Israel Trip - Day 7

We are back home in the US now, but I am going to try to pull my thoughts together from the various learning opportunities we had on the rest of our trip.

Day 7 was our first full day in Galilee, where Jesus conducted most of His ministry.

We began the day at the foot of Mt. Arbel, reviewing the context for Jesus coming onto the scene. Why now? Why this era of history?

In John 1:5, we read, “The light shines in the darkness . . .” This passage helps us understand that God’s timing is intentional. This was, up to this point, the heaviest time of persecution for Jews in history, but it was also the time of the deepest level of knowledge and commitment to God’s word. That knowledge is also part of the light shining in the darkness and sets up the stark contrast between Jesus’ mission and the prevailing sentiments of the time.

Mark 1:15 tells us, “The Kingdom of God is near . . .,” but this is not about timing. That word for near is about intimacy . . . as in drawing your wife near and making a son. So, people were seeking to live out Torah to a massive degree. It’s into this highly biblically literate time that Jesus bursts onto the scene to continue the story that is already going, not to rewrite it.

Yes, God acted in grace and power to bring Israel out of Egypt.

Yes, the Lord is reigning forever and ever over this whole world.

And now, Jesus wants to know: Am I Lord of your life? Will you dedicate every ounce of who you are to following me?

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Mt. Arbel made us respect the disciples' cardio!

Looking around and seeing which point was highest, we knew where we were headed for the morning, and we began our leg-burning ascent up Mt. Arbel. RVL remarked that these trips have changed his mental image of Jesus to a man with much larger thighs!

So, if Jesus was just continuing the same story that the Jews were already a part of, why did they have such a problem with him? We paused in a cave to answer that question. It started with stories to illustrate the level of persecution the Jews faced during this era—horrific instances of torture like flaying alive and boiling in oil. Thousands of Jews faced these fates for keeping their faith publically.

And it brought up a question for them.

When Israel was taken into captivity, their understanding was that it was a result of being unfaithful to God. When they returned, they dedicated themselves to righteous paths, which they were clearly following, as noted by the persecution they faced.

So why—now that they were living as God wanted—were they suffering more than before?

This line of thought is what led the Jews to believe in a final judgment time and a place for those who have acted against God—Hell. It was what gave them the courage they needed to withstand the inhuman treatment they received, and it was present in several recorded speeches of Jews at the hands of their persecutors. And under the brutal Roman rule, there couldn’t have been more desire for fiery justice to rain down on these oppressors.

Yet Jesus said to love your enemies.

And pray for those who persecute you.

This is where their problem with Jesus arose.

In the Jewish system, they had worked out the idea of who would get to sit in judgment of sinners, and it was the first person who had been sinned against—Abel when he was murdered by his brother Cain. Abel the son of Adam.

In Hebrew, the son of Man.

Now fast forward to the story of a lame man being lowered through a roof into the room where Jesus was teaching in order to be healed. Instead of healing his body, however, Jesus says, “Son, your sins are forgiven,” knowing, I’m sure that this would generate a reaction from the religious leaders.

When the teachers of the Torah questioned Jesus’ authority to do what he did, he said,

“So that you might know that the Son of Man has the power to . . . FORGIVE, I say to this man, take up your mat and walk.”

Forgiveness. Not judgment.

All the mental pictures of our captors finally being the ones to suffer . . . all the stories we’ve told our children and grandchildren: Don’t worry, Nadav. Someday God will sweep these Romans away and burn them for the dishonor they bring to His name . . .

Poof.

Jesus says they’re gone.

The Kingdom is about emptying ourselves, not preserving what’s ours.

Love, not hate.

Weakness, not strength.

This is why Jesus’ message clashed so much with the religious Jews of His day.

Our days in Galilee were about exploring the nuances of Jesus’ explanation of the Kingdom of God to the various cultural and religious groups of the area.

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The Synagogue at Capernaum

Exploring “The Triangle” of Jesus ministry took us past Eremos Topos (likely the site of the Sermon on the Mount), through Bethsaida and Chorazin, and finally to Capernaum—the Harvard of Torah teaching and learning. Over time, two competing schools of thought had developed among the Pharisees. The followers of Shammai stuck to a quite literal interpretation of the Torah, holding up the Shema as the greatest commandment: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. They tended to emphasize the commands about holiness and purity. The zealots were buoyed by such teaching.

The followers of Hillel believed that another Levitical commandment fell just below the Shema: Love your neighbor as yourself (from Leviticus 19:18). This command was about preserving life or enhancing the existence of another human being. The Hillel school believed that call trumped other commandments preventing Sabbath work, for example. Their understanding of the importance of preserving or enhancing life is called Pikuach Nefesh.

In His own teachings, it’s clear that Jesus sided more with the teachers and followers of Hillel. In the town of Capernaum, the standards of what made someone clean or unclean would be well known. Agents of uncleanliness included bodily fluid, leprosy, and touching anything dead. Yet, in this very town, Jesus healed a perpetually bleeding woman, cured a leper, and raised Jairus’ dead daughter. Not only did He declare His belief in Pikuach Nefesh by doing so, but He also showed that in Him, we are made clean.

That is why, when he is questioned by the Pharisees, about the Greatest Commandment, Jesus answers,

“’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” He elevates the second commandment of loving our neighbor onto the same level as Loving God.

In his answer, Jesus affirms the important mission we bear of bringing Shalom to the Chaos of this world, and that is the enduring line of God’s story that we were tracing during our entire trip.