by Dawson Vorderbruegge
In preaching this week on the calling of St. Nathanael, I had to trim some thoughts out of my sermon. Here are what I found to be some interesting notes in the short passage of John 1:43-51 that didn’t make this Sunday’s cut.
The calling of Nathanel and Philip takes place at the end of John chapter 1. Here’s your Bible trivia question for the day: the first chapter of John is written almost identically to the first chapter of what Old Testament book? Genesis.
You probably knew that both books open with “In the beginning,” but did you know that both books also begin with a series of seven days? Go ahead, look in your Bibles and check my work on this one, it’s fascinating.
On day 1, “in the beginning,” John describes Christ as the Light. Light was a day one creation act.
At verse 29, John notes that it was “the next day,” and describes Christ’s baptism. Day two was when God separated water from water, a baptism of the earth.
In verse 35, John writes about the “next day” and tells us about Christ calling Peter “Cephas” or “Rock man.” On Day 3, God created land and rocks.
And beginning in verse 43, John again says it was “the next day,” or Day 4 – the day of sun, moon, and stars. On this day, Christ calls Nathanael & Philip to be apostles, and he says that angels will ascend and descend from heaven upon Christ. We see that angels and apostles are likened to heavenly lights, and that Christ is the great light – the Sun – while angels and apostles are lesser lights (the moon and stars).
Then, at the start of chapter 2, it says “on the third day there was a wedding at Cana.” A cursory reading might assume a wedding on a Tuesday (and it may have been). I’ll suggest here that the “third day” is the third day after the calling of Nathanael: Day 4 + 3 days = 7 days. It fits with the creation narrative that water is turned to wine on a Sabbath. Jesus is resting at a wedding, enjoying time with friends, and he completes the 7 day creation cycle by performing his first public miracle. Is doing a miracle an act of rest? Only if you are the Living God. A sabbath wedding also calls us back to Genesis when God dwelt in the Garden with Adam and Eve. There is marital union between heaven and earth.