On this occasion there was a wedding feast in a small town in Galilee,  and the Mother of Jesus was there. Presumably, she was acquainted with the couple. Maybe she dragged Jesus along for company or for social reasons. As the event progressed it became clear to her that the wine was running out. This was a very important occasion for the young couple. Mary knew they would be profoundly embarrassed if there was nothing but plain water to offer the guests. Because of her concern for this young couple she said to Jesus, “They have no wine,” meaning, of course, that the supply of wine is in the very last stages.
 

But notice that she doesn't actually ask for anything. She simply presents the problem to him. She lays out the facts and gives him credit for being able to anticipate the consequences for the young couple. Of course, there is an implied request in the words that express her concern.

“Little things when inspired by God can result in enormous consequences.”

 Jesus’ response to her observation indicates that he perceived that she would like him to do something about the situation, although she did not specifically ask for anything. Her words suggest that she is asking him to look into the problem, as if to say, “Can you do something?” 

Her concern apparently placed Jesus on the spot. He was not ready to work a miracle that would launch him into his predestined ministry. The latter is exactly what happened when he acted upon Mary’s concern, for at the conclusion of the narrative we read: “This was the first of Jesus’ miracles and his disciples believed in him”.

Jesus’ response to Mary is a question: “What does this concern of yours have to do with me?” A more down to earth translation might be: “Why anticipate the purpose for which I have come into the world just because this couple have not provided enough wine for their guests?” In other words, “Why, Mother, are you concerned?”

This exchange casts a light upon the way divine inspiration sometimes works. Jesus may be thinking: “What is the motive for your request?” Mary has expressed the facts and her concern, but has left the solution of the problem in his hands. She waits to see what he will decide while admonishing the waiters, “Do whatever he tells you.” This is Jesus’ cue that she is not attached to her concern. It may be this disposition of detachment from her own will that Jesus is seeking to verify by his question. To be more specific, Jesus may be wondering whether her remark about the wine running out is an expression of the Spirit speaking through her, or whether it is simply a gesture coming from the impulse of her motherly goodness. Good people are always concerned for the needs of others, but how they express that concern is not always a movement of the Spirit.

If Jesus was to take Mary’s statement seriously, he needed to know whether her request was reflecting not just her motherly concern, but the divine will using her human goodness to express an immense movement of love in the heart of God. Her concern and her expression of it did in fact initiate the whole redemptive process. When Mary whispered to the waiters, “Do whatever he tells you,” Jesus recognized that she was manifesting not just her own will, but a movement of the Father’s love requesting him to perform a miracle that would transform the admiration of the apostles into faith in him as God’s Son.

Jesus said to the waiters: “Fill the jugs with water.” They did so. Then he said: “Present some of it to the head waiter.” The waiters took the water, now made wine to the head waiter. He was not aware of where the wine came from. After tasting it, he called the groom over and quipped, “Everyone serves the good wine first and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.” Jesus not only had changed the water into wine, but changed it into the very best of wine. 

In Scripture, water often represents human nature and the revelation of God in creation. The new wine suggests a new perspective. The miracle is not just the change of water into better water. It is the change of water into something brand new. The miracle thus points to a new creation. It reveals the presence of the Holy Spirit as exhilarating, heady—even intoxicating, an expansion of love that stirs people up and leads to a convivial atmosphere that spreads delight among the guests.

The new wine signifies the Gospel as a movement of divine love in which the Spirit at the heart of God’s Trinitarian life is made available. Notice there were six jugs of water, an immense quantity, enough wine to supply a small army. This detail suggests the limitless kind of gift that the Spirit represents and is about to bestow on the human family. That incomparable gift is Christ’s redeeming activity and its transformational effects.

Thus the seemingly insignificant concern of Mary, precisely because it was inspired by the Holy Spirit, becomes the point of departure for a world-changing cosmic event. Mary’s entire being, saturated as it was with prayer, was vibrating to the intensity and subtlety of that love and hence could transmit it even in her smallest actions. To live ordinary life with extraordinary love is to allow the Spirit to transform the details of everyday, including one’s concerns and even one’s jokes, into manifestations of the infinite compassion of God. 

It is as if the Father inspired her to reveal her concern to Jesus because he couldn’t wait any longer or hold back his eagerness to effect the redemption of the world and to pour out his infinite love upon humanity. Little things when inspired by God can result in enormous consequences. The simple expression of Mary’s concern set off the redemption of the world. Our salvation actually began at the wedding feast of Cana when the seed of faith was sown in the minds and hearts of the apostles through the changing of the water into wine. For they were to carry Jesus’ message of salvation to the ends of the earth. 

This same love continues in the Christian community. It might be called the contemplative dimension of the Gospel.

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