Under the subhead, “Catholicism’s Jesus; Subordinate to Mary,” end-times prophecy author, Dave Hunt, writes in his Christian-bookstore blockbuster, A Woman Rides the Beast:

“It is Mary who has the honor. The Rosary is prayed over and over, the talk is all about Mary rather than Christ or God, the devotion is to her, and pilgrims see themselves as her servants doing her bidding. Mary, not Christ, is the one who will bring peace. It is her peace plan for the world, reparation must be made to her for the sins committed against her, and she must hold back the hand of her son from judgment. Mary, not Christ, is glorified.”

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In the Bible, whenever Jesus Christ deals one-on-one with His mother, He only addresses her as “woman,” because He uses her to represent the nation Israel as a whole—a nation that lies in utter failure at the time of Christ’s earthly ministry.

At the marriage in Cana of Galilee, for one famous example, Mary pleads with her son, “They have no wine,” to which He responds, “Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.”

Jordan explains, “What a sad condition. Psalm 104 talks about ‘wine that makes glad the heart of God and men.’ Judges 9, when it talks about Israel as the vine, He says, ‘Should I leave my wine that cheers both man and God?’ They don’t have the joy and the gladness of God’s calling on them; they’re bankrupt.

“And Christ said unto her, ‘Woman, what have I to do with thee?’ That’s a great verse spiritually. Rome tries to make Mary the one you pray to and, ‘She’s gonna go command her son and stuff.’ Here she tells Him what to do—a little direction there from mom; moms are sort of like that—but she’s not discerning what’s going on.

“When He says ‘woman,’ He’s not being disrespectful; what He’s doing is not addressing her in the family relationship. He never calls her mother. He’s stopping her dictating.

“You got to get this picture in your mind. She’s dictating to Him like the relationship is still, you know, ‘You’re my child, you’re my son! Joseph and I, we’re your mom and dad and you’re to do what we tell you!’

“She’s not complaining; she’s saying, ‘I believe you can do something about this!’ I mean, I give Mary a lot of credit. She obviously knew who He was. She knew who He was before He was born. She’s nursed Him up knowing who He was.

“Can you imagine how she was waiting to see Him do something?! ‘C’mon, boy, get it in gear, will you?!’ He’s 30 years old! Man, most of you, if your kid was still sitting home at 30 and you knew He had a career waiting, you’d be cranking Him up too, wouldn’t you?!

“The thinking is, ‘Go show yourself! Go demonstrate that you can do something about this! I know you can! C’mon, you’re holding back! Don’t hold back anymore!’

“Mom’s that way about her boy, especially when he’s not living up to the full potential she knows he has within himself.

“When Mary gives him a command, she’s not aware there’s something happening in the life of Christ. He’s out here now in His public ministry and she’s still trying to be the one who controls Him.

‘He’s not going to be submissive to any human authority now. When He says ‘woman,’ He looks at Mary in her position, not as his mother, but as a representative of the nation Israel.

“You remember in Genesis 3:15 that it was ‘the seed of the woman’? The seed of the woman became the seed of Abraham. Eventually that became Mary. So that term ‘woman’ immediately conjures that up.

“In Jeremiah 6:2, the daughters of Zion are likened to a ‘comely and delicate woman.’ She represents and is the embodiment of the seed of the woman. She’s in a position to represent her nation both in her confession and in the things she says in the verse.”

“When she says, ‘They have no wine,’ the implication is, ‘You can do something about this—now is your opportunity!’ He says, ‘You and I aren’t agreeing her. You don’t understand. Mine hour has not yet come.’

“That expression in Book of John runs over and over and it always relates to the Cross. It always relates to the time when the Lord Jesus Christ is going to be subject, completely and totally willingly, to the will of man; when He humbles Himself to allow man to have His way with Him.”

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Jordan continues, “The point had come when the Lord Jesus Christ was no longer to be subject to Mary and Joseph and their dictates as parents. The time had come for Him to step out in His ministry and be subject only to the will of His Father. Not His earthly father but His heavenly Father.

“When you come down through this passage (in John 2) and you get to verse 6, they don’t have any wine and they aren’t getting it about what’s going on in their midst with the Lord Jesus Christ.

“They’re expecting Him to just go ‘Poof!’ and restore the wine. Restore the gladness and fullness of blessing and restore Israel back to being in the place (to offer) the wine and blessing of God to flow through the nations. But when does that happen? In the kingdom!

That’s what verse 11 is going to be all about.

“This is not His coming in power and glory; this is His coming in lowliness and meekness. Something else is going on here that the nation’s blind to. Verse 6 says ‘there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece.’

“Six is the number of man. Waterpots of stone. They’re not waterpots of silver and gold; they’re pots made out of stone. Israel’s silver is a figure substance used in Scripture to represent the nation’s redemption. Isaiah says Israel’s silver has become as dross. Lamentations says their gold is dimmed.

“And He fills those waterpots up with water because they’re empty. Everything that’s left of Judaism is just the flesh and man’s efforts. If you look down at verse 13, He tells you—what a sad verse—‘the Jews’ Passover was at hand.’ Not Israel’s Passover, not God’s Passover. The Jews. By that verse you want to remember Paul talking about ‘profiting in the Jews’ religion.’

“Jesus told them in Matthew 23 on His way to the Cross, ‘I’ve left your house desolate,’ and He walked out of the temple. The purpose of John isn’t simply to paint the failure of Israel; it’s to paint John 1:12: ‘But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.’

“That expression ‘power to become’ is what the Book of John is all about; it’s the message of the book! There they are in failure but He’s come to give those that would believe on Him spiritual power to be who God chose that nation to be and give them the spiritual enablement to be who they couldn’t be in themselves.”