Pat Arensberg: Wedding at Cana

“When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’  Jesus said to her, ’Woman, how does your concern affect me?  My hour has not yet come.’”  -John 2:3-4

I have heard this Scripture quoted to “prove” that Mary had no special relationship with Jesus and that it was silly or blasphemous for Catholics to honor her as we do.  It seems to me that if one tries to use this passage to make that point then we need to find a new messiah because this one just sinned.  If Jesus is disrespecting his mother by calling her “woman” then hasn’t he violated the 4th Commandment?  If Jesus were walking the earth today and said this in English then our separated brethren might have a point.  (In fact, I really chuckle when I picture my wife telling my 10 year old son that his room is messy and him replying, “Woman, how does your concern affect me?)  

Obviously, as Christians we cannot accept the possibility that Jesus sinned, so we must find out what is really going on here (or as Paul Harvey might have said, the “rest of the story”).  Just as sin entered the world through a man and a woman, so too salvation comes through the obedience of a man and a woman; this does not mean Mary is God or anything silly like that.  But it does mean that she had to be obedient to the Father’s will in order for Jesus to enter the world incarnate.  Mary is the new Eve, or the new woman.  Jesus is addressing her as such.  I also find it interesting that Jesus is not going to begin his mission until Mary tells him to.  He is an obedient son, and he loves his mother.  He knows how the story is going to end and the sorrow it will cause his mommy.  He will not move forward until he knows that she is ready.

I am over space for this blog, so one very brief thought:  I love Mary’s advice to the servers, “Do whatever he tells you.”  This is Mary’s role in our lives.  She bids us to do whatever Jesus tells us to do.

About Pat Arensberg Patrick Arensberg is the Director of Religious Education for the Archdiocese of Mobile. Previously, he taught for 17 years at McGill-Toolen Catholic High School, where he served as Chairman of the Theology Department. He attended the Gregorian University in Rome and holds an M.A. in Theology from Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans. He is married to Connie and they live in Mobile with their 5 children.