A New Creation
3rd Day
On the third day there was a marriage at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; Jesus also was invited to the marriage, with his disciples.
In Saint John’s mastery in telling the story of the bridegroom, after he insinuates to the disciples that they are about to embark on the journey to find his bride, on the third day, we find Jesus at a wedding. That is correct, as soon as we hear about Jesus’s quest to find a bride, we find him at a wedding, not his wedding, but still, an important wedding in the story of salvation history.
Jesus makes it abundantly clear that it was not his wedding. For when the wine runs out, and Mother Mary advocates for the wedding couple and tells her son, “They have no wine,” Jesus responds clearly, “O woman, what is that to you or to me? My hour has not yet come.”
He makes it abundantly clear to his mother – this is not his wedding. His hour has not yet come. He is not responsible for providing the wine for this wedding. That wine of salvation will be provided at a later date, when his hour comes, at his wedding, the wedding feast of the lamb.
And though it is not the hour of salvation, it is “the first of his signs that Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory, and his disciples believed in him.” Once again, prophecies of Isaiah are being fulfilled in their midst,
In the latter time he will make glorious the way of the sea,
the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined.
And another,
On this mountain, the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of fat things, a feast of choice wines – of fat things full of marrow, of choice wines well refined.”
Now, the story of the wedding at Cana is fascinating on so many levels. We will take three chapters to meditate on different dimensions to this story – the meaning of the third day, the meaning of the woman, the meaning of the wedding – and in doing so, we’ll only begin to plumb the depths of this short, yet not simple, story. A story so deep that it had to be included in the meditations of the rosary, part of the luminous mysteries that the faithful meditate on every Thursday, but also implicitly hidden in many of the other meditations.
Now, it is on this story that we realize, the first week of Jesus’ new creation is concluding. The pattern breaks. Rather than “next day,” we now have, “on the third day.” We have gone four days, in the Jewish calendar we have passed Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. And then we hear this mysterious phrase opening the story, “on the 3rd day.”
And depending on whether the third day means we start on Wednesday and end on Friday, the end of the workweek before the sabbath rest begins, or the third day starts with counting Thursday and ends on Saturday, either way we’ve come to the end of Saint John’s new creation week in Christ.
But when scriptural patterns break, it is important to consider why. For example, what would have the third day evoked in the minds of ancient Jews, well-heeled in the sacred stories and scriptures? As should be no surprise to us, the “third day” is an interesting riddle found throughout the canon of the Old Testament. Let us consider a few places.
First and foremost, as we discussed already, the third day is the day of life. The Genesis creation account has seeds of life sprouting on the third day. Plants in the sea and on land, trees of the earth bearing fruit, they are brought forth on the third day of the Genesis account. And so, it is very right and just that Christ brings forth wine out of water, performing a miracle to bring life to a wedding, the first of his signs that manifest his glory and implant belief in his disciples.
But as we progress through Genesis, there are other third days of importance.
The story of Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac, his beloved son, is among the clearest prophecies of the sacrifice of Christ. Just notice all the similarities in the Genesis story to what happens during the Passion of Jesus,
After these things God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here am I.” He said, “Take your son, your only begotten son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering upon one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
So, Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.
On the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off. Then Abraham said to his young men, “stay here with the donkey, I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.”
And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So, they went both of them together. And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father.” And he said, “Here am I, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.”
So, they went both of them together.
Now, the story of Abraham and Isaac is about God providing the lamb, Jesus Christ, as our offering. In the scripture, the story resolves with the Angel of the Lord staying the hand of Abraham, and providing a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. And so, Abraham named the place, “The Lord will provide,” pointing forward to the day that the Lord did provide his only begotten son, Jesus of Nazareth. The true sacrifice was not Isaac, the laughter provided to a barren couple, but the man of sorrows born of the virgin, the worthy lamb who took upon himself the sin of the world. A substitute to save sinners.
This is the first time the word ‘love’ is introduced in the sacred scriptures. And ironically, in a culture like ours with its focus on romantic love, the first time love is mentioned in the scriptures is not about a bride, but about a beloved son. The primal love is a fatherly love, the love story between an exalted Father and his only-begotten son. And it’s not a mistake that John also uses the word ‘love’ for the first time in a similar tone, when he crafts the famous passage, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
This famous passage in John is crafted in a similar vein and wording to the Genesis story. And as you probably noted, this wasn’t the only similarity. There are so many other similarities between the story of Abraham and Isaac, and the passion of our Christ. Let’s only focus on the similarity of the third day.
The third day is a type of resurrection. The third day is the day of new life. In obedience, Isaac submitted himself to the Lord’s will, willing to carry his cross up the hill to be sacrificed by his father. And yet, on the third day, he was brought back to life. For a substitute was provided, pointing forward to a greater sacrifice to come, when the final substitute was to be provided by God himself. For as it was said, “God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering.”
Christ is the fulfillment of that prophecy and promise. He is that lamb. And so, Christ’s passion and resurrection find not only life on the third day, but eternal life. For on the third day, Christ showed true his eternal victory, the day he forever defeats sin and death by being raised to everlasting life. For God’s people, the third day has become the day of eternity.
Hallelujah! But amazingly, that wasn’t the only third day prophecy in Genesis about Jesus. There is more.
Let’s consider another third day story embedded with symbolism, the story of Joseph, the beloved son of Israel. Joseph is betrayed by his brothers and sold into slavery. He finds himself in Egypt and is imprisoned because of false accusations made against him. While in prison, Pharaoh’s cupbearer and baker find themselves in prison with Joseph. They both have perplexing dreams, which Joseph alone is able to interpret.
To the cupbearer, he interprets his dream,
This is its interpretation: the three branches are three days, within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your office, and you shall place Pharaoh’s cup in his hand as formerly, when you were his cupbearer.
And to the baker, he also interprets his dream,
This is its interpretation: the three baskets are three days. Within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head – from you! – and hang you on a tree; and the birds will eat the flesh from you.”
The interpretations come to fulfillment,
On the third day, which was Pharoah’s birthday, he made a feast for all his servants and lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants. He restored the chief butler to his butlership, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand. But he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them.
What a perplexing prophecy of Christ! He who offers the wine of salvation as his blood is poured out for many and offers his flesh crucified on a tree, given for us. Christ, who is both cupbearer and baker, fulfills this veiled prophecy in his new covenant, when Jesus offers his life on a dead tree and in three days is raised from death to eternal life, where he sits at the right hand of the Father for all eternity.
If we go further with the spiritual interpretation of Joseph’s story, interpreting these dreams leads him to interpret Pharaoh’s dream, which places him at the right hand of Pharaoh governing over the kingdom. He ensures the people are fed. Much like Christ who is raised to the right hand of the eternal Father, and ensures the people are fed with the bread of life, the true manna from heaven, the everlasting portion, that is our daily bread, our super-substantial bread, our trans-substantiated bread. “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; however eats his flesh and drinks his blood has eternal life.”
I suppose we could scour Moses’s stories for other “third days,” like the theophany in Exodus, to glean insights on the glory of Christ. Or we could search other sacred scriptures, like Esther’s story, and likewise see patterns and predictions of God’s salvation, but for brevity’s sake, let us turn to one of the most important “third day” insights in all of the prophets, the story of Hosea, the prophet married to a wayward bride (to put it delicately).
The Prophet Hosea tells the people of God,
Come, let us return to the LORD;
for he has torn, that he may heal us;
he has stricken, and he will bind us up.
After two days he will revive us;
on the third day he will raise us up,
that we may live before him.
Let us know, let us press on to know the LORD.
His going forth is sure as the dawn;
he will come to us as the showers,
as the spring rains that water the earth.
Jesus quotes Hosea quite a few times during his ministry. A few lines after the prophecy above, the prophet says the lines Jesus mentions often, “for I desire mercy and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God, rather than burnt offerings.”
Christ quotes that line multiple times to the religious rulers of his time, seeking to burden the people with their misunderstanding of God’s justice. God’s plan of salvation was that Christ our righteousness offers himself to the Father in order that we could live in his mercy and justice. God himself will provide the sacrifice; he is the worthy substitute. He is our salvation.
Let us note, Saint John is not the only gospel writer who recognizes the importance of the third day prophecy to foreshadow Christ’s death and resurrection. Saint Luke tells us the story of the Mary and Joseph losing the child Jesus, and on the third day finding him in the temple, again, a foreshadowing of his death and resurrection. Teaching us the importance of the new temple. A theme Christ himself would foreshadow and teach to us.
When Jesus cleanses the temple at Passover, the Jews said to him, “What sign have you to show us for doing this?” Jesus answers, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he spoke of the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken.
I suppose it’s all together fitting that at the conclusion of Saint John’s gospel first week – the new creation account – he would foreshadow Christ’s passion and resurrection so powerfully. That he would layer words and symbolism in telling the story of the wedding in Cana so that it would shine a light into ancient stories from Moses and the Prophets that would highlight their fulfillment in Jesus of Nazareth, son of God, son of Man, crucified, died and buried, and resurrected on the third day. For what better day would there be to destroy death forever than the third day, the day of life? Let us hear the prophet’s promise, announced and written down centuries before it was fulfilled,