Imagine you had just driven into a foreign city, with specific instructions on how to arrive at your final destination. On the way, the person beside you says to take a turn not listed on the instructions.
Would you listen?
It depends on who was sitting next to you, right? If it was a stranger to the area like yourself, you’d most likely ignore them. But if your companion was local to the area, who knew every in and out, you’d probably make the the turn.
Wedding at Cana
In the Gospel story of the Wedding at Cana, the BVM informs her son they’ve run out of wine. Jesus says to her:
Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come. John 2:4
Yet, she insists, telling the waiters to do whatever He tells them. And He does indeed pivot, performing the great miracle of turning water into wine.
A Meek and Mild Mentor
In relating how Jesus discarded His own plans in lieu of his mother’s, John provides a clear portrait of Jesus’ relationship to Mary. She was “the local” sitting along beside him; the person whose opinion he held in great esteem—even higher than his own!
It’s further noteworthy that the BVM confronted her son so emphatically. At first blush, this seems brash or arrogant. Who was she to presume that she knew better than God Incarnate? And being meek and mild, then, isn't is a bit out of character? Wouldn't it be more like her, at her Son's response, to rather say something like "Ah, yes, I see. Well you know best." And then genuflect and see the matter as resolved?
But Jesus, who wasn't averse to rebuking His disciples, clearly doesn’t think her behavior out of line. Not only does He not rebuke Mary, He takes her advice!
Nowhere else in the Gospel do we see Jesus so roundly accepting council from someone. With His other disciples, He was generally either teaching or correcting.
This complete shift in mode, then, when interacting with His mother, demonstrates she’s more like a consultant. She’s someone He looks to for guidance, whereas everywhere else in the Gospels His role is to instruct.
From this light, the tone of His response is more like a question: “What are you saying? You mean that my hour HAS come?”
A Great Lady!
If Jesus listens to her, and He is God, then who is the Blessed Virgin Mary? Clearly, she’s someone who ranks HIGH in the heavenly courts.
The church is en pointe, then, to counsel us to go to Mary with our intentions, and to ask her to bring them to her Son.
As the inscription at a chapel in Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC reads:
The King said to his mother: Ask and I will not refuse you. Oh, Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.
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