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I went to the Holy Lands on a study tour in 1995 when
things were relatively peaceful. It was
a profoundly wonderful experience. We
traveled through Syria, Jordon, the Sinai Peninsula, Galilee, Jerusalem, and
some places in Greece. We saw a lot of ruins,
mostly Roman. We visited a lot of
Biblically significant places. We
learned that Arab Muslim peoples are really hospitable people and not a bunch
Jihadists.
The most significant part of the trip for me was when
we travelled around in Galilee and particularly the ruins of the little town of
Capernaum on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee. This was the town where Jesus lived. That morning I stood in the ruins of an
ancient church that was built on top of the synagogue where Jesus worshipped
and taught. As I stood there something
came over me, a sense of awe at just how real, historically real he was. Capernaum and the little towns and
countryside around was the place where Jesus lived, walked, taught, preached, and
healed. Just to the south on a hillside
along the shore of the Sea is where he delivered the Sermon on the Mount. And, just a little further south on the shore
is the wilderness place now called Tabgha where Jesus fed the 5,000. Christian
faith isn’t just a bunch of doctrines and ethical teachings. It is a real faith that is the outgrowth of
God’s real historical involvement among real people in real places.
Well, back to Capernaum is located in the ancient
tribal land of Naphtali. Jesus made his home there. Prior, he had lived in Nazareth, which is in
Zebulon. Both are in the land of Galilee
which Matthew, or Isaiah rather, calls the land of the Gentiles. As I said, a light shone on me there, the
light of just how rooted in God’s real acting in history the Christian faith
is. Matthew also speaks in reference to
Jesus’ presence there and the Gospel of the Kingdom of heaven as being a great
light that has shone on a people living in darkness, a people living in the
land of the shadow of death. What do we
know of these people?
Well, within Naphtali and Zebulon lay a major
north-south corridor, the best agricultural land in Israel, and the Galilean
fishing industry. One would think that
the people there would be wealthy. But, that
was not the case. When the northern
kingdom of Israel fought with the southern kingdom of Judah and with other
surrounding kingdoms, which they often did, the majority of their battles were
in Zebulon and Naphtali over control of this valuable land. Whenever Assyria and Egypt wanted to attack each
other the fastest route between them was through Naphtali and Zebulon.
Simply put, gaining control of the area of Zebulon
and Naphtali guaranteed a king or an emperor a good food source and a well-used
trade route. So, for most of their history the people of Zebulon and Naphtali
stayed beat down and poor and most of what they produced was taken from them to
feed invaders. One more thing to note,
in 722 BC Assyria sacked Israel and sent most of the people away into exile and
resettled the land with foreigners.
Thus, it was called the Land of the Gentiles. This added some racial prejudice to the mix.
By Jesus’ day a Jewish population from the south had
moved up into Zebulon and Naphtali. The
Romans occupied the whole nation. Due to
Roman taxation and the Roman army’s need for food and fish the people of
Naphtali and Zebulon suffered the most of all the peoples in Israel. They were poor, powerless, and hopeless.
It was among these people that Jesus began his
ministry; his real, historical ministry. From among these poor farmers and fishermen he
called a handful of disheartened and probably embittered men to be his first
disciples. Together they walked all over
Galilee while Jesus taught and proclaimed the Gospel: “Repent, for the Kingdom
of Heaven is at hand”…and it was more than just talk. Jesus healed every kind of sickness—the lame,
the lepers. He even cast out demons. He told a paralyzed man his sins were forgiven
and proved it by making him able to walk again.
He raised a dead man. He calmed a
storm and ultimately cast out a legion of demons from a man across the lake. Among these people, Jesus did and said things
that only God could do and say.
The Greek word we translate as Gospel was the word
the Romans used for an imperial announcement of good news about the
Emperor. When the Romans came to Galilee,
to Zebulon and Naphtali, they too would have proclaimed a gospel. It wasn’t “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven
is at hand”. It was, “Submit, for the
kingdom of Caesar is at hand” and they backed it up with legions of Roman
soldiers. But, Jesus came proclaiming
that God was delivering them and proved it by doing things that only God
himself could do and that God said he, himself would come and do through the mouths
of the ancient prophets.
When Jesus proclaimed his Gospel he called people to
repent. This call wasn’t a warning to these poor people to get yourself right
with God so that God will do right by you.
It was a call to have faith, to have hope, because their God was among them. In through, and as Jesus of Nazareth, their
God was really among them delivering them.
The Greek word for repent actually means to become with-minded. To become with-minded with God is to have
faith and hope.
That Jesus began his real, historical ministry among
the poor and overburdened people of Zebulon and Naphtali is a profound
statement of how God gets involved in our lives. It is in those places in our
lives, in our very selves where it seems that we are living in darkness,
walking through the Valley of the Shadow of Death that God comes to deliver us,
to heal us, to set us free. If we want
to see where God is at work in our lives, then we will find him in the places
where we ourselves are being beat down and made to be impoverished both
internally and in the externals that we must first look. It is into our weakness that Jesus comes in
the power of the Spirit so that he may bring healing. Look for Jesus in the Zebulon and Naphtali places
of your life and you will find that God is there really and historically
working to heal you and set you free.
Amen.
