Galilee, Jesus’ Home Base

          The Bible records that Jesus was born in Bethlehem.  This is a town that is about an hour south of Jerusalem, the capital of the Jewish people.  Jerusalem itself is about halfway between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River valley.  If you ever want to find it on a map, find the Jordan, follow it to where it intersects with the Dead Sea, that go west.  Jerusalem is perpendicular to the line of the Jordan.

          Why is this important?  History is said to be shaped by the geography in which it takes place.  And this includes the formation of the gospels.  We need to understand that around Jerusalem was the ‘heartland’ of the Jewish people.  It sits upon the remnants of what was the inheritance of Judah among the Twelve tribes.  It is ruled on behalf of the Romans by a ‘client king’, known to us as Herod from the gospels.

          It was in this territory where Jesus was welcomed by John the Baptizer.  John was baptizing at the Jordan River, welcoming people from the Judean countryside and from Jerusalem itself.  This same territory.  This is where Jesus is baptized by water and the Spirit, the water from John and the Spirit from God.

          From here, Jesus is sent by the Spirit into the desert.  He probably went south, toward the Negev.  As one travels further south through the land that makes up the modern nation of Israel, the more desert-like are the conditions.  Now, in Mark, this time is summed up very quickly. “…he was in the desert forty days being tempted by Satan.  He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.”

          From here, we have no clear sense of where Jesus was until John the Baptizer was arrested.  In that moment, Jesus went north.  To travel in the Promised Land at the time of Jesus, in the southern regions was desert.  This desert extended west to Egypt across the Negev and east across the nation of Jordan into Saudi Arabia.  Coming up from the Negev is the Judean countryside, an area that is ‘feast or famine’.  When the rain is sufficient, it is a bounty.  When not, it is an extension of the desert.  It rises into the hill country, with Jerusalem at the head of those hills.

          Keep going north, one enters the hill country of Samaria.  It was said that armies seeking each other in this territory could literally march past each other around opposite sides of one of the hills.  This area was politically and culturally separated from the area of Jerusalem.  The Samaritans and the Jews were at odds with one another, sharing the same religion, but convinced the other was ‘doing it wrong’. 

          When it led to strife, it is compared to the Civil War in the US, where there was such hatred between north and south, between children of the same nation.

          The gospel records Jesus making specific excursions into Samaria, but when John was arrested, when the politics around Jerusalem got a little warm for those connected to John, Jesus went even further north.  There is no clear highway through Samaria, but rather alongside.  One could go up the coast or up the Jordan Valley.  The Valley seems to be the preferred route.  That took one to the Sea of Galilee, the northern terminus of the Jordan, and into the Jezreel Valley, far enough north with that much more rain that it was swamp laden.

          This is where Jesus grew up, in a little town called Nazareth.  He knew the space, spoke with that accent.  Mark records that Jesus recruited his first disciples from among the fishermen on the Sea of Galilee, preached and did miracles at the synagogue in Capernaum-on the shore of that Sea.  This area was connected to Judea as a place of ‘proper’ Jews according to the leadership in Jerusalem.  It was also under a different political authority, although the people would still travel to Jerusalem for the festivals as that was the center of Jewish worship at the time.

          For Jesus, it was his home.  It never carried the threats to his health and safety that Jerusalem did.  He was out of reach of the political and religious authorities.  So after John’s arrest, it was a natural place for him to go until he was ready for his own challenge to Jerusalem. 

          It is where Jesus will develop his ministry and his base of followers.

So What Exactly Is The Bible?

           Sixty six books, of a wide variety of literature types, including some that are unique to this book.  The fancy word is “Canon”, the accepted ‘God-inspired’ list of the biblical books.  This is so important, it is shared in the second paragraph of the first section of the Westminster Confession of Faith, perhaps the most central document to the Presbyterian Church’s historic confessions. (http://files1.wts.edu/uploads/pdf/about/WCF_30.pdf) But what are they?

          First, two ‘testaments’ worth, the Old and the New, essentially pre- and post-Jesus.  There are 39 in the old and 27 in the New.  But on the whole, the Old Testament books are quite a bit longer than their New Testament counterparts so it is around three quarters the length of the gathered document.  Then they break out as follows:

“The Torah”: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.  Attributed to Moses, this is the Law of Moses.  It takes us from creation to the edge of the people entering into the Promised Land.  It is history, law, covenant, sacred architecture, census, narrative, anecdote, and so much more.  The Ten Commandments show up twice.  These books serve as the legal and historic foundation for the people of Israel.

“The Histories”: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther.  It takes us from Jericho-at the invasion of the Promised Land, to the Restoration after the Babylonian Exile.  It is not a continuous history, but there is overlap.  There are also some ‘one off’ stories (Ruth & Esther), and a compilation of such stories (Judges). 

“The Poetry”: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon.  This is a more diverse list.  Job is ALL about suffering.  The Psalms serve as the hymn book of the Old Testament.  Proverbs are just those.  Ecclesiastes is a hard reflection on life. The Song of Solomon is erotic poetry.  Yup. It is.

“The Prophets”, Major and Minor.  The Majors are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations (a second piece attributed to Jeremiah), Ezekiel, and Daniel.  They are major because they are longer.

The Minors provide a great pool of names to get your child picked on in school, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obabiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, and Malachi.

The books of the Prophets contain their words as commanded by God, sometimes with historic context and even some narrative to set the stage, but often without.

          This brings us then to the New Testament, again, 27 books.

“The Gospels”: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, four books covering essentially the same time period and the same person.  Each has a different point of view, there are commonalities and differences in the narrative, but in the end, they come to the same place, Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. 

“The History”: The Acts of the Apostles is the only dedicated book relating history in the New Testament.  It is not a stand-alone, but is part two to the gospel of Luke (we know this because both are addressed to Theophilus).  It takes us from Jesus’ Ascension to Paul’s being transited to Rome in an appeal to the emperor (I invite you to read it to find out why an apostle has the power to appeal to the emperor).  It seems to be a gathering of tales about various apostles and their work at the establishment of the church.

“The Pauline Epistles”: Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, and Philemon.  They are called “Pauline” because they are written by Paul, according to the testimony of the text (but scholars like to argue about this stuff).  The first batch are written to churches that Paul has or is going to while the last four are to those so named in the title.  It is personal correspondence of which we only have one half, Paul’s.

“The Anonymous Epistle”: Hebrews. In the line of Paul’s correspondence, this one is written to the Jewish people, providing powerful and explicit connections between Jesus and what came before, what comes in the Old Testament.  We do not have an author listed but some suspect Paul and others suspect just about everyone else you can think of. 

“The General Epistles”: Or, the epistles of everyone else, James, 1 & 2 Peter, 1 & 2 & 3 John, and Jude.  Unlike the more specifically targeted correspondence that comes before, these seem to be regionally addressed, thus attributed to the authors instead of the destinations.

“The Apocalypse”: or the Book of Revelations, the book of the End Times.  Written by John (traditionally the one of the Gospel and the trio of Epistles), it is filled with imagery and a ‘history’ of the end of time.  The most important thing to remember is that the Good Guys win. 

          So this is the Canon of the Protestant Church, the ‘top’ 66.  There are a few more books in the Roman Catholic Bible, which we (the Protestants) collectively refer to as the Apocrypha.  That is not my tradition and I do not have much familiarity with them.  What I will say is what the Westminster Confession says, “The books commonly called Apocrypha, not being of divine inspiration, are no part of the canon of the Scripture, and therefore are of no authority in the Church of God, nor to be any otherwise approved, or made use of, than other human writings”. (Chapter 1, Section III).

          SO THEN, where does one start?  Gospels.  Start at the gospels.  That is Jesus, the Reason.  I like John as a starting point, it makes no bones about the connection of Jesus and God from verse 1.  If you do Luke, you will see it is written as a ‘comprehensive’ account for Theophilus, Part 1 to Acts as Part 2.  Mark is the shortest.  Matthew starts with a genealogy-important to set the context of the time-but something of a snooze-fest to the uninitiated.

 

If You Like Murder Stories with Unique Twists and Turns, This Is For You. Holy Week and Murder.

             This blog is about Bible things, so how about a beginning? Look to Jesus, in four gospels, as the centerpiece of the Bible. How about from the point of view of murder? Through the eyes of multiple witnesses?

          The Japanese move “Rashomon” did it, Law and Order tried a series based on this idea, Star Trek: The Next Generation used this to profound effect.  What are the points of view of varying witnesses? What did each person see and how was it different, in detail if not in the main points? How does one find the ‘truth’ in and amongst these different ways of looking?

          Such are the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Four people writing four accounts of the gospel of Jesus, the Good News of Jesus. Why four? Why not? According to how the New Testament was assembled into an ‘official’ form, one key convention was that the gospels included needed to be in wide circulation among the congregations of the time, telling this story of murder.

          There is something of a bitter irony, now that we are in Holy Week, that the Gospels are of a similar nature to the modern media use of multiple perspectives.  The centerpiece of each gospel too is a death, but strangely, we do not usually call it ‘murder’, although it fits the criteria.

          Murder is a human planned, intentional (if in the first degree) process to kill another human being.  Which is exactly what was done to Jesus.  The Leadership planned his death, dragging him up on false charges for a “conviction” and then using the threat of political unrest to manipulate the Romans into carrying out his execution.

          Unlike a ‘typical’ murder portrayed in the media, this one did not end in the arrest and conviction of the murderers, but their forgiveness. “Forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Jesus, on the cross). But if they were somehow tried and convicted, how do you sentence murderers when the victim is resurrected to new life?

          Another question to ask is if the victim knows they are going to die, and they share that information generally in their circle of acquaintances, knowing full well they will rise again, do they have some kind of conspiratorial involvement in this murder? (Or is it attempted murder? Or maybe failed murder? Or murder reversed?)

          A significant story arc in each gospel is how Jesus gets to that point, the point of the conspiracy that is carried out to murder him. It is about the power of authority and who wields it, a combined religious and political authority that the conspirators-who held the power-felt threatened by Jesus and his agenda. It might be shown from the gospels that Jesus, the victim, did not only have foreknowledge of his impending murder, but that he acted out in a way that premeditated his death. Normally, a murder fits into the plans of the murderer (often sick and twisted though the plans may be). In this case, the victim, Jesus, drove the story to the point where they had him killed. But again, that was not the end point. The end came in Jesus’ resurrection.

          That is why the key to understanding the bible, for me, comes in seeking out Jesus. In particular, seeking out what is happening in the conspiracy of His murder, which ends not in his death, but his restoration to new life. There are four witness accounts, four gospels, to be considered for their testimony about Jesus. Read the accounts with an eye to consider why Jesus died. And, even more significantly, why Jesus rose again.

Prophesying Palm Sunday

           I was listening to the book of Ezekiel.  Why? Some may ask that.

This is how I am carrying forward my Biblical devotions at the moment, listening to the Bible.  I am alternating between an Old Testament and a New Testament book as I listen.  One axiom I have in biblical interpretation is that Jesus is found on every page.  Not literally the person, but his presence, his history, his role as our Messiah, his fulfillment of what came before.

          Two things have emerged that reflect the beginning of Holy Week from the Old Testament.  The first is from Ezekiel itself.  Ezekiel was written during the Babylonian Exile.  Ezekiel’s visions look from that Exile at the reason for, the restoration from, and the continued fortunes of the people in their time of punishment. 

          Two things I remember from Ezekiel growing up (yes, I actually remember things from Old Testament prophets from my childhood).  One was that Ezekiel has UFO’s in it.  “Ezekiel saw the wheel…” was part of the introduction of a television show in the 70’s.  The other is the Valley of Dry Bones, for the literally visceral reaction that it brings out. 

          But there are other visions, some extremely harsh, and many that powerfully reinforce the misogynist history of Biblical interpretation.  But there are other moments where it speaks of Jerusalem-looking forward to their return there from the Exile.  And it speaks of the Prince, the leader of the people who will be going up to the temple, describing his route fairly precisely. 

          For me, listening to this prophecy, it connected the return from the Exile, the return to Jerusalem in triumph to Jesus’ own entry of triumph.  Although Jesus’ “Triumphal Entry” has a far more ironic twist considering what then happens during Holy Week.

          Then, another detail, this time buried in 2 Kings, specifically 2 Kings 9.  Jehu is called to be king of Israel (the Northern Kingdom), to fulfill a prophecy that the evil of Ahab and Jezebel will be purged from the land.  Elisha came to Jehu, anointed him, prophesied his kingship “then he opened the door and ran.” (verse 10).  Jehu, an officer in the army, was surrounded by his fellow officers who wanted to know what Elisha (or, in their terms, ‘this maniac’) wanted.  Then, from verses 12 and 13, “Jehu said, “Here is what he told me: ‘This is what the Lord says: I anoint you king over Israel.’” They quickly took their cloaks and spread them under him on the bare steps…”

          The first reaction I had was that these passages are extremely obscure and not (to my knowledge) referenced in the Gospel accounts themselves.  So am I reading into the text?  Well, when I consider what I know of Israel at the time of Jesus, I know that they are feeling God’s punishment, this time under the Romans.  I know that this punishment is expressed as their disobedience to God, that obedience will bring their independence once again. 

          I also know that the Jews were an extremely literate people, focused on what we know as the Old Testament.  It is from their history that they find hope in the promises of God, as they have been fulfilled in the past, so they will be fulfilled again.  And these passages are about God’s restoration of power, the call to a new and faithful king, the call to be restored to their land and city.  Such language, not simply of hope but of hope fulfilled, would that not be the focus of a people who are looking for deliverance once again?

          There are patterns in the Bible, patterns of punishment and restoration, patterns of loss and renewed hope.  These patterns, as everything else in the Bible, find their ultimate fulfillment in Jesus.  I wasn’t looking for connections, wasn’t searching for answers, but just listening.  It has led to some amazing revelations.

Peter Hofstra