WATCHWORD:
Nevertheless, that time of darkness and despair will not go on forever. The land of Zebulun and Naphtali will be humbled, but there will be a time in the future when Galilee of the Gentiles, which lies along the road that runs between the Jordan and the sea, will be filled with glory. Isaiah 9:1
Meditation:
Geography Lesson
There will be a time in the future when Galilee of the Gentiles will be filled with glory. How? Why? When? The life and times of Jesus our Lord and Savior, God Incarnate!
Our reading of Scripture, or listening to the lessons being read during worship services, doesn’t always give us a sense of where Jesus’ ministry was happening, or what we might call His base of ministry. Specific events in His life might carry a name, such is Cana or Bethsaida, but we’re still left with trying to figure out where was that place. If an instructor were to ask you where was Jesus baptized, you would probably answer that he was baptized along the Jordan River. The Jordan is 156 miles long. Generally, you would be correct, but where?
Years ago, I recall a sermon that my pastor preached on the need to know a bit of geography and culture in order to fully understand scripture. When we read that Jesus traveled from Nazareth to the Jordan River to be baptized we don’t think about his walking along rough trails, in sandals, eighty miles to the river, and then searching for where John was actually baptizing. If you want to know where Jesus fed the 4000, good luck. You can find general locations if you look into books of the Apocrypha, or the historic writings of Josephus, but the scripture itself does not give us a precise location.
I’m sure we’ve all heard it said that all the books in the world couldn’t contain all of what Jesus said or did (John 21:25). We do have a record of many His miracles, but would be hard-pressed to compile an exhaustive list. What we can say is that a majority of all the miracles that we can list probably occurred within a 50-mile radius of Capernaum. These would include curing lepers, raising Jarius’ daughter from the dead, feeding of 5000, even walking on the waters of the Sea of Galilee.
During Jesus’ final 14 days on earth, including Holy Week, leading up to His crucifixion and Resurrection, we know much of what Jesus was doing and where he was doing it – Here are just a few of the events during that time frame and where they occurred:
- Feeding of 4,000+ — Gadara, on the banks of the Yarmuk River.
- Restoring sight to blind Bartimaeus and changing Zacchaeus and his family — Jericho.
- Two days trudging up the 17 miles of steep and dangerous Jericho Road to Bethany.
- Raising Lazarus from the dead. Dining with Simon the Leper. Spending each night of Holy Week in the home of Mary and Martha — Bethany.
- Cleansing the temple of commerce. The Last Supper — Jerusalem.
- Giving us the Olivet Discourse, then later that day on to the Garden of Gethsemane — Mount of Olives.
- Crucifixion. Resurrection — Calvary.
When we read scripture we rarely consider geography, and culture and tradition seldom colors the events that occur. I can understand my pastor saying scripture would have greater meaning if we knew all that, but that’s not what crosses our minds as we listen to the sermon or the lessons being read. Oh, we know they had sandals, but we rarely think about all the distance that He walked, over rough terrain, and the conversations that might have taken place during those many days of travel. Just something to think about, all part of what our Lord and Savior has done for us. Amen.
Closing Prayer:
Dear Lord and Savior, What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear! What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer! O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to You in prayer! Jesus, you know our every weakness; and we bring them to you in prayer. In Your arms You’ll take and shield us; we will find a solace there. Amen.
