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Reading:          Is.25:1-12

Jn.2:1-12

Text:                Jn.2:4

"And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”

Do you remember what took place on Friday 29 April 2011? The date was significant because we were all given a day off. The event took place at Westminster Abbey and of course what I'm talking about is the Royal Wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton. I imagine many of you watched some of the TV coverage – Prince William in his military uniform alongside his brother also in uniform – but the one everyone wanted to see was, of course, the bride. The bride is nearly always centre stage in our marriage ceremonies, isn't she?, so much so that  even call the wedding day the bride's day.

Well here in John chapter two we have the report of a wedding day and the bride is not even mentioned! In f     act the only person who is actually named is Jesus – everyone else remains anonymous. And the reason for this is that Jesus is the most important person there is and He must occupy centre stage wherever He is to be found.

Let's look a little more closely at the scene.

A wedding is taking place back up north in Cana in Galilee. We're not told who the happy couple were – the bridegroom is mentioned once but the bride never!

We do know that Jesus' mother was there though John doesn't call her by name. Was she a relative of the young couple and so an invited guest? The fact that both she and her son Jesus were there might suggest a family connexion but we have no way of knowing for sure. What we do know is that Mary was there and it does appear likely, I think, that she was involved in helping out in some way or serving – that would readily explain how she knew that the wine was running out.

Jesus was there – an invited guest – along with his disciples (though we don't know how many of them there were at this stage. So far John has mentioned just four by name and another unnamed – possibly himself).

It is often pointed out when looking at this particular episode that Jesus is no kill-joy or harsh ascetic. He is happy to participate in the joyous festivities of a wedding feast honouring them with His presence and thus given His full approval to the institution of marriage.

So there they are enjoying the wedding when the wine runs out. It was the responsibility of the bridegroom and not having enough to offer the guests would cause him much shame in the culture of his day. What is to be done?

Jesus' mother seems to be the first to be made aware of the unfortunate turn of events and she goes at once to her son to tell Him al about it. It is clear from what follows that she fully expects Him to do something about it – that is obvious from the words she addresses to the servants when she tells them to "Do whatever He tells you."

Now we should pause and ask why it was that Mary turned to Jesus. What was it that she expected Him to do?

Did she really expect Him to solve the problem by working a miracle? It is true that she had known Jesus all His life and had doubtless talked much with Him over the years concerning who He was and His mission in life – it is surely inconceivable that knowing how special He was that she had never talked with Him about these things. And yet she had never witnessed a miracle for the simple reason that Jesus had not yet performed one. John tells us at the end of this account about the wedding in Cana that this was the first of His signs whereby He began to manifest!

Or maybe it was simply that, since the death of her husband Joseph, Mary had become so used to her son taking charge of things. Now there was another stressful situation that needed a solution – it was natural for her to turn to her eldest son.

Whatever it was that drove her to speak to her son it seems clear that she was looking for Jesus to act and to act quickly. Was she simply looking for His help in the immediate situation of the lack of wine at the wedding or did she see in this event a wonderful possibility for Jesus to begin to lay out His Messianic claims – was she trying to nudge Him into action, to lend Him a helping hand to get going in His ministry?

We know what it is like to want to nudge our own offspring into actionHis glory

, to give them a little push when they don't seem to realise what they could do next. Surely now that He had begun to enter into His ministry He might further things along by doing something dramatic at this wedding in Cana!

The words Jesus uses to address His mother should make us stop and think.

First:

He doesn't call her "Mother", the way she is described in the text, but He addresses her with the word "Woman". He deliberately seems to be avoiding the words that you expect to hear a son use of his well-loved mother. What are we to make of this?

Well, first the term is by no means disrespectful – indeed it is difficult to find a direct equivalent in English that carries the same weight of meaning. However the word woman is used in order to establish a certain distance between the two people concerned. Jesus had grown up as an obedient son in His parents home and His mother would have been well-accustomed to the love of respect of her holy child. But now Jesus deliberately seems to distance Himself from His mother and from the closeness of family ties – she is to be treated with respect still but she is now "Woman" to Him. He never refers to her now any other way. Indeed when others tell Him while He is teaching that His mother and brother are waiting for Him outside He again seems to reject the idea that they have any more claim upon Him than anyone else:

Lk.8:19-21 "Then his mother and his brothers came to him, but they could not reach him because of the crowd. And he was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see you.” But he answered them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.”"

Again no lack of respect but no special treatment either.

On the cross as Jesus hangs dying He expresses proper filial concern for His mother but He does not refer to her as though she has special claims upon Him "Woman" is the word He again uses to speak to her as He commits her into the safe keeping of the apostle John.

So what are we to make of this?

Jesus has entered into His ministry as the Messiah and Mary has to learn that she must learn to relate to her own son in the same way every other person must. She cannot allow herself to imagine that family ties are sufficient ties – she has enjoyed the immense privileges of family ties with the Son of God but from now on she has a new and probably difficult lesson to learn. She must learn to relate to her Son no longer as her son but as her Saviour.

As Mary came to Jesus as mother her request was refused being granted only when she responds to Him as a believer exercising faith.

If we broaden this out and apply this truth to our own day we have to say that there is no inside track, no preferential treatment, if we would come to Jesus. Our family background is no guarantee of relationship with Jesus Christ, our national background is no guarantee either. The Jewish nation must not fondly imagine that being the recipients of God's promises in the past puts them in a favoured nation status before God. There is One way of salvation and only one – we must all relate to Jesus Christ as our own Lord and Saviour.

Mary's example shows us the way to go. She made no complaints. She didn't answer back. She didn't chide her Son for His apparent lack of filial love but she accepted humbly His dealings with her. Nor did she take the huff and go off to sulk. She trusted her Son and she trusted Him as her Saviour.

Second:

Jesus continued by asking His question "Woman, what does this have to do with me?" This is something of a set expression. In the OT it often means something like "Don't bother me". On the lips of the Gadarene demoniac it means "What do we have in common?" Here as Jesus uses it it carries the sense of "You concerns and mine are not the same." We might then be tempted to compare this with God's words through Isaiah the prophet:

Is.55:8-9 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares 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."

Jesus has now set out on His ministry and He will not allow any other to direct His paths or to influence His decisions. He will be free of all attempts at human manipulation as He pursues His mission, His only concern being to do His Father's will:

Jn.5:30 "I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me."

Or again:

Jn.8:29 "And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him."

Later in His ministry the apostle Peter will also receive abrupt treatment when he tries to push Jesus in the way he thinks best "Get behind me, Satan"

Thus Jesus is making it clear that He can have no partners sharing the work with Him. He may have disciples and followers but no partners who share with Him on an equal footing.

Thus this little episode does not allow us to elevate Mary to some special position of influence or authority. She sets a good example of a humble believer but no more than that. Her concerns were not on a par with His and His alone must count!

Third:

Jesus adds a word of explanation: "My time has not yet come".

It would be possible to read this very simply and to say that Mary is eager for an instant solution to the problem of the wine but that Jesus wants to wait just a little longer. The fact that He does in fact perform a miracle shortly after could suggest that.

There are some lessons for us in that. How often do we come to God in prayer and almost dictate to Him the need for an instant solution. We're so often in a hurry we pray because we want and we want now!

Mary has brought a specific need to Jesus and surely we approve of her doing that. After all we sing songs about taking things to the Lord in prayer and we're frequently encouraged to do so ""cast all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.". But we are so often caught up with our timetables and our understanding of just when something "must" be done:

See for example:

Acts 1:6-7 "So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority."

  Or

2Pet.3:1-10 eg.v.8 "But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day."

And yet normally when this is used in the NT there is a reference to the culmination of Jesus' ministry – the events of the Passion Week.

Jesus is perhaps telling Mary to calm down – it is not the moment for Him to go all guns blazing to that climax, that will come when He is good and ready. That time will most assuredly come – and indeed the events of this wedding feast can serve as a foretaste of what is to come.

Mary did not take umbrage at Jesus' choice of words. Nor did she understand Him to mean that He intended to do absolutely nothing. She had brought the matter to His attention and was now confident to let Him deal with it. With this confidence she tells the servants to do whatever He told them.

We know the details of what happened next as He told them to fill the large empty water jars with water then take a sample to the head of the feast for him to taste it. It was wine when this man drank and not just that it was the best wine of the whole festivities!

Some have criticised this miracle as being a "luxury" miracle arguing that it was unnecessary. This conveniently overlooks the whole question of shame that would have fallen upon the unnamed bridegroom who had failed to make adequate provision at the time. While we in the West might not attach too much importance to this concept of shame, in many parts of the world today "shame" is an incredibly important factor. We may get just a little taste of this when we hear of so-called "honour" killings in our country. The strength of feeling that pushes some parents to kill even their own daughters shows us how important the concept of shame is to them even if we totally disapprove of what they actually do, deeming it to be completely and utterly indefensible.

But the miracle does more than save the bridegroom's face. According to Jeremiah the messianic kingdom was to be characterised by plenty and that included freely flowing wine. The NT portrays the culmination of the Messianic age as a wedding banquet with Jesus Himself the bridegroom. The idea of Jesus as bridegroom appears overtly as early as Jn.3.

So as Jesus helps the un-named bridegroom, at one and the same time, He is setting Himself forth as the bridegroom who does not fail to provide. His provision at this wedding feast anticipates the perfect way in which He will fulfil His role as the Messianic bridegroom

As John concludes his account of this event at Cana he leaves us in no doubt as to what the main point of it all is.

While we might learn some lessons upon the way concerning how we should bring our requests to God it s not Mary's example that we are to focus upon.

Jesus is centre stage and so He must always be!

The miracle for all its benefits brought to those involved was to serve primarily as a sign pointing to Jesus. It was an early manifestation of His glory and designed to encourage us all to put our faith and trust in Him.

Jesus, the only named person in the entire episode, is to occupy the same place of unique, unshared importance in our lives.

Praise God that that possibility is offered to us freely in the gospel. May we do just that and make sure that Jesus occupies just such a place in our hearts.

Amen.