Her son was reluctant. He asks, "What does this have to do with me?" Mary ignored him, looked at the servants and said, "Do what he tells you." Jesus did it. This is not a helpless peasant girl. This is a proud and fierce Jewish mother. Modern Catholic sensibilities have bought into the Peita mindset.
I grew up with Jewish friends. Their mothers expected them to do as they were told. The story of the Jewish mother and her seven sons in 2 Maccabees 7 is the model - a Jewish mother encouraging her sons to stay faithful and the sons doing as they are told in the face of horrible torture and death.
But, leaning close to him, she spoke in their native tongue as follows, deriding the cruel tyrant: "My son, have pity on me. I carried you nine months in my womb, and nursed you for three years, and have reared you and brought you up to this point in your life, and have taken care of you. I beseech you, my child, to look at the heaven and the earth and see everything that is in them, and recognize that God did not make them out of things that existed. Thus also mankind comes into being. Do not fear this butcher, but prove worthy of your brothers. Accept death, so that in God's mercy I may get you back again with your brothers. (2 Maccabees 7:27-29)
Ruth, Judith, Esther.... all the strong women of the Bible set events in motion which lead to the salvation of Israel from great harm. This is the great privilege given to Mary, that she was the one who would set Jesus' ministry into motion, knowing full well how it would end for her Son, and that it would lead to the salvation of Israel and of all mankind.
Look at the strong women of the Bible and you will find Mary in all of them. Ponder the passage above for a moment, for that is the image of Mary at the wedding at Cana.
-Tim-
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