Summary of the Week and a Reflection (17th February)

MARY THE "MOTHER OF JESUS" IN THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

David Nduati

We have already seen that in the gospel of Luke, Mary is presented as a disciple, meaning: at the Annunciation is woman of faith; at presentation she is woman of silence (meditation); at visitation, one who serves; in magnificat, she is seen as woman of prayer and at the foot cross she is woman of sorrow.

In the Gospel of John right from the prologue, we can trace the origin of Jesus. John describes the nature and the mission of the Word. According to Ignatius de la Potterie, John knows perfectly well that, the father of Jesus is God himself, that God is his very own father.

Even if John does not cite Mary’s name explicitly, there is no doubt that in speaking of the conception and birth, he implicitly alludes to the mother of the Word. Verse 12, of the prologue, we can easily grasp how John, implicitly extended the divide maternity of Mary to all those who believe in the only begotten son of the Father.

At the marriage feast at Cana the figure of Mary occupies front stage. She appears as the one who intervenes with her son to initiate the revelation of his messianic identity. Mary is called mother of Jesus, this draws attention to the role played by Mary in relation to Jesus: she is the mother of him who is the son of God. On the other hand this title reveals the role played by Mary in the salvation history. Her intervention with Jesus to resolve problem of shortage of wine, presents her as someone who asks the help of her divine son, through whom the entire world was created. She asks help not for herself but for human kind in need of an intervention from on high. She is the one who present our needs to God. Mary also appears here as the lady of the house, centre of that community, symbolizing Israel; one who acted as the catalyst of the faith of the disciples.

Although Jesus was hesitant to his mother’s request, Mary new quite well the he would act. That is the reason why he immediately said to the servants, “do whatever he tells you.” From Jesus’ reply it seems that the divine plan had no originally intended Jesus to intervene, but her mothers’ request persuaded her to act. Hence we can rightly say that the most holy virgin is so powerful that God will always attend to all petitions which come to Him through her. For such a reason our lady has been given the title omnipotence at prayer.

There is a rich symbolism behind episode of Cana. The water that was turned into wine by Jesus symbolizes law, while the new wine is the gospel proclaimed by Jesus. For Jews the water was for ritual purification. Jesus changed it into wine of the New Law, the law of charity, which purifies and transforms the believers. The filling of the water-jars to the brim, too has a deeper meaning. It indicates the super-abundance of blessings brought by the redemption and, at the same time, signals the aspect of obedience to Jesus. The wedding feast symbolizes the messianic wedding between God and mankind.