Advent Part 21: Mary parenting an adult Jesus (the wedding at Cana).
John 2:1-5 (NLT)
2 The next day there was a wedding celebration in the village of Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the celebration. 3 The wine supply ran out during the festivities, so Jesus’ mother told him, “They have no more wine.”
4 “Dear woman, that’s not our problem,” Jesus replied. “My time has not yet come.”
5 But his mother told the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
Dear God,
It is too bad that we do not get the tone of voice in this story. It would be easy to interpret Mary’s words as bossy and impertinent. For my part, I see a meddling mother who is trying to save the day for some friends and has a son she knows can do something about it.
However, when tone of voice comes into play, I like to infer a more playful tone because of how John relates this story. Mary beseeches Jesus to solve their problem. He labels it as her concern and tells her that he cannot be doing anything this public just yet. Then she turns and tells the servants to do whatever Jesus tells them. What is missing is Jesus’s verbal acceptance of the task. That tells me that he indicated to her that he would do it through the tone of his voice. Our automatic image of Jesus is usually stoic, but I have a feeling that he was being playful with his mother. It is certainly interesting that only John gives us this story.
Okay, with all of that out of the way, what must it have been like to be a human woman and be the mother of the son of God, the Messiah? How did that work for her? Especially with Joseph seemingly gone now. She was the only one left who had experienced the angel visits about Jesus. We will assume Zechariah and Elizabeth (John the Baptist’s parents) were gone by then because they were old at the time of Gabriel’s visit to Zechariah. Mary was it. And I am sure there were confusing days. There was no one to consult with who could relate to her situation. She too was probably waiting for this young man to be the conquering Messiah. He was 30 now. It was about time he got going! He could do these miracles, but it was time for more! It was time for public leadership!
Father, it can be hard to get out of our own way when it comes to the path you have for our children. It can feel like our prayers for them are going unanswered because, once again, we measure time in days, weeks, and months, and you measure it in years, decades, and centuries. So I come to you today to simply worship you, pray for my wife and my children (and myself), that we would be on the path you have for us, and that you will use our lives for your glory. And I also, once again, commit to you that I will not look to my children to fulfill my own needs for pride or achievement, but I turn them loose to live their lives.
I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,
Amen
