Mary, mother of God the Son.
With it being only a day or so into this days-long wedding celebration, Mary, an invited guest, and, more pertinent, the mother of God the Son, steps in with quiet confidence to the situation before her. She was concerned for the reputation of this beloved family as she witnessed the nervous scampering of servants, and their distressed whispers, and sensed it was time to advance her son.
The wine had run out! Wine means enjoyment, pleasure, and relaxed happy guests of any festivity. With this Jewish wedding, the undesirable plight of it only being early days into its celebrations meant this was a miscalculated disaster of quantity on the part of the wedding planners, and a subsequent dilemma for the Master of Ceremonies to resolve avoiding embarrassment to the family.
Jesus, and his disciples are also present. The mother of God, and the Son of God, together, are present as the predicament becomes clear. Perhaps there was nervous tension, accompanied by the acute awareness of his predestined future for both, as she quietly says to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you” John 2:5.
She had been the vessel of the peculiar and miraculous events concerning him starting with the angel’s visits, to the virgin birth, and all the idiosyncrasies of his childhood and teenage years as the divine-human Son. He was her son, yet not hers alone, she knew. She had watched him grow and with Joseph, they had seen his deepening relationship with his true father. His daily prayers a certainty of the union this boy had with the divine; like he knew and belonged there, more than he did here, amongst them. As he grew to maturity, there was a joy and wonder he experienced in life, but also seriousness in his manner that revealed a more evident intention to his humanity. He was born with divine purpose and she sensed he was on the edge of stepping into this. Without knowing the complete picture, she knew the broader reason for him was becoming clear. Within, it was like the Spirit was stirring again, telling her of another birth, about to be.
What did this mother really know concerning her son? As any mother knows her child, Mary knew him more intimately than anyone else. She was heart and soul bonded to him. In her nurturing, she watched him and knew his needs, acutely aware of what his responses and reactions to any situation would be, attune to his qualities, his unique personality, his strengths and his weaknesses. She knew what fueled him and what made him pull back in uncertainty. She knew when he retreated to his safety nets, and when he stepped out to take risks. She knew when he was confident and when his lack of, was immobilizing. She was the teacher and shaper of his worldview, and the one who guided him into his next. She was her son’s cheer team; promoting him towards what she could foresee as his own strengths and abilities and purpose. She held him tightly while at the same time pushed him towards independence.
Her response at the wedding is just as you’d expect of the mother she was, to Jesus her Son. And so, this mother, the mother of God the Son, promotes Jesus towards his purpose. She sees the immediate need before her; the wine had run out, and the family’s reputation was about to be bought into ill repute. The Spirit stirred. Again, the voice came just as it had before, “Do not yield to your fear, Mary. Give birth again to your son, Jesus; Saviour, Deliverer” Luke 1:30-33. It is time. And just as she pushed the Saviour into the world from her womb as a newborn baby, she pushed Jesus the man, into the world from her heart, as Saviour. It was a bittersweet push towards the inevitable next in his life.
“They have no wine, can’t you do something about it?” John2:3
She gently nudges Jesus.
He replies,
“Woman, why do you involve me? My hour is not yet come”.
Just as she knew, so did Jesus know it was his time, yet his words suggested a hesitance towards it. His reply was a common Aramaic idiom of the day meaning, “what is common for us if I do this?” We might say, “what’s in it for you and me?”
“For you, woman (an endearing term), very little will change. But for me, this public miracle will dramatically change my life-course from this day forward”.
Was he ready? Was she ready, for all that this meant?
It would be his revealing, a come out of hiding, a launching of his ministry when from this moment the crowd would be witness to his power. Mary knew. She knew Jesus knew. Yet, in this moment “for the joy set before him…” was a contest of wills between the human and the divine. But with Mary’s encouragement, and the Spirit’s nudging, Jesus takes the step. His ministry is birthed.
“Do whatever he tells you.” v5
Jesus, Saviour of the world, rescues the Master of Ceremonies, and the family’s reputation. He turns water into wine.
This was not just a little wine, it was barrels full. Barrels, like bathtubs.
“Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.
Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim”. John 2:6-7
And there was not just a lot of wine; it was the best of wine.
“Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”
They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.” John 2: 8-10
Jesus steps out, and the first thing he does is miraculous over-the-top kindness, of the quality and quantity not typically seen among humanity. The Master of the Banquet is astounded.
My guess is, he turned to look at her: a large smile evident on his face, accompanied by a look of questioning approval, an acknowledgment of what she had done for him, and of gratitude, to this one he called mother. It was his time, and Jesus knew he would have Mary, his mother, alongside him all the way.
I guess she returned his gaze: a soft smile on her lips and a large heart full of pride. This was her son. This was God, the Son. Saviour, of the world. Yes, it was his time, and she, Mary, mother of God the Son, would be alongside him, whatever may come.