Jesus vs. His Mom

"Jesus, they've run out of Wine!"

"Woman, what does that have to do with you or with me?

"My Hour Has Not Yet Come."

Mother Mary clearly wants something to be done about the wine supply, and she  has presented the problem to Jesus. But Jesus replies, in effect, "Mother, I'm not in the miracle business right now."

(John 2: 1-11)

A Standoff !

Can Mother Mary command the King of the Universe to make more wine?

Can Jesus disregard, therefore disrespect, a request from his mother?

Mary has the solution to the dilemma. She turns to the servants and says, 

"Do whatever he tells you to do," and apparently leaves the  room.

Well. Obviously, Mary wields some authority around here. She gives a command to the servants, even though it may be unlikely these are her own servants. So this marriage feast may well be a celebration for a family relative. 

But what is Jesus to do now? His choice is between honoring his ministry plan, which is low key for now, and honoring his mother's request. He chose the latter.

Jesus chose to obey the Fifth Commandment of Moses: 

"Honour thy father and thy mother."

And he did it in a low  key manner, so as not to create a big stir at the wedding. But the  servants  knew what had happened, and eventually the word got out. It had a strong effect on the five or six disciples he had gathered by now. And by the time Jesus got to Jerusalem for Passover, Nicodemus already had heard the news. We can guess this because Nicodemus (in Aramaic, Nakdimon) was not only one of the three richest men in Jerusalem, but also the owner of extensive farmland in Galilee. Still, it would be at least a year before Jesus began attracting huge crowds wherever  he went.

And the lesson for you and me?

Honour Your Father and Your Mother.

The humor of the Man from Nazareth

From front to back, the Bible is sprinkled with touches of humor here and there, mostly missed by its readers. Too many commenters dwell on solemnness and seriousness in Bible passages and get left out of the wit and even comedy. 

Here's an example of the humor of Jesus and Nathanael from the Gospel of John:

1:45-46. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote--Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph!"

This exchange takes place early in the day, as Jesus prepares to take his new disciples on a vigorous 3-day walk to Cana. It is quite possible that Nathanael was asleep when Philip found him. Nathanael's retort was surprising.

1:46a. Nathanael said to Philip, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" 

Nathanael meant no bad will against Nazareth,which was only a sleepy little village of perhaps 200 residents. His response was lightly satirical, responding to Philip's over-exuberance. Philip had just met Jesus only moments before this.

1:46b. Philip said to him, "Come and see!"

The Gospel reported the same light-hearted response that Jesus had to Andrew and John the day before this (1:39).

1:47. Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and said of him, "Behold, an Israel indeed, in whom there is no deceit!"

This was certainly a bold statement, but Nathanael was ever the skeptic.

1:48. Nathanael said to him, "How do you know me?" Jesus answered him, saying, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you."

This was certainly an unexpected response from Nathanael's point  of view. It was unlikely that an ordinary human being could know so much from so little information. Nathanael responded with broad satire, even a parody of what Jesus had said.

1:49. Nathanael answered him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King  of  Israel!"

Here Nathanael is using outright comedy to portray Jesus' description of him. (As soon as he said it, he might have wished that he could take it back.)

BUT JESUS GOES ALONG WITH NATHANAEL'S JOKE!

1:50. "Jesus answered him, saying, "Because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you [now] believe? You will see greater things  than these."

But this was a teaching  moment ,  and Jesus was not going to let it pass by. 

1:51. And Jesus said to him, "Truly, Truly I say to you, you will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

The first "you" is singular: Jesus said to Nathanael.

The second "you" is plural: "I say to all of you."

Jesus' audience for this final statement is at least both Nathanael and Philip, and probably Andrew and John as well.

If you missed the humor in this banter and interchange between Jesus and Nathanael, you might conclude, as many serious scholars have, that Nathanael was the first person other than John the Baptist that recognized Jesus as the Son of God.

Matthew 15:27, Mark 7:28

If you missed the banter of Nathanael, you might also have missed the banter of the Syrophoenician women when she responded to Jesus, "Yes, Lord, but even the puppies under the table feed on the children's crumbs which fall from their master's table." Jesus responded positively to this banter also, and granted the woman's request for her child to be healed.

REFERENCES: Here are three books that go into the humor of Jesus more deeply:

The humor of Christ, Elton Trueblood, 1964

The humor of Jesus, Henri Cormier, 1977

The joyful Christ, Cal Samra