mother

There’s a well-known story I love from early in Jesus’ ministry, retold in the first part of John 2. It’s the story of the wedding at Cana, and the part I love is found in verses 1-5: 

“On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, ‘They have no more wine.’

“‘Woman, why do you involve me?’ Jesus replied. ‘My hour has not yet come.’

“His mother said to the servants, “‘Do whatever he tells you.’”

I love it because it seems so human to me; this is one of those stories of Jesus and family that reminds me he lived my life. He’s at this wedding, the host has a problem, and his mom knows he can do something about it. She brings the issue to him, and then completely ignores his protests, knowing full well from a couple of decades of parenthood that he was going to mind his mother.

And he does. Jesus, the God become man, living out fully what it means to be human, relates to his mother the way any of us would. Even though he has reasons not to, ministry-related reasons, he goes ahead because his mom told him to. And he saves the wedding.

In this moment Jesus seems more human than at almost any other point related to us in scripture. And in his humanity he reminds me of a couple of things.

The first is that our moms are worthy of our respect. They earned it with their selfless love, and their track record of using life’s moments to teach us good values. Even Jesus listened to his mom.

The second is that Jesus knows all about family dynamics. He knows his mom wasn’t perfect. He has memories of when she was angry and unreasonable, or tired and non-responsive. He can relate to any of us who have trouble with family members.

But Jesus honored the best in his mother even after seeing her at her worst. In this small thing he modeled for us what it means to treat each other with respect. From his position of higher authority and superior knowledge, Jesus gave his mother her due and did what she wanted. Throughout his ministry he would submit to all kinds of earthly authority in the same way. He was indeed the perfect model for our behavior.

I’m amazed again at the wisdom of God in sending Jesus to live on earth as a man.