Rethinking Mary in the New Testament: What the Bible Tells Us about the Mother of the Messiah by Edward Sri

Author:Edward Sri [Sri, Edward]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Spiritual & Religion
ISBN: 9781642290578
Publisher: Ignatius Press
Published: 2018-10-02T05:00:00+00:00

Third, Mary’s statement doesn’t make sense if she’s not asking for a miracle. On one hand, it’s clear that her words imply some kind of request. She is asking something of Jesus. She’s not simply passing on information or stating a fact, such as “The food is good. . . . The bride is beautiful. . . . They have no wine.” As the authors of Mary in the New Testament note, Jesus’s strong response to Mary’s words “indicates clearly that she has placed some burden on him, and so we should recognize on Mary’s part some expectation that Jesus can meet the need.”11

And if Mary is asking something of Jesus, what would that be if it’s not about him doing something supernatural? In other words, if Mary is making a request of Jesus, her request doesn’t make any sense if she is not asking for a miracle. It’s not as if Jesus is known for being a resource for quick, easy access to large quantities of wine. As Jean Galot explains, “There is no natural means by which Jesus can furnish the wine, and if Mary had hoped for some natural help to save the situation she would not have turned to her Son but to someone who would have had the provision of wine at his disposal and from whom she could expect an act of generosity.”12

We can reach a similar conclusion if we compare Mary’s words “they have no wine” with the formula used by the sisters of Lazarus who say, “He whom you love is ill” (Jn 11:3). André Feuillet points out that in both cases, “the discretion of language should not prevent our recognition of the fact that a request is being made.”13 Since Jesus was not a doctor, it does not seem likely that Lazarus’s sisters were asking Jesus for some medicine or for an ordinary cure. Similarly, since Jesus is not a wine salesman, it does not seem likely Mary is asking for an ordinary response.

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