Читать книгу Clueless in Galilee - Mac Barron - Страница 8

Be Like Jesus, Do What Your Mom Tells You

John 2:1–11

On the third day there was a marriage at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; Jesus also was invited to the marriage, with his disciples. When the wine failed, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “O woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now six stone jars were standing there, for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the steward of the feast.” So they took it. When the steward of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, “Every man serves the good wine first; and when men have drunk freely, then the poor wine; but you have kept the good wine until now.” This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

The Setup

Jesus hasn’t yet cranked up his ministry publicly. John the Baptist told everybody about him, and he started gathering disciples, but he hasn’t performed any miracles yet. Jesus, his mom, and the disciples end up at a wedding feast, which runs short on libations. Mary learns about the situation with the wine and goads Jesus into doing something about it, and is thus the catalyst for Jesus’ first miracle.

What Went Down

Imagine Mary, Jesus, and his disciples taking up a whole table at a wedding reception. Wouldn’t you love to be a fly on the wall for that? I bet Andrew came back to the table with a little bit of pork chop hidden under some lettuce. Jesus just looks at him and shakes his head. And how did all of them get in? Did invitees get a “plus twelve”? I wonder if Jesus is looking around at how guests are dressed and thinking, “This might make an excellent parable one day.”

And can you imagine what’s going through the disciples’ heads? They just gave up everything, and the first thing the Messiah does is take them to a party? The whole situation must have been pretty great considering many of them had just been hanging out with John the Baptist — not known for kicking back and celebrating.

For her part, Mary is an almost stereotypical image of a Jewish mother. She drags her son to a party where there will be plenty of potential marrying material, sticks her nose into the business of the “steward of the feast,” tells her son what he should do, shrugs off his objections, and commands the wait-staff to do whatever he tells them. (I’d like to pause for just a moment and lament the fact that the modern world does not use such manly titles as “Steward of the Feast” anymore. Presumably, that title is too long for a name tag. I bet that’s why.)

(I want to be careful here because you, gentle reader, are brand new to this book. Mary, the mother of Our Lord, is about to use a funny voice.) I can just see Mary, in a good mood because they’re all at a party together, realizing there’s no more wine and urging Jesus (in a New Yorker Jewish lady voice, of course), “Ooh, ooh, Jesus — you should do that thing; you know, that thing you’re so good at; everybody will love that!”

In my mind’s eye, Jesus rolls his eyes, glances embarrassed over at his (brand new) disciples, and says to his mom (kind of out the corner of his mouth), “Not now, mom; I’m not ready.”

She will have none of it. She doesn’t even argue with him. She just tells the staff to do whatever he says.

Still not onboard with the stereotypical Jewish lady idea? How about this as evidence. The staff did what she said! And not just one dude. The Bible says there were six jars, each holding twenty to thirty gallons of water! You think one servant filled those? No way. Now keep in mind, Mary wasn’t in a position of honor. She wasn’t paying for the feast. She was clearly a very persuasive lady.

Jesus obviously performed the miracle, the wine was delicious, and ministers for the rest of time get to reference Jesus’ presence at the wedding feast as a sign that God approves of parties after weddings.

The Takeaway

I grew up Protestant. The only time we talked about Mary was at Christmas, when she obviously played an important role. Catholics place much more emphasis on Mary’s part in salvation history. The wedding at Cana is a scriptural (hugely important when making a case to Protestants) example of Mary’s purpose: to point to her son and say, “Do what he says.”

It’s also a great story about how wine cannot be intrinsically evil because Jesus made some. (However, he did not make it in a box. Box wine is in fact intrinsically evil.)

In all my years, there is one point in this story that I have never heard spoken about: Jesus deserves credit for doing more than just his first miracle. If you have a mom, then at some point you have had a problem and your mom has told you what to do. You, obviously smarter (and grown), want with every fiber of your being to do anything besides what Mom says you ought to do. The fact that you are alive to read this is probably evidence that you eventually got your head out of your own backside and did what Mom suggested. And Jesus gives us the prime example of doing what Mom says. He, grown man that he was, was obedient. So, maybe, the first act of Jesus’ public ministry was not pretending to be too cool to love his mom at a party. I bet he grabbed Andrew’s pork chop when nobody was looking.