Why did Jesus always call the Blessed Virgin Mary “lady” and not “mother”?
This is an excellent question (see John 2-19). It is my view that Jesus calls his mother “woman” (not lady) rather than “mother” because he is disengaging from her parental authority. As a text like Luke 2:41-52 shows, Jesus had to follow the dictates of his heavenly father rather than his earthly mother if they did not correspond.
—Ben Witherington III