What is your concern?

This week we’ve been reflecting on the story of the wedding in Cana, that’s in John 2:1-11. A wedding where the wine ran out. And so the mother of Jesus came to him with the news, ‘They have no wine.’

Now this is where the story gets really interesting and a little tricky too. Because Jesus’ response to her seems quite sharp and rather rude. ‘Woman,’ he says, ‘what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.’

On the face of it, it sounds like Jesus doesn’t care. It sounds like he’s irritated, like he really doesn’t want to get involved, that it’s not the right time for him to demonstrate his power. It seems like he’s saying, ‘Stop hassling me Mom!’

But if that is what Jesus is saying or feeling, then why did he respond by turning the water into wine? Why didn’t he just say ‘Sorry. Nothing doing.’ Did he feel manipulated? Did he feel coerced? Did he do it begrudgingly out of a sense of filial duty or obligation? Muttering under his breath, ‘If it weren’t for that ruddy 5th commandment to honour your father and mother. What was I thinking when I made up that one?’

That surely can’t be the case. For one thing, it’s not consistent with the picture of Jesus that is portrayed in John’s gospel, in which he is never coerced or controlled by other peoples’ agendas but always acts with freedom according to his own choices and convictions.

So we have to struggle with Jesus’ response a little more to understand what’s really going on here. I think that the key lies in the question Jesus asks his mother, “What concern is that to you and to me?”

Maybe this is not a rhetorical question as many would suppose, but is one that is earnestly asked. ‘What concern is that to you and to me?’ If so, we could paraphrase his words like this, “This terrible thing that has happened that will bring great shame on these dear friends of ours, what is it to you, and what do you think it is to me? What is the concern of your heart, and how does that compare to the concern of my heart? This is an important question because my hour has not yet come. My hour of suffering for the world, in which it will be revealed on the cross for all to see that the deepest concerns of humanity are the concerns of God also. But that hour has not yet come, so consider whether your concerns in fact are my concerns also. But consider too whether my concerns, in fact, encompass far more than your concerns. ”

And Jesus’ mother gets it. She understands that her son is not callously indifferent to what is going on. She trusts that his response will be sufficient, even though she does not know what that response will be. And so she tells the servants to do whatever Jesus tells them to do. And as the story unfolds, Jesus responds to the disaster in a way that far exceeded her expectations by turning water into an abundance of the very finest wine.

PRAYER

Thank you, gracious God, that the things that matter to us matter to you too. Thank you that you are not callously indifferent to the shameful, painful agonies that we often endure. Thank you that your great concern encompasses not only our individual concerns but the concerns of the whole world. Help us to trust that your grace is sufficient, and that your response to our experiences of suffering far exceeds anything we might have wished or imagined. Help us to look with eyes of faith to see the surprising interventions of grace that you lovingly offer every day. Amen.

SCRIPTURE

‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ (2 Corinthians 12:9)