CHRIST AND HIS MOTHER

READ IT AGAIN
By Professor E.M. Blaiklock D.Litt
XXVII.
CHRIST AND HIS MOTHER.

John 2:1-11

And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there:
2 And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage.
3 And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine.
4 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.
5 His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.
6 And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins a piece.
7 Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim.
8 And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it.
9 When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom,
10 And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now.
11 This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.

Was the Lord harsh too His mother at the Cana wedding feast?
No. "Woman," He says to her in the Authorised Version, "what have I to do with thee? My hour is not yet come." The Greek expression for "What have I to do with thee?" is literally, "What to you and to me?" Note it carefully. It means, "What is there in common to you and to me?" Now, undoubtedly in John's story those words occur, but it is not at all improbable that John was literally translating a remark in Aramaic which ran, "What is that to you and me?" and that He did not mean the words to be taken in the usual idiomatic sense.
This version, which Nonnus accepted in the second century, at least clears up the story. Mary comes to Jesus. "They have no wine,
" she whispers. He replies, "We are guests.
What is that to you and me? My hour," He adds,
"is not yet come." That is, "When I give a feast there will be no such accident." When He did, in the upper room, there was plenty for all. However, as mothers do, giving no time for refusal, she says to the servants, "Whatsoever He telleth you to do, do it," and hurries off. He smiles and complies.
The word "Woman," had no harshness. In the tenderest scene in the Iliad, where Hector bids goodbye to Andromache on the walls of Troy, the hero addresses his wife as "Woman.'’