Tag: Galilee

Follow Me

Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

“Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali,
on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—
the people who sat in darkness
have seen a great light,
and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death
light has dawned.”

From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.

Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.

Matthew 4:12-23

If you’ve ever tried fishing, you know how relaxing it can be. If you’ve ever tried fishing, you also know how frustrating it can be. I will save the story I’m thinking of for this Sunday’s sermon, but I’m sure you can recall your own stories about fishing. Maybe you went fishing with your family as a child. Maybe you took your own children fishing a time or two.

I’m guessing most people try to keep fishing simple: a pole, a reel, a line, a hook, and bait. Cast out into the water. Sit there and wait to see what happens. That’s how we always did it when I was a kid. Today, I sometimes see people using expensive boats, rods and reels, tackle boxes, etc. While Angie and I were on vacation in Louisiana, we took a swamp boat tour. The boat our guide took us out in was a long flat-bottom shrimp boat. We noticed another man putting out in the water from the same ramp we used, but in a very expensive “bass boat”. He had all kinds of trouble just getting out into the open water. His engine kept giving him trouble. He had trouble turning the boat around. He had to stop several times to work on it. In the meantime, people in small, cheap, beat-up boats with basic outboard motors were getting out with no problems.

Thank God that Jesus does not require us to have any kind of expensive, fancy equipment to be able to follow him. We don’t need any fancy tools to be, as Jesus calls us, “fishers of people.” We don’t need to be bogged down in complexity to follow Christ and bring others along with us. We need only follow Jesus with repentant hearts, willing spirits, loving God with all that we are and loving our neighbor as ourselves. All we need is to proclaim the good news of the kingdom in ways that are welcoming and healing, reminding people that we aren’t trying to hook and reel them into something. Rather, we are inviting them to join us in the sometimes rough waters of life with Jesus who teaches us a new way to live.

The Galilean fishermen in Matthew 4 did not hesitate to follow Jesus. Matthew tells us that, “Immediately they left their nets and followed him.” May we follow suit while inviting others to do the same.

Along the Border

11 On the way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he entered a village, ten men with skin diseases approached him. Keeping their distance from him, 13 they raised their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, show us mercy!”
14 When Jesus saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” As they left, they were cleansed. 15 One of them, when he saw that he had been healed, returned and praised God with a loud voice. 16 He fell on his face at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. He was a Samaritan. 17 Jesus replied, “Weren’t ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18 No one returned to praise God except this foreigner?” 19 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up and go. Your faith has healed you.”

Luke 17:11-19 (CEB)

In this text, Luke tells the story of how Jesus healed ten men of leprosy. The focus of this story is often on the fact that, out of all ten of those men, only one man came back to Jesus to give thanks for the healing and grace he received. We often consider the fact that this man was described as a “stranger” in the KJV and as a “foreigner” in more recent translations. He was a Samaritan, someone who would have been considered unclean. Luke does not tell us the ethnicity of the other nine men. It is possible that some of them were Samaritans, while others were Galileans.

All of that is interesting, but what interests me most about this text is in verse 11: “On the way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee.” Jesus probably could have travelled through different areas on his way to Jerusalem. Luke makes it a point to tell his readers that Jesus traveled “along the border” between these two regions, suggesting that Jesus deliberately chose this particular route over other possible routes to Jerusalem. Because Jesus chose to travel along the border, he was in a position to encounter people from both regions. Even on his way to his eventual betrayal, arrest, conviction, torture and crucifixion, Jesus chose to travel along the border, to encounter and heal along the way those whom he would soon suffer and die for. These people, who held animosity between each other for various reasons, all found healing together in the Christ.

There is a lot going on in this story, but one thing that stands out is the call upon us as disciples to travel along the border with Jesus to bring hope and healing to all who would come and receive it. The risen Christ still travels along the borders of our relationships with each other, seeking to heal our brokenness and unite us in fellowship one with another.

May we travel along the border with Jesus, in this liminal space, this in-between, and experience healing, joy, and freedom together as whole persons in Jesus Christ our Lord.