Parallels

I am starting to see an interesting pattern emerging in this passage. It has to do with the similarities in the sequence of places where Jesus goes and the events connected with them. At first it may appear irrelevant, but I believe that there are many things that can be learned that we have never paid attention to before in the patterns that God designed into the life of Jesus. Events, places and truths all become intertwined in amazing ways that can cause truths and seemingly irrelevant facts to suddenly take on great significance if a person is careful to trace some of these meaningful links throughout the Bible.

What I am seeing in this story is a direct repeat of a sequence that happened not long before in Jesus' life. And the way that John writes about these things is undoubtedly intended to signal to an alert reader many cues that might be easy to miss in a cursory reading of these stories. But God has an amazing way of incorporating millions of links between stories that knit all of them together into an incredible tapestry of beauty and truth. We can discover many of these if we are willing to explore these connections.

Therefore He came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a royal official whose son was sick at Capernaum. (John 4:46)

I see a direct connection here with the verses around the end of chapter one and the first half of chapter two. I don't think this is in any way coincidental, especially given that John gives a very strong hint in 4:45 reminding us of the previous scenario. At that time Jesus appeared in the story somewhere around Jordan where John the Baptist was baptizing people and begins to link up with some men who would quickly attach themselves to Him as disciples. Theologians have long been in confusion about where this all took place, but it was called Bethany beyond the Jordan. One source that I found that seems to have more validity in my opinion refers to a place that had this phrase as something of an obscure nickname and was not the same place as the traditional Bethany that is so commonly talked about in that region.

But another clue as to where this region may have been is the fact that Simon and Andrew both met Jesus there and their home was in Capernaum. Being fishermen it is possible that they could have been anywhere around the shores of Lake Galilee but would more likely have been not too far from the northern regions of the lake since that was closer to where they lived. As the story progressed, after Jesus hooked up with several new followers He led them to Cana where they all crashed a wedding party and drank up all the refreshments embarrassing the hosts and creating an emergency in need of a miracle.

The text then says that they all went down to Capernaum – Jesus, His disciples, His mother and even His brothers. Quite possibly they may have all camped out at Simon Peter's house as he was likely very excited to be on of Jesus' new disciples. What is interesting to me is that this same sequence of locations is again noted in the same order here in chapter four. Jesus has some significant experiences with people coming to believe in Him outside of Galilee, then afterwards goes to Cana and then we see Capernaum coming into the story again. What is starting to emerge as compelling is that as I compare these two sequences I begin to see a number of strong similarities in the things that are talked about and the attitudes of the people involved either as parallels or in contrasts.

Both of these stories mention signs and miracles.

Both of these stories come on the heels of people believing in Jesus easily and quickly.

Both of these stories mention the glory or honor of Jesus.

Both of these narratives revolve very much around the issue of belief in Jesus.

Both stories mention a short period of days; the first story involving a few days at Capernaum and the last the two days Jesus spent in Sychar before going to Cana.

Both narratives reveal the problems of open doubt and the desires for signs and wonders before people were willing to consider believing in Jesus.

Both stories have Jesus rebuking unbelief in people who should have had good reason to trust God more fully.

All of these similarities make good ingredients for possibly discovering some of the recipes that may make very delicious discoveries if I will contemplate them enough and listen carefully enough to how the Spirit may impress me to put them altogether.