As always, there are so many things that I could say about today. I feel like I'm taking in so much information and so many new sights and thoughts that I rarely know what to do with all of it. Today was certainly no exception.
Starting with a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee was definitely cool. It also helped me to get a visual perspective of what it must have been like to be out on the lake fishing. When we later talked about the kind of boats that the fishermen were probably using, it suddenly all made sense why the disciples would be freaking out when the storm came up. The sea was seen as something dangerous and unpredictable, Yam, the god of chaos. It's no wonder that being out in a small boat, filled with more people than it was probably made for, with possibly 3 or 4 foot waves sweeping over a boat only inches out of the water, the disciples were fearing for their lives. What continues to blow my mind is the God who could simply stand up and say, "Peace, be still," and the lake went calm. Standing on the shore last night, I was trying to imagine just that, and it just makes me stand in awe.
At Kursi (Gergesa) I found the discussion about the call of a disciple and what it means to be a disciple really interesting. I'd never really given that much thought to the fact that the disciples came from similar areas and situations and yet were so very different. You have the Zebedee brothers, who by all accounts, were probably from a pretty wealthy family. These guys clearly had a lot to lose. Then you get Peter and Andrew, definitely Jewish, and also fishermen. Additionally, there is Philip, who we don't know for sure, but with a name like that could definitely have been of much more Greek origin. Mix into that Simon the Zealot (either religiously or politically), who cannot have been very happy with a Greek, if indeed Philip was Greek. Then to make everyone really happy, Jesus calls Levi, the tax collector. The fishermen probably paid him their taxes and tried to avoid him. I can just imagine the discussion that might have gone on with Jesus at that moment. Jesus is trying to call Levi, and Peter, Andrew, James and John are frantically trying to get his attention to tell him that around here, that just isn't done. Maybe it's ok way back in Nazareth, but here, he just can't do that. And Simon the Zealot must be just fuming. No Roman sellout is ever going to be associated with the same group that he is. And yet for some reason, in the end, all of them followed Jesus, together. Something about this man drew them in a way that pushed them beyond their normal life into something altogether different.
Also interesting for was when we talked about Jesus healing the man possessed by Legion. It was a new idea to me that this man might have known something about Jesus before he met him. The region is close enough to where he spent his time that chances are, the people in Gergesa knew something of Jesus and this man may have heard the rumors as well. Equally interesting is that Jesus doesn't let the man come with him after he heals him. Instead, he sends him out to preach to his own people. Perhaps this man is something of the first missionary. The one time that Jesus comes back to the region, crowds rush out to meet him. Clearly this man did what Jesus asked of him and told his story everywhere he went. I think because I've never bothered to map the places that Jesus went or to keep close track of place names, I have never realized a lot of these details. It is making these stories come together for me so much to see them this way.
At Chorazim I loved seeing the seat of Moses and learning a bit about the way that rabbis taught. The more I learn, the more I realize that Jesus was pretty much following the rabbinical standards of his day, but taking them to a whole new level. He sat down and taught in their fashion, but he taught with authority they did not have. And he certainly broke the norm performing all the miracles that he did.
In Capernaum I was most interested in the idea that it was a great mix of both Jewish and Hellenistic thought. The synagogue was built by a Roman centurion, which means that there was certainly a large Roman presence there. At the same time, they had a synagogue, which in itself implies a Jewish presence. I was fascinated by the idea that in some ways this might be the "seminary" for what we see in the book of Acts. Was Jesus getting his disciples ready for what he was going to do later? Obviously we don't exactly have an answer for that, but it's an interesting way to look at what is going on here. Additionally, I was just really impressed by the Byzantine era synagogue that was there. The structure and architecture was stunning.
My feeling stupid moment of the day happened when we talked about Peter. I've read the Gospels I have no idea how many times and somehow managed to miss every single time that Jesus heals Peter's mother-in-law, not Peter's mother. I think part of this might be that I've always grown up with the idea the rest of the disciples were more or less like Jesus, unmarried and somewhat disattached from family (although even Jesus may be less so than the teaching I grew up with). I was completely blown away by the realization that this means Peter had a wife and probably children. And if Peter had a wife, then some of the other disciples might have as well. I don't know why that struck me so much, but it definitely did. I guess it just changes the way that I see the group of disciples and who it was that Jesus called.
Beth-shean (Scythopolis) completely blew me away. I don't even have words to describe how much in awe of that place I am. I walked into the theater and just stood there for a couple of minutes. Even with only two of the three original layers, it is massively impressive. I can't even imagine what it must have been like for a Jewish person out of a small town in the hill country to walk into a place like that. As I walked through the city and saw the columns and buildings and just the size of the place I pretty much just kept saying wow, wow, wow. That is one major footprint of Rome. It is easy to see how this could have been Rome's gateway into the Transjordan. It certainly makes a statement about the grandeur and importance of Rome.
All in all today I just continued to see so many new things and hear so many new ideas. I love all of the things that are finally making sense to me and all the ways that I am seeing differently than I have before.
No comments:
Post a Comment