"Do whatever He tells you..."

Gospel
Jn 2:1-11
There was a wedding at Cana in Galilee,
and the mother of Jesus was there.
Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding.
When the wine ran short,
the mother of Jesus said to him,
“They have no wine.”
And Jesus said to her,
“Woman, how does your concern affect me?
My hour has not yet come.”
His mother said to the servers,
“Do whatever he tells you.”
Now there were six stone water jars there for Jewish ceremonial washings,
each holding twenty to thirty gallons.
Jesus told them,
“Fill the jars with water.”
So they filled them to the brim.
Then he told them,
“Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter.”
So they took it.
And when the headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine,
without knowing where it came from
— although the servers who had drawn the water knew —,
the headwaiter called the bridegroom and said to him,
“Everyone serves good wine first,
and then when people have drunk freely, an inferior one;
but you have kept the good wine until now.”
Jesus did this as the beginning of his signs at Cana in Galilee
and so revealed his glory,
and his disciples began to believe in him.

Mary was invited to a wedding. Because of her, Jesus was also invited and the disciples came along. At Cana, just as at the Incarnation, Mary introduces Jesus to the world. Soon after the wedding began, Mary, noticing the party was quickly running out of wine, approached her Son with a request. She could have gone to other sources, it could be argued. She knew that Jesus had not brought any wine along. Her faith expected an extraordinary miracle from Him, although nothing is known of any miracles performed in Nazareth or anywhere else until then. As at the Incarnation, she believed before the fact.

But Jesus' reply to her is puzzling.

“Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.”

Was this indifference? Or was it a call to a deeper faith? Jesus would reply in a similar manner later in his ministry to a Canaanite woman who pleaded for mercy for her daughter. Like Mary, the woman persisted in her faith in Him and her request was granted. Jesus raises Mary's cooperation to a deeper level than the natural role of mother. He gives her a vital role in the performing of the miracle. She wastes no time, she gathers the servants and her words "Do Whatever He Tells You" echo today to every Christian. It is a call to immediate trust in Jesus even though we don't always understand what He is trying to do. Mary points us to Jesus at every instance that we read of her in the Gospels. That is her role. Her faith in Him obtains the faith of the disciples who believed after the water was turned into wine. Her faith in Him also obtains the obedience of the servants who now have a role in the miracle. Her faith in Him is our model.

Lord help us to be available to you as your Blessed Mother was. Give us the faith that she had: to believe before the fact. - excerpts from a homily by John Paul II