministry, turning water to wine, helping the bride and groom - he didn’t want to do it.

-Tim-
This is not consistent with the context. If He didnt’ want to do it, why did He do it?

Mary could probably not count the number of miracles He did for her privately up to that point, so that she could so confidently say “do whatev\er He tells you”.

If He did not want to do it, why didn’t He just tell them to rejoice without any more wine?

Do you see anything else, anywhere in the NT (other than the agony in the garden) where Jesus ever did something He did not want to do?
 
No sane person wants to die.

And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, "Father, if thou art willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done." (Luke 22:41-42)

-Tim-
I agree, and He chose to die for the remission of our sins.

Why did He choose to turn water into wine?

Could it be that no sane person wants to be short of wine? 😃

If this story were not pertinent to our salvation, it would not have been included.
 
Since the Pope recently declared Big Bang and Evolution True and Gen is not literal.

Does Mary as the First Eve and the woman 3:15 being just metaphoric mean that Mary’s role as the new Eve is also metaphoric.
This is an example of bearing false witness.

The Pope did nothing of the kind.

the Church teaches that there was a literal Adam and Eve.
 
I think, however any of the Bibles put it, it is all about the intention for stating Jesus’ words as “what has this to do with me” or “to you and me”. But if the intention to change wording to force a different interpretation would be quite unfair to Mary as his Mother.

They are both invited guests to the wedding, so Jesus would not be differentiating his Mother’s level to his, if that is what is interpreted. My two cents.

MJ
 
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