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When Jesus attends the Wedding at Cana with His mother and the disciples it is His mother Mary who sees that there is no more wine.  She notices the little things.  Someone else’s anxiety, embarrassment and possible humiliation are Her concern.  Like Queen Esther interceding before the King for her people, Mary turns to Jesus with Her concern.

At this point in His ministry, Jesus has preached to the people and is becoming known as a learned Rabbi.  But this request from His mother takes things to a whole new level.  Solving this problem requires a miracle.  Miracles are not done by mere rabbis, but by the holiest of the prophets.  And the people are expecting that their long awaited Messiah will perform miracles.  So performing a miracle here means the ending of Jesus’s private life.  Performing a miracle here means stepping into the public ministry of the Messiah and ultimately beginning the journey to Calvary.  This miracle will ultimately lead to Jesus’s death on the cross.

Our Blessed Mother knows this.  Since the time Anna and Simeon met the Holy Family at the temple, She has known in graphic detail what Her Son will suffer.  She knows what She is asking.  She understands what She is giving up.  Instead of holding onto Him for a little while longer, She makes the sacrifice to help a family in need.

Jesus answers Her by calling Her “Woman.”  This was the title given to Eve as the mother of all the living.  It is now Mary’s title. In fact, John links this moment to the foot of the cross “Woman, behold your son,” and to Revelation “Woman clothed with the Sun.”  It is the use of this word that reveals God’s Plan.  From Adam came Eve and then followed the loss of Paradise.  But from the new Eve came the new Adam and the restoration of eternal Paradise.

In is in precisely this moment at Cana that we see the old world order toppled over.  The first Adam and the first Eve brought sin and death to the whole world by their selfish desire to be like God.  The new Eve and the new Adam in their complete selflessness and obedience to God’s will sacrifice themselves to bring about the redemption of the whole world.

She knows what She is asking.  She knows what it will cost Her and so does He.  Jesus calls Her “Woman.”  She is Woman not only by giving birth to the new Adam but also by becoming the spiritual mother of all of us.  Jesus gave Her to the whole world from His cross, but it is here in this moment when She gives Jesus to the whole world that She spiritually births us.  With our birth She gives Her final words in recorded scripture.  Our beloved mother tells us, “Do whatever He tells you.”