John 2 · a question people ask

Jesus answers his mother, "Woman, what does that have to do with you and me? My hour has not yet come" (2:4). Was he turning her down?

In the text

Here is what John tells, in order. His mother said to him, "They have no wine" (2:3). "Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does that have to do with you and me? My hour has not yet come.”" (2:4). "His mother said to the servants, “Whatever he says to you, do it.”" (2:5). Then "Jesus said to them, “Fill the water pots with water.”" (2:7). John doesn't explain Jesus's words to her, or say what she expected him to do. In John's Gospel Jesus speaks to his mother twice, and both times he begins "Woman": here, and at the cross, "Woman, behold, your son!" (19:26). His hour comes up again: "no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come" (7:30), and "no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come" (8:20). These notes add nothing from outside the text to the word Woman, and don't say what his answer meant beyond the words.

The verses

“When the wine ran out, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no wine.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does that have to do with you and me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Whatever he says to you, do it.” Now there were six water pots of stone set there after the Jews’ way of purifying, containing two or three metretes apiece. Jesus said to them, “Fill the water pots with water.” So they filled them up to the brim.”
John 2:3-7 · World English Bible
“Therefore when Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing there, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!””
John 19:26 · World English Bible
“They sought therefore to take him; but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.”
John 7:30 · World English Bible
“Jesus spoke these words in the treasury, as he taught in the temple. Yet no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.”
John 8:20 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of John 2

John 2: The beginning of his signs

At Cana, John tells of no word spoken over the water: Jesus tells the servants "Fill the water pots with water" and "Now draw some out", and the ruler of the feast "didn’t know where it came from", but the servants knew (2:7-9). And "When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered" his words about the temple (2:22).

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Last reviewed October 1, 2026. Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions