"My hour has not yet come."

 In the liturgical calendar of the Malankara Orthodox Church, the journey to the Great Lent begins with the commemoration of the miracle by Jesus Christ at a wedding in Cana whereby the Lord turned water to wine.

Jesus and His disciples were invited to a wedding. A crisis occurred here when the wine supply got over. The Lord's mother, St. Mary was also present and she turned to Jesus- "they have no wine" (St. John 2:1-11). This was indeed a fervent call for help from His mother. She wasn't merely giving an update of the situation- had it been so, it wouldn't have elicited, from our perspective, a baffling response from Jesus.

"Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.”" (v.4).

My hour has not yet come.

Let's look into the holy Gospel verses about the crucifixion of our Lord:

"Therefore they sought to take Him; but no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come." (St. John 7:30)

"Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end." (St. John 13:1).

"The hour has come; behold, the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners." (St Mark 14:41)

The 'hour', which Jesus alludes to, is the time of His passion and crucifixion.

"My hour has not yet come". This is not a straightforward denial of the blessed Virgin's request. If it were so, Jesus would have never consequently performed this miracle.It seems that that the Lord wants the blessed Virgin to be really sure of what she is asking.If His hour had not yet come, then her request for help for a Galilean couple on their wedding day (a public event) will set Jesus on the path to Cross. There is no turning back here. There will be no hidden, regular, private life- in a sense, she will forever lose Him to the followers (in His public ministry).

In that moment, the Blessed Virgin Mary would have recollected the words of Simeon when she presented the Child in the Temple.

"Then Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against (yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.” (St. Luke 2:34-35).

The terror of parting with one's own child is unbearable for a mother. In her instruction to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it", she willingly accepts the sword to pierce her own soul. Her direction to the servants silently displays "Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word". She was saying yes again (and did so all the time).

The presence of Jesus in their lives was so life changing, that the people "tried to keep Him from leaving them" (St. Luke 4:42). When we limit Jesus and His message to ourselves, though this might seem like an act of human love and longing, it is neither expected from Christians nor is it spiritually beneficial.

As we begin the Lenten journey, may we like the Blessed Virgin, be eager in showing Christ to others though it will involve a 'loss' for us. The acts may include helping someone financially even though we might have our own priorities. It may include genuinely praying for those who have hurt us. Let us take small healing steps.

May we be strengthened by the prayers of the most holy Theotokos in this journey.

O Great Salvific Lent- come in peace.

In Christ,

Rincy