On the third day a wedding took place in Cana of Galilee. Jesus’s mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding as well. When the wine ran out, Jesus’s mother told him, “They don’t have any wine.” “What does that have to do with you and me, woman?” Jesus asked. “My hour has not yet come.” John 2:1-4 CSB
Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple he loved standing there, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home. John 19:25-27 CSB
Two places in Scripture in which Jesus looked at His mother and called her "Woman" especially touch my heart in this season of my life. These words paint a picture. Here is an opportunity to peek through the window at a private intimate moment meant for just the two of them. We are privileged as the Lord allows us to participate - to see, hear and feel the encounters - if we are willing.
Just as Jesus began calling His disciples to follow Him, they were invited to a wedding at Cana of Galilee. In the midst of the celebration, a social blunder had occurred and the wine for the guests had run dry. It's so precious to me that Mary, upon recognizing the problem for the host, sought out her son, Jesus, for help.
In this simple scene, so easy to breeze past as insignificant, Mary reveals to us her continued faith, belief, and trust that her son, Jesus, is the Son of God. She had pondered the things of God for more than thirty years. She's held tightly to the promises of God and to the revelation she once received regarding this Son.
The situation was not life-threatening. It was one in which social graces and hospitality were at stake. Running out of wine for the guests would be a humiliation to the host. I think Mary understood better than most what it felt like to be humiliated and ridiculed by neighbors and friends.
I imagine her reaching her hand out to touch Jesus' arm, as a mother would do. I can see her eyes filled with compassion meeting Jesus' eyes and making her request from the tender place of empathy in her heart. She was asking God's Son to provide mercifully and spare this person the pain she had experienced, the scar of which she still wore.
I imagine Jesus' eyes sparkling as He meets her pleading eyes and feels her hand pressing on his arm in an earnest insistence. She's His mother, the chosen one of God to bring the Word to the world in the flesh. Jesus honored His mother, Mary, by saying yes to her request.
I imagine the exchange between them as two people intimately acquainted share a private secret. She knows Jesus is the Son of God, and Jesus knows it's true too. And yet, Jesus chides His mother a bit, teasingly reminding her to be patient about the beginning of His ministry on earth.
It seems to me I can feel her excitement. She's standing on tiptoes at the edge of her Son's unveiling. And why wouldn't she be about to burst at the seams? She's held the secret and pondered the truth of God's plan for so many years... waiting for the moment. The truth was about to come to light. Wouldn't Jesus' true identity as Messiah become her own exoneration?
And yet, I imagine Jesus looking at His mother with compassion knowing that she doesn't understand for what she is anxious. How could she know that her anticipation for Jesus' ministry to begin would lead her to a far more difficult place than she had encountered before His birth? Perhaps His insistence on her patience to await the appropriate time would become a tender memory she would cling to as her precious firstborn son was sacrificed on a cross.
The perfect, sinless Lamb of God had been entrusted into Joseph and Mary's home. She had carried Him in her womb for nine months. They didn't know how to parent the Son of God, but I imagine they did their best to keep their eyes on God. Every day that Jesus lived in their home was an act of faith. They waited and believed and watched and hoped. Did their faith ever waver? Did it ever seem the wait was too much? Would they live to see His true identity revealed?
And then, three years into His ministry, Mary grief-stricken and brokenhearted gathered at the foot of the cross with her friends and John. They were killing Him! Didn't they know Jesus? Was this to be the fulfillment of the Messiah's ministry on earth? For this Mary was anxious? Her name would be cleared. She would be vindicated as the virgin vessel who gave birth to the Word of God made flesh. But what of Him?
She heard Jesus speak to her as He did at the wedding at Cana in Galilee, "Woman". I imagine His empathetic eyes piercing her being to the core as He established a home for her with John. She had been faithful, obedient, sacrificially loving as she bore the humiliation of His birth, and so Jesus covered her with a home, a son, and provision for the rest of her days. And then He bore her humiliation in Himself for her on the cross.
He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by His wounds you have been healed. 1 Peter 2:24 NIV
~ Meet Lisa Brittain ~
Hi. I'm so glad you stopped by. My name is Lisa and I am the founder of this website. My ministry is called Eyes on Jesus and Shine which comes from Psalm 34:5
My desire is to help others run toward Jesus and not away. I want to walk with you and introduce you to Him. I'll leave you two alone so you can find out for yourself; Who He is and who you are as you become adopted into God's family.
I love to walk through life with friends who help me keep my eyes on Jesus, and then I get to help them too when they forget. My hope is to live the overflow of my walk with Jesus so that His love shines bright through me and becomes a contagious joy for everyone I meet for the rest of my days on earth.
Today I am joining Gayl Wright and her team for the #LMMLinkup today at Literacy Musings Monday.
Today, I get to join Kate Motaung and her Five Minute Friday crew of faith writers. Our word prompt this week is ~ woman ~
Feel free and know you are welcome to join in the fun of writing on one word - the Five Minute Friday word, and then join the link up here.