John 2:5

Ver. 5. “ His mother says to the servants, Whatsoever he says to you, “ do it. ” Something in the tone and expression of Jesus gives Mary to understand that this refusal leaves a place for a more moderate granting of the desire. Perhaps in this narrative, which is so summary, there is here the omission of a circumstance which the reader may supply for himself from what follows (precisely like that which occurs in John 11:28), a circumstance which gives occasion to the charge of Mary to the servants: “ Do whatsoever He shall tell you. ”

How, at this moment of heavenly joy, when Jesus was receiving His Spouse from the hands of His Father, could He have altogether refused the prayer of her who, during thirty years, had been taking the most tender care of Him, and from whom He was about to separate Himself forever? Jesus, without having need of any other sign of His Father's will, grants to the faith of His mother a hearing analogous to that which, at a later time, He did not refuse to a stranger, a Gentile (Matthew 15:25). If criticism has found in the obscurities of this dialogue an evidence against the truth of the account, it is an ill-drawn conclusion. This unique conciseness is, on the contrary, the seal of its authenticity. By the expression: Whatsoever He says to you, Mary reserves full liberty of action to her Son, and thus enters again within her own bounds, which she had tried to overstep.