For as long as I can remember, I have puzzled over Jesus' statement to His mother at the wedding in Cana, where He performed His first public miracle: changing water into wine. I thought about it again recently while I was watching my favorite Bible film adaptation, "The Gospel of John". At first glance, the Lord's reply to His mother: "Woman, what does your concern have to do with me?" sounds rather disrespectful, and then He follows it with the cryptic statement: "My hour has not yet come." What is He saying here?
The Mission
First, while it may sound strange to us in our day, Jesus' referring to His mother as "Woman" was, apparently, not disrespectful in His culture, nor do I believe it was a rebuke as at least one well-known commentator has speculated. Jesus referred to Mary as "woman" again at His crucifixion (John 19:26), when there were no evident grounds for rebuke (indeed, He was seeing to her care at the time). He also addressed other women in this manner, including the woman at the well (John 4:21), a woman whom He healed of a painful spinal condition (Luke 13:12), and Mary Magdalene (His own disciple), when she was weeping in the garden on the morning of His resurrection (John 20:15). In the culture of the time, the use of "woman" was probably not unlike our use of the term "Ma'am," which can be used to show respect, or as a manner of addressing a woman whose name is not known, or where an acquaintance has not yet been made to the point of allowing for a more familiar manner of address.
The term could also be used as a formal manner of address on the part of one who speaks with authority. I believe that this is how Jesus used the term at least part of the time: when He was making a declaration based on His authority from the Father. This seems to be how He used it when He spoke to the woman at the well (answering her implied question about worship), and when He pronounced healing to the woman in Luke 13. In the instance where He assigned the care of His mother to the apostle John, it seems fitting that He was speaking as the legal heir of Joseph and head of his human family.
I believe that He is speaking from a position of authority at the wedding in Cana as well. The wedding was likely that of a near relative, possibly even one of Jesus' sisters, given that Mary had authority over the servants (v 5) and appealed to Jesus for help with entertaining the wedding guests. But Jesus' reply here shows that a change has taken place in their relationship. He has recently begun His public ministry as Messiah, having been "revealed" to Israel (through His disciples) by the baptism of John. One could say that He is a man with a mission now, and domestic affairs are not His primary concern. He is about his Father's business: the business of the Kingdom. In John chapter 4, He refers to this business of the Kingdom as being as essential to Him as food. Thus He answers Mary here, not as her son but from the position of Messiah. In this context, He treats Mary as He would any other woman, and addresses her as such. In effect, He is saying: "Woman, why is this of any concern to me, given the business my Father has sent me to do?"
Yet, having said this, Jesus went on to help with the situation anyway. Why? The answer is in verse 11, and is consistent with Jesus' reply to Mary:
"This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him."Performing this miracle turned out to be Kingdom business after all, for it strengthened the faith of Jesus' disciples, helping to affirm in their minds the truth of what John the Baptist had said about Him. Having seen this miracle, they had even greater reason to continue with Him.
The "Hour"
What, then, does Jesus mean when He says, "My hour has not yet come."?
I believe there was more to Mary's request than a concern for the happiness of the wedding guests that day in Cana. She knew who Jesus was, and I think it's likely that she was prompting Him to reveal Himself with a great, substantiating sign. All throughout His ministry, Jesus was constantly prompted for signs, including by people who had already seen Him perform miracles (see John 6:25-34). Satan prompted Him for a sign after his forty days of fasting in the wilderness: "If you are the Son of God, command that these stones be turned into bread." (Matthew 4:3). At the very end of life, while He was hanging on the cross, He was still being goaded for a sign: "If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross!" (Matthew 27:40). Even His own brothers taunted Him along these lines:
"Now the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles was at hand. His brothers therefore said to him, 'Depart from here and go into Judea, that your disciples also may see the works that you are doing. For no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world. For even his brothers did not believe in him.'" - John 7:2-5Jesus' reply to them is interesting:
"Then Jesus said to them, 'My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify of it that its works are evil. You go up to this feast. I am not yet going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come.'" - John 7:6-8Again, Jesus says that His time has not yet come.
As we see demonstrated all throughout the gospels, Jesus never fully manifested Himself to the people at large. He revealed His identity very selectively, and only to single individuals or just a handful of people at a time. As far as the people at large were concerned, He spoke in parables and confusing figurative teachings that left even His own disciples scratching their heads. On a number of occasions He forbade people to talk openly about His miracles. The only recorded exception to this general pattern appears to have taken place at the Samaritan village of Sychar (see John chapter 4), where Jesus revealed His identity as the Messiah to a people who were also descended from Abraham, but whom the Jews despised as a whole.
Then, as now, the Jews were looking for a political/military Messiah, a great leader who would come on the scene, deliver Israel from her enemies, restore her independence and long-vanished national power, and usher in the era of eternal blessings that the Old Testament prophets had predicted. They did not realize that Messiah must first "suffer many things, and be rejected." The "hour" that Jesus' mother and disciples had in mind was His revelation in power: His coronation as King of the Jews. By contrast, however, the "hour" that Jesus had in mind was His being offered as the Lamb of God, the perfect, once-for-all sacrifice for sin.
"As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; that whoever believes in Him will have eternal life." - John 3:14
"When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing of my own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught me." - John 8:28
"Now the centurion, and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, became very frightened and said, 'Truly this was the Son of God!'" - Matthew 27:54
"Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles, and wonders, and signs, which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know -- this man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death...therefore, let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ -- this Jesus whom you crucified.
"Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, 'Brethren, what shall we do?'" - Acts 2:22-23, 36-37True to His word, it was after Jesus was lifted up that "all men" began to be drawn to Him, beginning with Peter's sermon in Acts, at which time the gospel began to spread exponentially, being preached in "Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth." Jesus was destined for glory, but it was the Father's glory that He sought first and foremost, not His own:
"'Now my soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, 'Father save me from this hour'? But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name.' Then a voice came out of heaven: 'I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.'" - John 12:27-28Mary sought glory and recognition for her son, but she sought these things in accordance with human definitions -- just as His disciples did -- and did not then know what this would mean in terms of the plan that Jesus had come to fulfill. He did perform a miracle that day, and did receive glory from it, but He did so only in the Father's perfect timing. From the statement that Jesus made in John 8:28: "I do nothing of my own initiative" -- and similar statements recorded elsewhere, I can only conclude that Jesus answered Mary as He did because He had not received instruction from the Father to perform this miracle; and when He finally did it, it was because the Father had told Him to. It is impossible to rightly understand Jesus' ministry without first understanding that He was always in submission to the Father, always seeking the Father's will and glory. His own ultimate glorification only came when His obedience was complete -- after He had gone to the cross:
"Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." - Philippians 2:5-8
"Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation." - Hebrews 5:8-9
Calvary at Cana
"Now there were six stone waterpots set there for the Jewish custom of purification, containing twenty or thirty gallons each." - John 2:6
It's interesting that this first public miracle Jesus did involved turning water into wine. Wine, of course, is a symbol of the blood of Christ, of "the new covenant in My blood" (Luke 22:20), "...which is poured out for many, for forgiveness of sins" (Matthew 26:28). Further, note that John tells us that the water that Jesus used for this miracle was set apart "for the Jewish custom of purification."
The Jews, particularly the religious leadership, had many physical purification rites that they engaged in and in which they took great pride. Yet, inwardly, they were full of hypocrisy and corruption, which Jesus called them on:
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also." - Matthew 23:25-26While the religious Jews placed much emphasis on external purification, Jesus placed emphasis on inner purification, an internal cleansing made possibly only by the new birth (John 3), which, in turn, is made possible by the shed blood of God's perfect Lamb who "carries away the sins of the world." Thus, at Cana, Jesus took water: a means of external, physical cleansing, and transformed it into wine: a symbol of His blood, through which we are granted internal, spiritual cleansing. The first sign He performed publicly at the beginning of His ministry foreshadowed the last act He would perform publicly in that same ministry: the offering of Himself at the appointed hour, in the very "fullness of time." It was a far cry from what His mother, or anyone else, expected, but it was in perfect submission to the will of the Father; and by His obedience He purchased our redemption:
"For as through the one man's [Adam's] disobedience, the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One [Christ] the many will be made righteous." - Romans 5:19Conclusion
John's account of the wedding at Cana offers us so much more than the story of Jesus' first public miracle. There are treasures buried here that illustrate His entire ministry, the purpose for which He came, and the example He set for us in His perfect submission to the Father's will. It provides a beautiful illustration of the means of our redemption, hidden as it were in plain sight.
