Jesus gently made clear that His actions were set by His own hour, not by His mother's direction. Mary seems to have expected Him to do something. Barnes says it is not known why she told Jesus, but "it would seem that she had a belief that he was able to supply it." Jesus' question set a boundary. Barnes calls it, at most, "a mild reproof of Mary for attempting to control or direct him in his power of working miracles." Gill reads it more firmly: the words "show resentment and reproof," though the reproof was less for the request itself than for its timing. Gill says that though Jesus had been subject to her as a son, in His work as Mediator "she had nothing to do with him." The words that follow give the reason: "mine hour is not yet come."

Mary did not argue. She turned to the servants and said, "Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it" (John 2:5). Barnes notes that she did not take His words "as a harsh reproof and repulse, but as an indication of his willingness." Jesus told the servants to fill six waterpots with water and carry some to "the governor of the feast," who tasted "the water that was made wine" (John 2:6-9). John calls this "This beginning of miracles," by which Jesus "manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him" (John 2:11).

"Woman" was not a cold or rude word. Jesus used the same address from the cross when He tenderly provided for His mother: "Woman, behold thy son!" (John 19:26). Barnes says no disrespect was intended, and Gill calls it "an usual way of speaking with the Jews."

The Greek of the question is very short: Ti emoi kai soi, literally "What to me and to you?" Matthew Henry notes it "might be read, What is that to me and thee?" but holds to the familiar rendering, "What have I to do with thee?" The phrase draws a line between two people's concerns.

The six stone waterpots stood there "after the manner of the purifying of the Jews" (John 2:6), which the ESV calls "the Jewish rites of purification."

This first conversation in John's account of Jesus' signs introduces a key word: His "hour." Jesus' life moved on God's timetable. Later, enemies could not seize Him "because his hour was not yet come" (John 7:30), and at the end John writes that Jesus knew "his hour was come" (John 13:1), and Jesus prays, "Father, the hour is come" (John 17:1). No one, not even His mother, could set that schedule for Him.

Yet Jesus' boundary was not a refusal to care. He met the need, and the result was that He "manifested forth his glory" (John 2:11). Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary sees a comfort here: "His hour is come when we know not what to do." Mary's response is a model: she left the timing and the method to Him and told others to obey Him.