©Michael Player
Chapter 2:3-5 (ESV) - When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
Question to consider: Why do you think Mary came to Jesus with this problem?
As I mentioned yesterday, Mary was probably either friends with the couple getting married or their near relative. I say this because she was informed of the issue that there was no more wine to set out for the wedding feast. Even if a couple was of modest means, there were usually quite a few people invited to a wedding because it was the making of a covenant. The people were not just guests but witnesses to the marital covenant and among those who would help the couple keep their vows.
A wedding feast would have a master steward who introduced the food and wine to the people. His servants who prepared and delivered the feast came to Mary to see if she could take care of the issue so as not to get the master steward or couple involved and risk public embarrassment.
There are some who say that Mary came to Jesus because in bringing the disciples, He was the cause of the wine running short. Even if there were six disciples instead of the four I mentioned, I don’t think they would have created this crisis.
I believe that Joseph was dead at this point so Jesus was considered by Mary to be the head of the household. I also think that she knew He had been gathering His disciples in order to begin His ministry. This would be a good way for Jesus to become known. However, Jesus only acted according to the command of the Father. He wasn’t being terse with Mary in calling her “woman”. I believe it was a term of endearment that related back to the promise God gave after the rebellion of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:15.
Jesus was the promised seed who would crush the head of the serpent. Mary was on the right track even if she had messed up on the timeline. So instead of performing the miracle publicly, Jesus did so in view of the servants and His disciples much like the angels first appeared to the lowly shepherds at His birth.
People try to diminish the importance of marriage in our culture or make the wedding all about the bride when in fact the covenant of marriage was the first covenant God made with those created in His image. While marriage is the building block of society, the mystery of this covenant was revealed in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians as being a type and shadow of Christ’s relationship with the church (Ephesians 5:32). Given that John would have written this account after Ephesus had received Paul’s letter, I believe that John, who was close to the church at Ephesus, wrote this testimony knowing they would more fully understand its significance.
Dear heavenly Father, thank You for giving us the covenant of marriage. Help us to see in it our relationship with Christ and therefore keep our vows to love and serve one another as Christ has loved and served the church. Amen.