Mary Did You Know?

“How does that concern you and me?” Jesus asked. “My time has not yet come.” But his mother told the servants “Do whatever he tells you.”’

I chuckle at this interchange between Mary and Jesus. I can imagine that upon hearing the wine had run out (a very embarrassing situation) that Mary hunted Jesus down and said, because she knew her son could do something about it.

I can see her in my mind’s eye scanning the crowd looking for Him and when she saw Him she made her way quickly and efficiently (as mothers do when they are on a mission) to Him and said, ‘They have no more wine.’ Now translated this statement means, ‘Jesus, they have no more wine and you need to do something about it.’ It was a mother’s request of her son.

Then there is Jesus’ response. It is almost a ‘so what, mom?’ kind of a response. ‘How does that concern you and me?’ (A very interesting question, isn’t it?) ‘It’s not my time yet.’

Is Jesus being disrespectful? Some might argue that He is but what about the suggestion that He is responding as a son who is doing the necessary identity separation and development that all children need to do in order to become responsible adults? Furthermore, He is also reminding His mother, as He did many years earlier, that His agenda is not what she thinks that it is. Mary, as mothers sometimes do, ignores this line of questioning, ‘Do what ever he tells you (to do),’ she says to the servants who are probably at their wits end about the beverage situation. This mother knows something about her son is different and powerful and wonderful. “Mary did you know?’

Then a year or so later we read in Matthew 12 about Mary again. ‘As Jesus was speaking to the crowd, his mother and brothers were outside, wanting to talk with him. Someone told Jesus, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, and they want to speak to you.”

(Have you ever though what it was about? Maybe Mary and the family thought that Jesus was getting more and more ‘weird’ or maybe He had not been back home enough and they decided to pay Him a visit? Or that they had important news or needed His input on an important decision and they decided to show up?)

Matthew continued, ‘Jesus asked, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” Then he pointed to his disciples and said, “These are my mother and brothers. Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother!”’

Many people, especially Christians, I think have trouble with this passage because it appears to them that Jesus does not care for His mother and family, one bit. But He does care for them as He also cared for those He was speaking to.

His comments are about larger and deeper matters that go beyond the important and valuable family bonds. As we read time and again in the gospels, Jesus is there to establish the new covenant in which the old rules and practices no longer apply.

It is a faith issue. It is a spiritual issue and when He hears that mom and the family want to have a chat He uses the opportunity to make a very important point about ultimately loyalty.