How Much Influence Does Mary Have on Jesus?

John 2:1-11 (New International Version, ©2010)

John 2

Jesus Changes Water Into Wine

 ¹ On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, ² and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. ³ When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”    ⁴ “Woman,^[a] why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”
 ⁵ His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
 ⁶ Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.^[b]
 7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.
 ⁸ Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”
   They did so, ⁹ and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside ¹⁰ and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”
 ¹¹ What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

+JMJ+

Come Holy Spirit....

People often wonder why some Christian denominations believe that Mary, the Mother of Jesus, would have much influence on Jesus, or His decisions, or even God's plans.

To that, I often refer to the above Gospel passage. But not for the reason so many do, which is to claim she must not be important, because, after all, Jesus only calls her "Woman."

However, the Greek for "woman" does not  convey any disrespect in any way. It is another word, much like "fear," that had a much different ancient connotation than it does today. It actually was a term of great respect in Christ's time.

No, the reason I refer to the Gospel passage above, when people ask about Mary, is for an entirely different reason.

Mary needs a small favor. It isn't even life threatening. The family at the wedding feast have run out of wine! OK, some people might consider that life threatening, but we know better (right?) This likely would cause the family quit a bit of embarrassment,  so it isn't beneath concern, as none of us would want somebody we cared about to suffer embarrassment. (And Mary must have been friends with them, or she wouldn't be at their wedding feast.)

So, she asks her Son, Jesus, to do her a favor and help out her friends. She obviously knows what He is capable of (which may be the subject of a future blog.) So He is the only hope in this situation.

There obviously was a divine timeline in place for Jesus to reveal Himself publicly. He said as much: "Woman, my hour has not yet come." Now, John does not say what happened between that comment, and Mary telling the servers to "do whatever he tells you." I always found that interesting. In my mind, I can see Mary giving Jesus a bit of a motherly look, you know the one I am talking about, maybe with her hands on her hips, as well. But maybe not, and she simply went to them, trusting that Jesus would take care of it. Hard to say.

But here is the thing: Despite the fact that performing a miracle would start Christ's public ministry before "his hour" was supposed to arrive, despite it not being part of whatever the divine timeline had been for Jesus to reveal Himself, Jesus does it anyways! For no other reason than His Mother asked him to. It was not Jesus Hour to reveal Himself, yet, despite this not even being a life saving crisis, Jesus did what His Mother asked Him to do, thereby starting His public ministry before it was supposed to.

If Jesus (and God, obviously) allowed their planned revelation of Jesus' Divinity to be altered for no other reason than Mary asked Him to, over something relatively minor, no less....does it not stand to reason that Jesus would listen to His Mother beyond that moment, even to this very day? God's Will takes priority over everything else, that is inarguable. But the Wedding Feast at Cana proved that if Mary asks her Son to do something, He thinks highly enough of her to sometimes change the original plan.

Now, some might say that this goes against God's omnipotence or perfection, because His Will is always right and His plans were perfect from the start. The Wedding Feast at Cana does not change that. Think of it this way, if God cannot change His mind, why would He ask us to pray to Him? Yes, we always ask for His Will to be done first and foremost, but Jesus also said, "Ask and it shall be given to you." He wants us to ask Him for things, and out of His love, He will sometimes give them to us. Praying to Him does not deny that His Divine Will is not perfect, it only shows how much He loves us by doing things for us that we ask, so long as it isn't bad for us. After all, His Will for us is good, so He will not grant us things that are bad for us.

But Mary's request being granted at Cana does indicate that Jesus will honor her requests, even if it wasn't the original plan, simply because He loves His mother that much. And that is why she has so much influence. She cannot make the final decisions, only God can do that. But Jesus has shown that He will honor her requests on our behalf out of love for His mother. And if she will ask her Son to perform a miracle to simply avoid her friends being embarrassed at a wedding feast, how much more will she ask Him on our behalf, to do miraculous things?  And we now see that He is more than willing to agree. Jesus loves his mother that much.

God bless.