Sermon Title: "A Mother's Inspiration"
Date: May 9, 2010
Minister:  The Rev. Charles Ensley

Lesson:  John 2:1-12

To let you know how far in advance I sometimes get sermon ideas, I saved this from the January 17, 2010 United Church of Christ online Stillspeaking Devotional.  The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel, senior minister of First Congregational Church in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, wrote this in response to today’s interaction between Jesus and his mother at the wedding feast at Cana:

“You know, my mother thought I could do anything, too.  She was always exaggerating my gifts.

“When it was time to apply to college she told me I should go to Harvard.  When I explained that my grade point average was not represented anywhere in that school’s statistics, she would say, ‘Oh, nonsense, just apply.’

“Once I started working, she was always giving me a promotion, telling people I was doing the work of my boss.  When I tried to correct her, she would just keep talking.  My churches were tripled in size; my first articles turned into books and a seat on the association’s committee on ministry made me a bishop -- all through the power of a mother’s imagination.

“Listening to my mother, you would have thought I was some kind of miracle worker, but I knew better, and so did Harvard.”

[I should tell you that Lillian Daniel is no slouch.  She graduated from Bryn Mawr College, Yale Divinity School, earned her doctorate at Hartford Seminary, and is the author of two books.  I heard her as a keynote preacher and panelist at last month’s Northwest Festival of Preaching in Seattle.]

She continues:  “So I have always delighted that the first miracle Jesus performs is the result of his mother’s imagination.  His mother tells him that they have run out of wine, and he says, ‘Woman, what concern is that to you and to me?’  He’s as annoyed as anyone when his mother puts her enormous vision for him out there.

“But Jesus actually was a miracle worker.  And someone had to get him started.  Sometimes a mother’s imagination is a miracle in itself.”

The decision to highlight the wedding banquet at Cana is John’s way of signaling us that from the very outset of his earthly ministry, Jesus is the Christ whose every activity must be understood in relation to the revelation of his glory and messianic mission.  When we hear this Gospel lesson, we tend to focus on the mechanics of the miracle itself.  Today, I would like us to focus on the other protagonist in the story—Mary, the mother of Jesus.

In the interaction between Mary and Jesus, there is room to interpret an element of humor.  In verses 3-5, a quick exchange of words is peculiarly reminiscent of that awkward dilemma a child faces when put on the spot by a parent.  “They have no wine,” Mary tells Jesus.  “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me?” Jesus replies.  The Greek here literally reads, “What to me and to you, woman?”  Perhaps it could be more colloquially translated, “Woman, what’s it to me and you?” or “Woman, why are you bothering me with this?” or more loosely still, “Woman, please!”

Scholars make much of Jesus’ apparent rebuke, particularly the way he addresses Mary as “woman” instead of “mother.”  Is Jesus embarrassed by Mary, even angry at her, so embarrassed or angry he does not even acknowledge her as his mother?  Does Jesus view Mary’s request being beneath his pursuit of higher purposes?  Is the writer of John’s Gospel highlighting this exchange to illustrate a distance between Jesus and Mary that underscores how Jesus thinks in terms of the heavenly concerns of his Father, while Mary focuses on earthly concerns?

Mary ignores Jesus’ rebuke and directly tells the servants at the banquet, “Do whatever he tells you.”  Mary is more than a pushy mom with excessive pride in her boy.  When she says, “Do whatever he tells you,” Mary is not bragging, but showing faith in her son who also happens to be the Son of God.  It is not clear-cut whether Mary yet knows for sure that Jesus is the Son of God.  But John and the audience for whom this Gospel is written near the end of the First Century know.  And John portrays Mary knowing enough to trust the words of her son Jesus who is the Word.  Mary’s approach to Jesus concerning the wine demonstrates her firm belief that Jesus can save the situation.

Don’t some of us find that our mothers, especially once we’re adults, come to depend on us to “save the situation?”  Mom’s car won’t start, her checkbook won’t balance, she doesn’t know whether the roofer’s estimate is fair or not—she calls us to help her out, to save the day.  Sometimes, not unlike Lillian Daniel’s mother, she just knows there’s nothing we aren’t capable of.

Both of my sisters were married a year apart in the mid-eighties, both in beautiful outdoor settings in Palos Verdes.  It was at the second wedding in 1985 that my mother was heard to lament that neither of her daughters had gotten married in the church.  “But Mother,” I protested, “at least your son the minister is officiating.  Isn’t that good enough?”

In those years in which I choose to address the subject of mothers on Mother’s Day—which is entirely a secular and not a sacred holiday; there are no liturgical resources for it—I am well aware that we tend to idealize the Hallmark/Norman Rockwell picture of motherhood.  I’m looking forward to seeing the new movie which opened in limited release this weekend entitled “Mother and Child.”  It follows three adult women as they deal with issues such as unexpected or unwanted pregnancies, adoption and infertility.  A discussion of motherhood would also include blended families, reconnecting with lost or alienated children, as well as mothers who have wonderful and fulfilling relationships with their children.  All of these situations are characterized by various women in the Bible, incidentally.  And all of them are issues that women have brought into my office over the years.  There seems to be nothing new when dealing with motherhood.

Not everyone had a mother like Mary, the perpetual virgin in immaculate blue gown who faithfully stood by Jesus from his unusual conception to his horrible crucifixion—and in between imagined there was a time when surely her son could save the situation when the wedding celebration ran dry.  There are, indeed, mothers and offspring who have conflicted relationships.  And some children do not realize until adulthood what their mothers were really going through, or even trying to shield them from.  If Mary had known, or could foresee the future, what would she have liked to shield her son from? 

In today’s story, at this early stage in Jesus’ ministry, we have to assume that Mary was likely on good terms with the friends who were having the wedding in Cana, only three miles from her home in Nazareth.  She was perhaps embarrassed for them that the wine had run out.  And full of confidence in her son to save the situation, she called on him. 

At the end of the day, Mary goes off with Jesus and his disciples to Capernaum.  We hear only two or three references of her until the end of Jesus’ life, when, while on the cross, he commends her care to his beloved disciple.

The few recorded interactions between Mary and Jesus prove two things:  First, she was utterly devoted to her son and his mission here upon this Earth.  We don’t know whether he ever talked with her about it, or whether the story of his conception alone convinced her there was something unique about him.  She obviously believed in him or she wouldn’t have been such a faithful follower.  Second, in spite of his apparent rebuke to Mary when she told him of the shortage of wine, Jesus was utterly devoted to her.  Why else would he have been concerned for her future care as he hung on the cross?  In this case, the title “Woman” he used at Cana is used at the cross with utmost tenderness.

Perhaps today’s Gospel lesson contains a model for us on Mother’s Day.  Many can look back and think of some inspiration our mothers held out for us.  The quotes in the worship bulletin from our first and sixteenth presidents indicate all that they were they owed to their mother’s inspiration.  If your mother is still living today, it would be a splendid time to tell her of how she inspired you—in school, in your Christian faith, in a career, in your later family life.

There are times as our parents grow older that we need to become like the parent to them.  Perhaps we need to handle their finances, assist with healthcare decisions and care, drive them somewhere, make recommendations on living arrangements.  In Jesus’ case, crucified at 33, he commended his mother’s future care to a trusted disciple.

One of the best ways we honor God is by showing appreciation for what mothers do.  As our parents grow older, as our reliance on them fades with their faults and frailties becoming increasingly clear, this is really difficult to do.  Yet that’s when they need it the most.  That’s when they deserve it the most.

Why?  It’s because through their comfort, their presence, their labor, their love and even their faults, they have given us a glimpse of God.