Chapter 24:  Jesus in Galilee (Part One)

The early years of Jesus are virtually lost to us.  We know very little about his youth and nothing at all about his early adult years.  Apparently, Jesus had been attracted to the teaching of John the Baptizer who lived and preached in the wilderness of the Jordan River in Judea.  When John was imprisoned, Jesus began his own work in the northern region of Galilee where he had grown up.

Just as the paintings of Jesus in earlier times have shown him with a halo around his head, so has been our practice to imagine Jesus in such a way as we read the gospel accounts.  The result is that Jesus seems superhuman and beyond the reach of our understanding and our emulation.  It is important for us to trace the steps of Jesus both as the Galilean Jew who sought to restore the nation of Israel and as the Son of God who sought to restore us to our place as God's children by faith.  Christians have tended to emphasize one or other to the detriment of both.  We must develop the ability to look at the life and teaching of Jesus both from the vantage point from above which like a snapshot encompasses all of time and gives a theological perspective, and from the point of view from below which, like a movie, depicts development, influence, causal relationships, and human history.  Together, this bi-polar image gives us a true picture of Jesus of Nazareth, and the Christ who is the Light Within.

Taken together, the gospel accounts do not give us a carefully constructed itinerary of Jesus' travels and of the events of his life.  What we do know is that Jesus first traveled around the area of Galilee with occasional trips to adjoining regions, such as to the east, on the other side of the Sea of Galilee, and to the west to Tyre and Sidon.  As any other good Jew, Jesus would have gone to Jerusalem for the major festivals.  At some point, Jesus determined that his destiny lay in Jerusalem.  He left Galilee and traveled to Judea.  He taught around the region of Judea before focusing his attention on Jerusalem.  His actions and his teaching got him in trouble with the ruling elite and he was eventually arrested, tried, and then crucified.  It was the experience of the followers of Jesus that he rose from the dead and, after meeting them back in the territory of Galilee, he gave them the duty of spreading the gospel he had preached.

The gospels are so rich in the stories of what Jesus first did in the area of Galilee that we have not exhausted their meaning in the last 2000 years.  Our brief synopsis will describe the miracles he performed, his teaching in parables, the instructions he gave his disciples, and the conflict he had with his opponents.

miracles

There is no denying that the earliest material we have about Jesus portrays him as a miracle-worker (mt 8:5-13; lk 7:1-10).  There are many stories of Jesus healing people.  In Matthew's account, right after the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus was met by a leper who begged Jesus to heal him, and Jesus complied by touching him and saying, "Be clean." (mt 8:1-4; mk 1:40-45; lk 5:12-16)  A centurion and benefactor of the Jews came to Jesus in the city of Capernaum and asked him to heal his slave who was paralyzed, and Jesus, amazed at this man's faith, healed the slave from afar. (mt 8:5-13; lk 7:1-10)  Luke tells of a widow from the city called Nain whose only son had died.  Jesus had compassion on the woman and commanded the young man to rise, and he did.  (lk 7:11-17)  When Peter's mother-in-law was sick with a fever, Jesus touched her hand and the fever left her. (mt 8:14-15; mk 1:29-31; lk 4:38-39)  In the evening people came to Jesus with various diseases and possessed with demons, and with his word and his touch he healed them all. (mt 8:16-17; mk 1:32-34; lk 4:40-41)  Again in Capernaum, some men had brought a paralytic on his cot to see Jesus.  Seeing that they would not be able to get through the crowd, they took their friend to the roof of the house, removed some tiles, and lowered him down to Jesus.  At first Jesus told him his sins were forgiven, but then, as if to goad the Pharisees who shocked at his audacity to forgive sins, Jesus also told him, "Rise, take up your bed, and go home." (mt 9:1-8; mk 2:1-12; lk 5:17-26)  Another time, a ruler of a synagogue named Jairus urged Jesus to come to his home to heal his daughter.  On the way there, as they passed through the crowds, a woman who had had a flow of blood for twelve years sneaked up to Jesus and touched the fringe of his garment hoping to be healed.  She was immediately healed of her hemorraghe, but Jesus did not know who had touched him, only that he had felt power go out from him.  When the woman made herself known, he told her that her faith had made her well and to go in peace.  Meanwhile, Jairus's daughter had died.  Still Jesus went to the man's home, went past the mourners to the little girls room, took her hand and said, "Little girl, I say to you, arise."  The little twelve year old instantly got up and walked around to the amazement of all. (mt 9:18-26; mk 5:21-43; lk 8:40-56)  In Jericho Jesus healed two blind beggars. (mt 9:27-31; mk 10:46-52; lk 18:35-43)  In the synagogue he healed a man with a withered hand. (mt 12:9-14; mk 3:1-6; lk 6:6-11)  On the shore of Galilee he healed a great multitude of people who had come from all around. (mt 12:15-21; mk 3:7-12; lk 6:17-19); he later traveled to the other side, to Gennesaret, and there healed many who were brought to him. (mt 14:34-36; mk 6:53-56; jn 6:22-25).  Again, Jesus healed crowds of people by the Sea of Galilee, and "the throng wondered, when they saw the dumb speaking, the maimed whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel." (mt 15:29-32; mk 7:31-37)  In Mark's gospel he tells of a blind man from Bethsaida who begged Jesus to heal him.  Jesus spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him.  At first the man said that he could see men but that they looked like walking trees.  Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again and the man could see everything clearly. (mk 8:22-26)

There are also a number of stories in which Jesus cast out demons.  In one of these, a man lived among the tombs in the country of the Gadarenes/Gerasenes.  No one could contain this man and were afraid of him.  When Jesus spoke to him, the demon made known that his name was Legion and begged Jesus not to send them out of the country.  Jesus permitted the demons to leave the man and enter a herd of pigs who then stampeded into the sea and drowned. (mt 8:28-34; mk 5:1-20; lk 8:26-39)  Jesus also healed a mute to the amazement of the people and the displeasure of the Pharisees. (mt 9:32-34; 12:22-24; mk 3:22; lk 11:14-15)  Even some of Jesus followers were those who had had demons.  Luke writes that along with the twelve disciples there were women "who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities:  Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means." (lk 8:1-3)  Another woman whom Jesus met was a Caananite woman from the district of Tyre and Sidon.  Her daughter was severely possessed by a demon.  At first Jesus wasn't going to help her because she was not a Jew.  "It's not fair," he said, "to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs."  She replied, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table."  Jesus was so impressed by her faith that he instantly healed her daughter. (mt 15:21-28; mk 7:24-30)  In another case, a man came to Jesus whose son had a spirit that caused him to suffer fits in which he would fall into the fire or into water and he it would dash him down and he would foam and grind his teeth and become rigid.  The disciples couldn't heal the boy, but Jesus rebuked the demon and he was cured instantly. (mt 17:14-21; mk 9:14-29; lk 9:37-43a)

Jesus also demonstrated his miracle-working power by overcoming natural forces.  Jesus was able to calm the storm as well as his disciples' fear.  Their comment was, "What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?" (mt 8:23-27; mk 4:35-41; lk 8:22-25)  Another time, when the disciples were out on the sea in a storm, Jesus walked out on the water to come to their aid. (mt 14:22-33; mk 6:45-52; jn 6:16-21)  In two different stories, Jesus fed thousands of people with only a few loaves of bread.  In the one story the disciples are only able to gather five loaves of bread and two fish.  Jesus blessed the food, and when the disciples are done feeding the five thousand people there are twelve baskets left over. (mt 14:13-21; mk 6:32-44; lk 9:10b-17; jn 6:1-15)  In the other story, the people have gone without food for three days, listening to Jesus teach.  The disciples manage to find seven loaves of bread and a few small fish, but from that, they were able to feed four thousand people and have seven baskets full left over. (mt 15:32-39; mk 8:1-10)

The attention that Jesus gained from his teaching and healing irritated the other Jewish groups such as the Pharisees.  Their purist attitude and piciune mentality put them at odds with Jesus on more than one occasion.  On the sabbath day, Jesus disciples were hungry as they walked through the grainfield, so they plucked some of the grain and chewed on it.  In the view of the Pharisees, this violated the prohibition against work on the sabbath.  Jesus countered their interpretation of the law by citing cases in the Bible in which the law was set aside for a greater good and quoting Hosea, "I desire mercy, and not sacrifice." (mt 12:1-8; mk 2:23-28; lk 6:1-5) The Pharisees also didn't like Jesus healing on the sabbath such as the case of the man with the withered hand.  He asked, "Is it lawful on the sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?" (mt 12:9-14; mk 3:1-6; lk 6:6-11)  In Luke's account of the dinner at which a woman anoints Jesus' feet, the Pharisees conclude that if Jesus were a prophet he would know that the woman touching him as a sinner.  Jesus teaches his host that the person who has been forgiven much, loves much, but the one who is forgiven little, loves little. (mt 26:6-13; mk 14:3-9; lk 7:36-50; jn 12:1-8)  Still, Jesus opponents grumble about Jesus' audacity to tell the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace." (mt 26:6-13; mk 14:3-9; lk 7:36-50; jn 12:1-8) His detractors, in fact, claimed that Jesus was in collusion with Beelzebul, the prince of demons, and that's how he is able to cast out demons.  With a bit of logic, Jesus argued that Satan wouldn't cast out Satan.  A country in civil war will surely fall, and so would Satan's kingdom.  His power of the demons by the finger of God demonstrates that the kingdom of God has come. (mt 9:32-34; 12:22-30; mk 3:22-27; lk 11:14-15;17:23) Jesus warns them that to claim that his power is from the devil is to blaspheme against the Holy Spirit, an unforgiveable sin.  (mt 12:31-37; mk 3:28-30; lk 12:10;6:43-45) Jesus chides the Scribes and Pharisees for desiring a sign from him when they are oblivious to the signs around them (mt 16:1-4;12:38-39; mk 8:11-13; lk 11:16;12:54-56;11.29), and states that the only sign will be that of the prophet Jonah who preached a message of repentance to the Ninevites who indeed responded. (mt 12:38-42;16:1-2a,4; mk 8:11-12; lk 11:16,29-32)  Jesus warned his disciples about the "leaven" of the Pharisees and Sadducees, referring to their pernicious teaching. (mt 16:5-12; mk 8:14-21; lk 12:1)  The Pharisees criticized Jesus' disciples for not washing their hands.  It was a big deal to them to wash and purify everything so as not to become defiled and impure.  Jesus taught that the Pharisees broke the law in other ways for ulterior motives.  He further taught that it is not what's on the outside that makes something impure, but it is what is on the inside that comes out, namely "evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness."  These are what defiles a man, not whether or not his washes his hands before eating. (mt 15:1-20; mk 7:1-23; lk 11:37-41;6:39) In addition to the religious leaders, Jesus also became known to Herod the king.  Herod had had John the Baptist beheaded (mt 14:3-12; mk 6:17-29; lk 3:19-20) and now believed that Jesus was in fact John the Baptist come back from the dead. (mt 14:1-2; mk 6:14-16; lk 9:7-9)  Even the tax-collector came after Jesus in Galilee.  He asked Peter if Jesus paid his half-shekel tax.  Peter said, "Sure," and then went to ask Jesus if he did.  Jesus explained the reason why they shouldn't pay tax, but just to be on the up-and-up, he told Peter to throw his fishing line into the sea and pull in the first fish he caught.  Inside the fish's mouth would be a shekel to pay for their taxes. (mt 17:24-27)

Jesus, filled with the power of God and a sense of purpose, went against convention and reached out, literally, to the injured and diseased.  The Nobel Prize for Peace recipient, Jody Williams, who, having witnessed the effect of land mines in Angola, Mozambique, Cambodia and the former Yugoslavia, was able to get 122 countries to sign a treaty banning their use, knows how one person can make a difference in the world.  She emphasizes that it is not "because she possessed some superhuman quality that set her far apart, if not above, normal humans."  In her opinion, true leaders are not always the ones whose titles proclaim their power, but the ones willing to do what is right.  She is quoted as saying, “It’s very hard to take a stand. It is so much easier to be silent. But when you are quiet, you give the other guy with the big mouth all the space in the world.” (Rachel G. Thomas, Standard-Times staff writer) Jesus went against all odds, with superhuman qualities as well as human frailties, and indeed made a big difference in the world.