vs 4 Why do you involve me?
Most literally word for word from the Greek the KJV has "Woman, what have I to do with thee?" Or
as we may say it today, Woman, what am I going to do with
you?. The sense I read these verses is "You're not the
boss of me." Catholics interpret this in the very opposite
that Mary was the boss of Jesus, and in this case initiated His
ministry. Whereas Jesus simply gave into a persistent request as
was characteristic of God.
Why didn't Jesus take the initiative?
One is reminded of the incident with the Canaanite woman of Matthew 15 in which Jesus at first appears reluctant to respond to her request. But what was really happening was that he was testing her faith. At that time the issue was the focus of His ministry being exclusively to the Jews of which she was not. But here the issue was one of timing. In both cases he seemingly discouraged further action by giving an excuse. This incident with Mary is another example of persistence paying off as Jesus' parable of the Persistent Widow also teaches. Jesus turned "whining" into "wining" which resulted in "winning" people for Christ.
When God wants us to do something we often give excuses. But
ironically when we want God to do something God may give excuses.
Perhaps in both cases persistence may win out.
As for the term "woman", it is a generic term just as it is in
English. The KJV translates this Greek word as "woman" 129 times
in the NT and 92 times as "wife". Jesus addresses a number of
people as "woman", including the Canaanite mother whose daughter
he healed and the woman at the well. As such the impression is
that Jesus is putting her in her place, much as he does also in Mt
12:47-49 Then one said to Him, "Look,
Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, seeking to
speak with You." But He answered and said to the one who told
Him, "Who is My mother and who are My brothers?" And He
stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, "Here are
My mother and My brothers! Contrary to Catholicism Mary
holds no special privileged position, and Jesus wants her to know
this. For likewise it says, one of the
women in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, "Blessed is
the womb that bore You and the breasts at which You nursed." But
He said, "On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word
of God and observe it." Lk 11:27,28
vs 5 Do whatever he tells you.
Here's an example of persistence - stop praying and start taking
action presuming God will get Himself involved. Commit God to a
course of action. For Mary takes a course of action without Jesus'
permission. But perhaps the lesson is that God may commit Himself
to your cause if take action presuming He will too. This same
application can be inferred from His interaction with the
Canaanite woman of Mt 15.
As for the command given the servants, good idea for all of us to heed such a command and perhaps our ordinary watery lives will turn to wine, or our 5 loaves and 2 fish into a feast. Obedience leads to fruitfulness.
vs 10 Good wine
Some who reckon it sinful to drink alcohol have proposed that
Jesus turned the wine into grape juice. But that was not the case.
The governor of the feast reckoned it "good wine". Jesus tells a
parable.
Luke 5:37-39 "And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, 'The old is better.'"The good wine was old, aged wine, fermented, not grape juice. That was the best wine and Jesus produced about 150 gallons of it for the party. God's grace is not simply sufficient, it is overabundant. In describing God's grace to him David says, "my cup overflows." Ps 23:5 So if you are in need, just call upon the Lord who supplies abundantly and you may find yourself drowning in his blessings.
vs 11 Who saw the miracle?
It was Jesus' mother, the servants and his disciples that beheld
miracle first hand. For as Jesus said, it was not His time to be
revealed publicly. So he did this miracle privately. The groom was
no doubt surprised but unlikely to admit his negligence. The
master of the feast may have been ignorant of it altogether. The
closer one is to Jesus the more one recognizes the signs which
affirm him to be the Son of God. If you want to see him do
miracles you have to follow him.
The Purpose of the Miracle
In many senses this is a unique miracle. Its point seemed to have
been to avoid shame by misleading the guests into thinking the
bridegroom had gone out of his way in selecting wines. Perhaps
what's implied is that God will at times do things to hide the
shame of our mistakes or miscalculations just for the sake of our
own public image.