Tim Maas Retired Quality Assurance Specialist with the U.S. Army

Even after Jesus told Mary that His hour (for performing public signs) had not yet come, Mary (whom I would interpret as having felt sympathetic embarrassment in response to the predicament facing the bride and her family as a result of having run out of wine) instructed the servants to do whatever Jesus told them to do in response to the situation.

I would thus say that Jesus' subsequent action of turning the water into wine was motivated by a combination of obedience to His mother, and as a reward for her faith in believing that He would somehow deal with the situation despite the reluctance that He had expressed to her.

(In that respect, this account reminds me of the later incident involving the demon-possessed daughter of the Syrophonecian woman (Matthew 15:22-28), in which Jesus seemingly strongly rebuked her by saying that it was not fitting to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs, to which the woman responded that even the puppies ate the crumbs that fell from their master's table -- a response for which Jesus commended her for her faith, and then proceeded to heal her daughter (who, as noted in Mark's account of the event (Mark 7:30) was not even physically present).)

(In the account cited in the question, I think that Jesus also wanted Mary to realize that fulfilling her request was going to initiate a change in their relationship (from purely "mother and son" to also "Messiah and follower") from which there would be no "going back", and which would result in events (His suffering and death) that would cause Mary sorrow.

June 15 2023 • 1 response • Vote Up • Share • Report