Reading:-John 2:2-4

“When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’ And Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.”

Reflection

Would you rather read the Bible or the Beano? Sometimes, although Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice for us, and thereby showed his love for us, he seems to be rather stern – and indeed we come across the idea that we should even fear God quite often in the Bible. Here, in the story of the wedding at Cana in Galilee, when Jesus did the first of the seven miracles intended to show that he was not just a man but that he was also God, on the face of things this was a time for celebration. It was, after all, a wedding. So you wouldn’t expect people to be a bit grumpy, especially when the party had been going on for some time, so much so that there was no more wine left.
Jesus’s mother had been invited and Jesus had also been invited with his disciples. We are not told who was actually getting married. The miracle comes when Jesus turns the bottles of the Palestinian equivalent of Evian into Veuve Cliquot, water into wine. In fact it was such a big change that a better modern parallel would be tap water into Veuve Cliquot, the best vintage, so that somebody thought that the host had kept the best stuff until the end.
But Jesus comes in rather awkwardly. His mother notices that the wine has run out and draws it to his attention. ‘Look, they’ve run out of wine’. He gives this apparently rather grumpy response, as it is set out in many modern bibles, ‘Woman, what concern is it of mine (or yours)? My time has not yet come.’
Just like a lot of mums, Mary takes no notice. She turns to the disciples and tells them to do whatever Jesus asks. Is Jesus really grumpy? It’s true that he addresses his mother using the Greek word which means ‘woman’ rather than saying ‘Mum’ or ‘Mother’. But the sense is like when Frankie Howerd or Kenneth Williams spoke to ladies. They might have said, ‘Just a minute, Mrs. That’s not really our problem’. An affectionate ‘Mrs’ instead of ‘Mum’. But it could just as well have been Mum.
What about, ‘My time has not yet come’? Again, I don’t think that the Bible translation gives you the full flavour. It’s really a question that Jesus is saying to his mother and the disciples, ‘I’m sure our hosts have that under control. Obviously if they’re really stuck, maybe I will be able to help out, but for me to jump in now would be a bit previous!’ Nothing grumpy. Jesus did indeed jump in and he did do the first of his seven miracles. Time for celebration indeed. Cheers!