He’s been baptized in the Jordan River near Bethany by his cousin John, who has seen the Holy Spirit descending like a dove on Jesus.
John, who is six months older than his cousin, has been living in the wilderness, living the life of an ascetic, austere, denying himself the normal pleasures of life and dedicating himself to the contemplation of God’s plan for the salvation of the world.
He is aware of God’s purpose for him and that’s why he has begun a ministry of baptizing people — a ministry that has attracted the attention of the religious leadership in Jerusalem, the location of the Temple.
When the time is right, he proclaims who Jesus is:
This event is a signal.
It is a signal to the people that the promised one is here.
It is a signal to the religious leadership to pay attention.
It is a signal to some who have been following John to seek out this one who John has testified is the “Son of God”.
And – it is a signal to Jesus to turn and say “come and see” and “follow me”.
You see, Jesus is both human and divine. And while this is almost impossible for us to understand, Jesus the human looks to his divine nature as he goes about his ministry. Later, when he is confronted by the religious leaders for healing on the Sabbath, he will say:
But back to the Jordan near Bethany. Jesus has gathered his first disciples and has begun to reveal to them just who he is. He is beginning his ministry, but first he and his disciples will travel some distance to the north, to Cana in Galilee —
— to attend a wedding.
On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4 And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
6 Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8 He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.” So they took it.
9 When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.” 11 Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
John 2:1-11
A Jewish wedding involved a sort of coming of age for the groom, who was the host of the ceremony and the celebration. Often, this celebration might last for several days, during which the groom would be responsible for providing the accommodations, the food, the music – and the wine.
Water – potable water – was in scarce supply in this area of the world and so wine was a staple. Not necessarily strong wine, but wine with enough alcohol to kill harmful bacteria.
So, if the wine ran out, it was a big problem.
But was it a big problem for Jesus and his disciples?
Picture Jesus, attending this wedding with his mother, his relatives, his friends and his disciples. He is enjoying the event, but he is looking toward the future and performing the work that will reveal who he is and what God intends to accomplish through him.
Picture him as he is lost in thought and contemplation of the future when his mother comes to him and says:
“They have no wine”
This passage is both familiar and challenging. It’s familiar because we all know it. Jesus turned the water into wine. Even if you don’t know where in the Bible this occurs, you’ve heard of it. You may even know it as “the first miracle”. If you’ve heard of it at all, you may know that it occurred at a wedding and even may know that the wedding occurred in Cana.
But the passage is also challenging. Why wine? Look at the other “signs” that John records in his Gospel:
Healing the royal official’s son in Capernaum in John 4:46-54
Healing the paralytic at Bethesda in John 5:1-15
Feeding the 5000 in John 6:5-14
Jesus walking on water in John 6:16-24
Healing the man blind from birth in John 9:1-7
The raising of Lazarus in John 11:1-45
Why would John record this as the first of Jesus’s signs? Why even include such a sign at all given the nature of the other signs and the miracles recorded in the other Gospels.
Is there some significance to opening the passage by referring to “the third day”? Or is there significance in the number (six) of jars? And why so much detail about the size of the jars (20-30 gallons each), their composition (stone) and their purpose (the Jewish rite of purification)?
And then there’s the question of why Jesus seems to rebuff his mother?
“And Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come’.”
The challenge isn’t just how to answer these questions but dealing with the sheer number of questions that the passage raises.
So, for today I’d like us to focus on one aspect of the story — Mary’s response (I’ll refer to her both as “Mary” and as his “mother” even though John never names her in his gospel and only even brings her into the story here and at the foot of the cross).
Following what must seem at least somewhat dismissive to our ears, her reaction to Jesus’s words is simple – she says to the servants:
“Do whatever he tells you”.
Notice, she doesn’t try to persuade Jesus. She doesn’t argue with him. She doesn’t ask him what he meant or react in sorrow or hurt to the way in which he spoke to her. She just turns to the servants and tells them to do whatever Jesus “tells you”.
What if he told them to simply go about their business? In other words, what if he simply said to them that the lack of wine was no concern of his?
Or what if he said nothing to them at all?
It’s easy to pass right by his mother’s reaction and not consider what’s going on here. She doesn’t try to persuade Jesus that the lack of wine is of concern to her and to him as well, although it could very well have been.
Some scholars have speculated — based on Mary involving herself in the first instance and the way she presumed to address the servants as though they would be required to obey her – that this wedding involved some relative of her family.
We know that the groom was responsible to the community for hosting a wedding celebration that could last for days. His obligation would be to ensure that the food and drink didn’t run out before the festivities came to an end. To fail in this regard would have brought shame on the host and that was no small thing in this culture.
However, even if Jesus and his mother were related to the groom, his mother doesn’t make any arguments about family honor, shame or duty.
Mary doesn’t respond to his statement that his “hour is not yet come.” She doesn’t try to persuade him that now is the time. She doesn’t argue with him and challenge him by saying, “if not now, then when?” After all, according to Luke’s Gospel, Jesus was thirty years of age when he was baptized and began his ministry. You couldn’t blame Mary for urging him that it was time to be getting on with things.
But Mary doesn’t argue with Jesus about any of these. She doesn’t address him at all after explaining the situation to him – “they have no wine“
She simply turns to the servants and instructs them to do whatever he tells them.
Now, I could turn down all sorts of rabbit trails at this point and compare the servants to the people of Israel and Mary’s instruction as a call to repentance and submission to the true Kingdom of God, but I’ll leave that to the biblical scholars and commentators.
Instead, I’d like to suggest that Mary isn’t worried about timing or connections or the extent of family concerns. As one commentator puts it:
“She doesn’t know how Jesus will supply the need, what he will require in order to do it, or when he will act. However, the critical issue for Mary is not what, when, where, or how. Her calmness is the result of knowing who.”
See, Cynthia A. Jarvis in “Feasting on the Gospels–John, Volume 1: A”. Westminster John Knox Press.
This brings to mind the lyrics of the Christmas song, Mary Did You Know, and of course the answer is, “Yes, she knew”, but maybe not to the full extent of what Gabriel meant or Simeon prophesied. But given what Gabriel did say (“he will be holy and will be called Son of God”) and given Mary’s cousin Elizabeth’s reaction (“why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me?”) Mary certainly knew that Jesus was no ordinary human even before he was born. What must she have learned of him in the thirty plus years since his birth?
But was simply knowing “who” enough to explain Mary’s response?
I believe it was and, moreover, I believe that it is model for our own faith.
As I read over the Gospel lesson for today, I was struck by two aspects of the passage. First, as I’ve been discussing so far, was Mary’s reaction and response to Jesus. Second, I was struck by the concluding words for this first of John’s “signs”:
“Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.”
His glory revealed
I was drawn to John’s statement that, in this first sign, Jesus “revealed his glory”. I felt certain that these two aspects of the story were closely connected but wasn’t sure how to put it into words. Mary’s calm and confident response itself was a window into the revelation of Jesus’s glory – I was sure of it.
After reflecting upon it as I prepared this meditation, I am sure of it.
While procrastinating before trying to write this I did a lot of other things – I checked my rain gauge to see how much more rain had fallen in an already rainy January. I decided I needed to develop some film that I’ve been meaning to get around to since November. I made a list of things I needed to pick up at Kroger and I reconciled my bank account in Quicken. And I cleaned out the Inbox of one of my email accounts going back a few years.
It was as I parsed emails that I could delete and the few that were worth saving I came across a couple of emails from Good News president Rob Renfroe. I’m sure I meant to read them at the time – just before Christmas of 2016 – but the two sermons to which the emails were linked helped focus my thoughts on the connection between Mary’s knowledge, her response and the revelation of Jesus’s glory.
In the first sermon, Renfroe explained how Mary could be an example to us all. The Scripture he was preaching on was from the first chapter of the Gospel of Luke. He held up three aspects of Mary’s character that we all might aspire to emulate:
Mary was open to God. She didn’t react in fear when Gabriel appeared to her – wonder maybe, but not fear.
Mary was truly humble. She didn’t engage in false humility, but simply saw herself for who she was – nothing more, nothing less.
Mary had a servant’s heart. Her response – despite the incredible tidings Gabriel revealed to her – was profound.
“Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”
In the second sermon, Renfroe spoke about what Mary’s song, the Magnificat, reveals about the nature of God:
God is holy. He is set apart, transcendent, the Creator of a universe that is beyond our ability to comprehend. As it is written in Isaiah chapter 55, verses 8 and 9 – “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
God is a merciful savior – Mary’s spirit rejoices in “God my savior” – “he has lifted up the lowly, filled the hungry with good things” and “his mercy is for those who fear him”.
God is faithful – “He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and his descendants forever.”
Listening to these two sermons clarified my thoughts about this passage from John’s Gospel. Mary understood the nature of God. It was one of the reasons why she was chosen to be the means of God entering into our world as one of us. As it is written in the first chapter of the Gospel of John:
“And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth . . . From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”
The “glory” (Greek “doxa”) that John is writing about is not glory as the world would know it – which Paul would later consider to be “vainglory” (kenodoxia) or “empty glory” – but rather the glory of “kenosis”: the renunciation of the divine nature in being born of the flesh.
Mary understood
Mary understood this about God’s son – that his glory would not be that of an earthly king or even a prophet such as Moses, but as a loving, merciful savior that could turn to the servants and invite them to fill the jars with water “to the brim”.
And Mary understood that this was God’s son and that he could
“[D]o nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise.”Mary understood that Jesus had come to pour out God’s love as a libation beyond anything the world could have expected. She knew whose Son this was and she understood the nature of the Father’s love – a love that extended to what the world might judge as of little consequence, but that would demand the attention of the One for whom the falling of a sparrow is worthy of notice.
Mary understood that the same prophet Isaiah who spoke of God’s ways being higher than ours could – in the same chapter – speak of God’s invitation:
“Ho, everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and you that have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.”
As Melchizedek, the priest of God most high, brought Abraham bread and wine, so Jesus, “having been designated by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek” would bring bread and wine in abundance beyond imagining.
How fitting then that this first sign should have involved wine.
And how fitting Mary’s example is for us as we approach the transcendent Father through the Son made flesh – expecting nothing less than God’s response to be made manifest in love, in mercy and in faithfulness as He instructs us, his servants, to fill the jars “to the brim”.