The Lord God cast the man into a deep sleep and, while he slept, took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib which the Lord God took from the man, he made into a woman, and brought her to him. Then the man said, "She now is bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, for from man she has been taken." For this reason, a man leaves his father and mother, and clings to his wife, and the two become one flesh. Both the man and his wife were naked, but they felt no shame (Gen. 2:21-24).
He who loves his own wife, loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh; on the contrary, he nourishes and cherishes it, as Christ also does the church (because we are members of His body, made from his flesh and from his bones). "For this cause, a man shall leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh." This is a great mystery -- I mean in reference to Christ and to the Church (Eph. 5:28-33).
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Here is a great example of how the Bible presents a story in the Old Testament, and some 2000 years later, draws out the implications or meaning of the original story.
Yesterday, I was reading the passage from Mark where Jesus' mother and brothers were standing outside the house where He was teaching. Someone brought word to Jesus that His mother and brothers were outside and asking for Him. "Who are my mother and my brothers?" He replied. "Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother."
At the wedding of Cana, Mary spoke to Jesus, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. She had said "Yes" to receiving Him for the world at the Incarnation, but now, before He could belong to the world, she had to say another "Yes" to letting Him go out from her. Once He took on His role as the Bridegroom to the Church, once He was betrothed and married to the Bride, He would no longer belong to her, but to His Wife, to those who do the will of God.
It was the responsibility of the Bridegroom to provide the wine for the wedding guests. The Wedding at Cana was the Marriage of Christ to His Bride, to be consummated in His nakedness on the cross, as He gave His Sacred Body and Blood to His Bride for her nourishment, for her preservation, for her salvation. But first, He had to "leave His father and mother and cling to his wife and become one flesh with her." First, Mary had to relinquish her fleshly claim on Him. She had to "give away" the Bridegroom to His Bride.
Was she grieved by His words in the crowded house? She had already surrendered Him to His Bride, the Church. He was no longer "hers," but now "Hers" -- the church's, the Bride's. And He now must tend to and feed His Family; He must now lay down His life for His own flesh and blood: bone of my bone; flesh of my flesh.
Besides, under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, Mary knew that His words did not demean her, but elevated her who had done the will of God perfectly all of her life. She was not only His mother according to the flesh, but in the spirit, she was also His "mother, sister, and brother."
In The Song of Songs, the Bridegroom sings of the Beloved: You are an enclosed garden, my sister, my bride...You are a garden fountain, a well of water flowing fresh from Lebanon. The Bridegroom rejoices in all the relationships with his Beloved -- the familial, the conjugal, the fruitful. Our relationship according to the flesh is limited, but not so the spiritual relationships.
Imagine Mary after Jesus has left home to be with His bride -- the lost sheep, those wandering in darkness, without light. He is not embarrassed by their "nakedness" and shame. He has espoused them to Himself in love and fidelity, and He must be with them. He has been gone for some time, and now she hears that He has come home to Nazareth. He is nearby, in a crowded house; the crowds are growing daily, and Roman soldiers are watching the crowds. She wonders if anything will happen, so she tries to push through the crowd to see Him.
He does not come out to see her, but remains with His Wife, the masses. Imagine that she catches a glimpse of Him from the fringes of the crowd, and beholds her Son whose words capture and hold the attention of all: He is radiant. Around Him, the crowd becomes family, gathered as one meeting mystery She smiles at His words, catching in them the same prayer-song she had taught Him as a toddler, wisdom from the mountain - top, and invitation for all to join Him there (taken from a commentary on Mark by Daniella Zsupan-Jerome).
She is proud of Him; she is grateful for her role in His Divine Mission. She surrenders once again her claim on His affections, for now He is a married man -- He belongs to the Jewish people, the Bride whom God had espoused to Himself long ago. And through them, He will embrace the whole world, the Gentiles also.
God has come in the flesh to embrace His espoused. He cannot surrender them again to Satan, the demon in the Garden; instead, He will do what Adam could not do. He will lay down His life to accompany His Bride through her passage of death, bringing her with Him out of the tomb to eternal life. Orpheus has descended into Hades to rescue his beloved Euridice, but this time, He will not fail to bring her back to life, for, as the writer of the Song of Songs says, "Love is stronger than death."
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