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From Heaven With Love
It was the custom for marriage festivities to continue several
days. On this occasion, before the feast ended it was found that
the supply of wine had failed. As a relative, Mary had assisted in
the feast, and she now said to Jesus, “They have no wine.” These
words were a suggestion that He might supply their need. But Jesus
answered, “Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not
yet come.”
This form of address expressed no coldness or discourtesy. In
accordance with Oriental custom, it was used toward persons to
whom it was desired to show respect. Christ Himself had given the
precept, “Honor thy father and thy mother.”
Exodus 20:12
. Both
at the marriage feast and on the cross in His last act of tenderness
toward His mother, the love expressed in tone, look, and manner
interpreted His words.
At His visit to the temple in His boyhood, Christ had said to
Mary, “Wist ye not that I must be about My Father’s business?”
Luke
2:49
. Now He repeated the lesson. There was danger that Mary
would regard her relationship to Jesus as giving her the right, in
some degree, to direct Him in His mission. For thirty years He had
been a loving, obedient Son, but now He must go about His Father’s
work. As Saviour of the world, no earthly ties must hold Him from
His mission. This lesson is also for us. No earthly attraction, no ties
of human relationship, should turn our feet from the path in which
God bids us walk.
Mary could find salvation only through the Lamb of God. Her
connection with Jesus placed her in no different spiritual relation to
Him from that of any other human soul. The Saviour’s words make
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clear the distinction between His relation to her as the Son of man
and as the Son of God. The kinship between them in no way placed
her on an equality with Him.
“Mine hour is not yet come.” As Christ walked among men, He
was guided step by step by the Father’s will. In saying to Mary
that His hour had not yet come, He was replying to her unspoken
thought—the expectation she cherished that He would reveal Him-
self as the Messiah and take the throne of Israel. But the time had
not come. Not as a King but as “a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief,” Jesus had accepted the lot of humanity.