The Cana Cycle

Who is Jesus? part 33

It starts now! Looking at Jesus, that is.

The three songs of Chapter 1 were:

• The Word made flesh and the Light that brings life.
• What John the Baptist said about Jesus.
• What other people said about Jesus:
  • Andrew and an anonymous disciple (possibly John, who does not name himself in his book)
  • Simon Peter
  • Philip
  • Nathanael.

32 weeks is a significant amount of time. With the four Fridays in Advent and seven Fridays in Lent, I have been studying John’s Gospel for 43 weeks. Why focus on just one chapter with 51 verses? Because chapter one sets up the book and lays a strong foundation for what comes next.

 Chapters 2-4 Start and end in Cana, a town only 6 miles (10km) from Bethsaida, Andrew, Simon/Peter and Philip’s home town. Here two miracles frame the rest of the story, the second one is a healing, but the first is about catering arrangements.

The Cana cycle:

There is a structure to these next three chapters. They are one big chiasmus. Chiasm, meaning crossing over, is a poetic form used in nearly all Psalms and is a repetition of similar ideas in the reverse sequence. Where there is a central section, here marked X, that is usually the focus of the poem. The focus of the Gospel is now on Jesus.

There is a second cycle like this which occurs in Jerusalem in chapters 13 – 17. But that’s just a spoiler for later.

A. John 2:1-11 Miracle at Cana – Water into wine.
B. 2:12-22 Temple cleansed – new Temple of his body.
C. 2:23-3:13 We must be born from above.
X. 3:14-21 God so loved the world that He gave His Son.
C’. 3:22-4:3 Christ comes from above.
B’. 4:4-46 Temple to be replaced by a new place of worship.
A’. 4:46-54 Miracle at Cana – healing of nobleman’s son.

It is clear that these three chapters focus on God’s sacrifice. God sent his Son to be present on earth and to be worshipped. The temple, once the only place to see God’s presence, is now irrelevant.

Of course there’s a lot more to this in the details than this simple formula. And there is the first big twist in John’s story, up to now it has been about the people who met Jesus. Now it becomes about Jesus and his invitation to all to meet him.

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