MARY, MOTHER OF JESUS, A CATERER?

What is a caterer? One dictionary defines a caterer as one who provides food and entertainment or to attend to the needs and wants of others. It is very common in our culture to have a catering company to provide the particulars to many types of events. Many companies make their income by catering events.

We all have read the scriptures in John chapter two about the wedding at Cana. It was there that Jesus performed His first miracle of turning water into wine. Lets stretch our imagination a bit here. One of the main figures at this wedding was Mary and she seemed quite a bit concerned about a shortage of wine. So, was Mary, mother of Jesus, a caterer?

Before we go too far into the wedding, lets look at one of the most unsung heroes of the Bible. That would be Joseph the husband of Mary and the stepfather of Jesus in the natural realm. Any man ask yourself this question, what if I was engaged to be married and had not had any sexual relations with my fiancée and we had the wedding date set and my fiancée came to me and said, I’ve got something to tell you and it is really far out. Of course, our mind would be so curious! Then our fiancée tells us that an angel came to her and told her that wild story. How would any man react?

Luke 1:26 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,

27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.

28 And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.

29 And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.

30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favor with God.

31 And, behold, thou shall conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shall call his name JESUS.

32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:

33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

34 Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?

35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

36 And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren.

37 For with God nothing shall be impossible.

38 And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.

If there has ever been a far out story, that one has to be toward the top of the list. Joseph’s first reaction was as most any man would be. Here is Matthews’s account.

Matt 1:19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privately.

20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.

21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shall call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,

23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

24 Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife:

25 And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.

We find Joseph being the one who the angel came to and told him to take Jesus down to Egypt when Herod was killing the male children, two years old and under, thinking he would kill the King of the Jews. Joseph protected the life of Jesus from Herod.

The last mention of Joseph in the scriptures participating in the family was when they lost Jesus when he was about twelve years of age. We see the anguish of Mary in this account. She’s thinking, God gave me the Messiah and I have lost Him!

Luke 2:42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast.

43 And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it.

44 But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day's journey; and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance.

45 And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him.

46 And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions.

47 And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers.

48 And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.

49 And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?

50 And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them.

51 And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.

52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour

As in Luke 2:51 here, we see the same statement made about Mary when the shepherds came to the stables and told what the angels told them out in the fields.

Luke 2:18 And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.

19 But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.

Now going back to the wedding in Cana. At this time, Jesus is close to thirty yeas of age. It would seem logical that Joseph is not alive at this time and we are not told when or how he was removed from the family.

Think about Mary, who has been pondering these things in her heart all these years. Mary has several children and trying to provide for the family. Maybe she has come to the conclusion that she has not seen much out of this Son of The Most High, whom she named Jesus. He had done no miracles yet. Notice how the scriptures begin to describe this wedding.

John 2:1 And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus

was there:

2 And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage.

Notice the manner of the scriptures concerning the way Mary was at the wedding and the way Jesus and His disciples were called to the marriage. This seems to indicate that Mary was there setting up and getting everything in place as the caterer of this wedding. Jesus and the disciples received an invitation. Another key point is that a typical wedding in those days lasted up to seven to ten days. Both Jesus and His disciples had received an invitation to the wedding and we are not told if they came at the beginning or showed up a few days into the festival.

Can you imagine this couple making their invitation list? Honey, do you want to invite the son of man to our wedding? I don’t know! If we invite Him we will have to invite all those guys that hang out with Him. Oh, go ahead. I guess it will be okay.

John 2:3 And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine.

We don’t know if “they” refers to Jesus and His disciples or some of the other wedding guest. Either way there is a huge problem! They are out of wine! Whoever was in charge of estimating the wine consumption and having it at the wedding made a big mistake! They were out of wine!

Their being out of wine seems to be a big deal to Mary. Mary goes to Jesus and says they have no wine!

If Mary were just a wedding guest as Jesus was, then why would she go to Him with the problem? If we go to the buffet to eat and we get up to the food line and the chicken-pot-pie pan is empty, do we turn around to one of the other patrons eating and say they have not chicken-pot-pie. No! We find someone in charge and let him or her know. The answer Jesus gave Mary seems to point this out.

John 2:4 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.

It seems that Jesus was saying, “I’m not part of the catering party!” Mine hour is not yet come, seems to indicate that Jesus did not perceive that His time had come to intervene in the affairs of men with miracles and that which was prophesied about Him in the OT. Remember that Mary had been pondering these things in her heart now for about 30 years. She may have pondered in her heart that Jesus has been hanging around here for about 30 years now and I think it is about time to see some action and now might be a good time to start. Certainly, if she was catering the wedding, she was in a big bind.

In our culture, if we run out of punch at a wedding reception, it is not a big deal. Everybody is usually gone in about an hour. In a Jewish wedding if they run out of wine on the fourth or fifth day, that is a huge mistake. This is what has taken place at this wedding at Cana.

Notice that Mary begins speaking instructions to the servants. This is another hint that Mary was in charge of providing the wine and probably the food as well. This would also indicate that these servants were employees of Mary. Mary instructs the servants in verse 5.

John 2:5 His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.

After Mary gives these instructions of expectation, it seems that she leaves. Mary actually made a demand on Jesus with her words to Jesus and the servants. Mary was at the point that she expected Jesus to honor her and do something about the bad estimate of how much wine to order for the wedding. Mary spoke words of faith and expected Jesus to salvage her catering business and the whole wedding festival.

Jesus must have communed with the Father and the Father must have said yes your time is now so help your mother. So, through the chain of command of Mary, Jesus begins giving instructions to the servants.

John 2:6 And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece.

7 Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim.

8 And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it.

The servants did as Jesus said and carried the purification water turned into wine to the governor of the feast. The word in the Greek for governor and ruler is a bit over translated.

governor & ruler is #755 architriklinos (ar-khee-tree'-klee-nos); from 746 and a compound of 5140 and 2827 (a dinner-bed, because composed of three couches); director of the entertainment:

It seems that this governor is in charge of the music, dancing and any games of entertainment. Again Mary seems to be the caterer. It seems that God the Father and Jesus thought it would be fun for them and to us to let the man in charge of the entertainment taste the wine first.

John 2:9 When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom,

This wine created by Jesus caused quite a stir at the wedding. We don’t know what the bridegroom was doing at that time but he got called into question about this wine.

John 2:10 And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now.

11 This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.

The wine that Jesus made was of high quality! Everything that Jesus has made is of high quality!

Of course, the bridegroom is the one who would have hired the governor and hired the caterer.

The scriptures are clear to point out that this miracle at Cana was the first or the beginning of miracles and also the manifesting of the glory of Jesus being revealed.

Grace and Peace multiplied in the name of Jesus. 

Compiled by Jerry Thomas 05/20/25

All scripture references are (KJV) unless otherwise denoted.

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