Today's question:
"Oh woman, what have you to do with me?"

From John 2:
1 On the third day there was a marriage at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; 2 Jesus also was invited to the marriage, with his disciples. 3 When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4 And Jesus said to her, “O woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”

Reflection from Mary Lou Ott

​When I saw the above question, my first thought was shouldn’t the question read the other way around?  “Oh Jesus, what have you to do with me?”
 
In my times of doubt, that’s my question.  Jesus, why do you care about me? Or even a more basic and brutal question in my mind is, “Do you really care about my day to day struggles?”  You are the creator of the universe.  It is amazing enough that you sacrificed your life so that I might live.  But - Do you care about my daily concerns that sometimes keep me awake at night?  Problems that are important to me but compared to the world’s difficulties, seem pretty insignificant.   So Jesus, do you care?
 
Then I went to John chapter 2 to learn the story behind the opening question, “Oh woman, what have you to do with me?”
 
Who was Jesus talking to?  It turns out he was talking to his mother.  Jesus, his disciples and his family were at a wedding, and the wedding planners didn’t adequately anticipate the wine consumption.  Jesus’ mother turns to her son and says, “There is no more wine.”  In my Revised Standard Version Jesus’ response to his mother’s statement was,   “Woman what does that have to do with me or you?  My hour has not yet come."  She ignores his comment because she knows her son and tells the servants to do what he says.  Jesus tells them to fill the large water jugs with water and what happens, enough wine for everyone.  Not only was there enough wine, it was really good tasting.  That little fact makes me smile.  Jesus doesn’t only save the day; he does so in a way that the wedding guests are praising the groom for saving the best wine for last.
 
The wedding story is a perfect illustration to answer my haunting question whether Jesus cares about trivial things in our lives.   Would Jesus do the same thing for you and me?  I think John included this story so that anyone who questioned whether Jesus cared about our personal misfortunes would have the answer.  You and I can be rest assured that Jesus does care.  He cares about the smallest details of our lives.
 
Lent is a time to remind ourselves to slow down and listen with more intent to hear.  And maybe as this reflection began, the question for Lent is not does God care enough about me, he has proven that, but rather, do I care enough about him?  “Woman what have you to do with me?