WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH GALILEE?
By Pastor Paulus Budiono
Lemah Putro, Sunday, May 30, 2019
Shalom,
Do we really believe in the verses which are written in the Bible without any hesitation? Pay attention, our belief in the Word of God cannot be measured only by coming to church but how our reaction is when we are facing challenges, temptations, and tests, do we still trust in His promises?
Do we believe in the words of two men in white clothes when Jesus ascended to Heaven? “Men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking up into the sky? This same Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come back in the same way you saw Him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:11)
Did the men of Galilee who stared into the sky watching Jesus ascend to Heaven believe in the words of the men whom they did not know? Do we also as Indonesian people – not Jews and not even the people of Galilee – believe in the verses above in which it seems there is no correlation with us?
It turned out that the writer of the book of Acts was not a Galilean or a Jew but doctor Luke who wrote the biography of Somebody (Jesus) in which there is no family relationship between them. Generally not everyone is interested in reading someone's biography to find out more about the person and how he works. How about us? Do we read it and consider it just as information or do we want to learn more about who Jesus is, what His vision and mission of coming to the world etc.? Let us not celebrate the Ascension Day of Jesus just as a ritual year after year without understanding its true meaning.
What's the matter with Galilee?
- Apparently Mary, the mother of Jesus, came from Nazareth in Galilee (Luke 1: 26-27). After hearing the news that she conceived by the Holy Spirit, Mary visited Elizabeth, her relative, who was in her six-month pregnancy (v. 36). Mary stayed in Elizabeth's house for three months. Then she returned to her home in Nazareth (v. 56).
Jesus was born in the city of David named Bethlehem because Joseph, his father, who was of David’s descendant had to return to his own city because of the population census (Luke 2: 1-6). But Jesus was raised in Nazareth, in the area of Galilee, and called the Nazarene (Matthew 2: 32-33).
- When He was ± 30 years old, Jesus began to serve and recruite disciples along the Sea of Galilee. He found two brothers who were fishermen, Simon / Peter and Andrew, to be made His disciples. Then He saw and asked two other brothers, James and John, also fishermen to follow Him (Matthew 4: 18-22). After that He went again to the shore of the lake and saw Levi, a tax collector, and asked him to follow Him (Mark 2: 13-14). Jesus recruited His disciples, the majority of whom were from Galilee.
- Still looking for disciples, Jesus left Galilee and met Philip who was from Bethsaida (the city of Andrew and Peter). He asked him to follow Him (John 1: 43-44). Then Philip met Nathanael and related that he met Jesus, the son of Joseph of Nazareth, Galilee. Then Nathanael said, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" (Vv. 45-46)
Nazareth and Galilee were considered so small and insignificant that it was impossible to come out a great, important person. But Jesus wants to start from the small one; that is why do not underestimate the small one and glorify the famous one. In fact, we often assume that the famous ones are those who are successful, for example: successful churches in human standard are the large ones with tens of thousands of people.
- Jesus began to demonstrate His ministry by performing the first miracle – water turned into wine – at a wedding in Cana, Galilee (John 2: 1-11).
- Shortly after the miracle of water turned into wine, Jesus came from Judea to Galilee. Hearing this, the royal officer at Capernaum came to Him asking Him to cure his near-to-death child. Jesus said to him, “Your son will live,” The royal official believed in Jesus' words and left. While he was on his way home, his servant told him that his child was alive. This was the second miracle that took place around Galilee (John 4: 46-54).
- Keep in mind that everything written in the Bible has already been and is being fulfilled. Everything is in God's design. Jesus left Nazareth and lived in the area of Zebulon and Naphtali, the territory of other nations (Gentiles = pagans) who dwelt in the darkness and shaded by death (due to the fault of their ancestors) to preach repentance because the Kingdom of Heaven was near (Mattthew 4: 13- 17). God once demeaned the land of Zebulon and the land of Naphtali (Isaiah 8:23 - 9: 1) but He still loved them as evidenced by Jesus – the Word – evangelizing from Galilee (heathen circle = circle of infidels) and willingly living in the midst of the Gentiles (Matthew 4:23).
Evidently the Word of God grew and developed in the midst of the Gentiles who did not know God. It is undeniable that repentance of the Gentiles is often not constant, after repenting, soon afterwards they turned to worshiping idols again. But the Thessalonians (Gentiles) became witnesses by leaving idols to serve the living and true God and awaiting the coming of Jesus who had saved from the wrath to come (1 Thessalonians. 1: 9-10).
Application: we, the Gentiles, are willing to accept the Word to move from darkness to life in the light. Don't accept Jesus to expect worldly success! If we are busy with worldly affairs while waiting for His coming, we will miss heavenly things! Remember, we, useless people (don't boast of being good people), have been chosen by God, let us love Him and welcome His coming as the Heavenly Bridegroom.
- In His ministry, it turns out that not everyone is happy and accepts Jesus. Conflict arose among the people because of Him. Some of them wanted to arrest Him, but no one dared to touch Him. The Pharisees asked why the guards did not bring Jesus and were answered that they had never heard a person say like Jesus. Nicodemus (a Pharisees and teacher of the Torah) defended Jesus, he said, “Our law doesn’t condemn a man unless it first hears from him and learns what he is doing, does it?” They replied, “You aren’t from Galilee too, are you? Investigate carefully and you will see that no prophet comes from Galilee!”
- When He was near Jerusalem, Jesus sent two of His disciples to the village and brought a moored female donkey and its colt nearby. Jesus mounted on the donkey and the people who walked before Him and followed Him from behind shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
- That was the beginning of Jesus' suffering to be crucified. When he was arrested and tried before the religious court, Peter did not acknowledge his teacher when the high priest's female servant said, “You also were with that Nazarene, Jesus… This man is one of them… You must be one of them, because you are also a Galilean.” (Mark. 14:66-70) Peter denied Jesus three times. After all, Jesus still loved Peter, a Galilean, who was fickle and kept using him because He died for him, too. Peter totally changed into courage in preaching the gospel after being filled with the Holy Spirit.
Introspection: dare we openly claim to be Christian in public?
- Jesus' suffering ended in death and He was buried in the tomb of Joseph Arimathea who became His disciple (Matt. 27: 57-60). What happened on the third day? When Mary Magdalene and the other women looked at the grave on Sunday, an angel told them, “He is not here for he has been raised…Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead. He is going ahead of you into Galilee. You will see him there.” (Matthew 28: 6-7)
They left immediately when suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!”, Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee. They will see me there.” (v. 8-10)
Why did Jesus choose Galilee not Jerusalem? To remind them again (nostalgia) that Galilee got the gift in which the light of Christ shines to illuminate the dark life of the Gentiles.
Application: the light of Christ shines in our lives, as Gentiles, so that wherever we are, our light can be seen and witnesses by those around us.
- What did the disciples of Jesus do after their teacher was no longer with them? Peter and his partners returned to catch fish on the shores of the lake of Tiberias (Galilee) because they needed to eat (John 21; 2-3). Jesus who had risen from the dead appeared and told them to cast a net on the right side of the boat and they got 153 fish (v. 6,11). When they arrived on land, they did not dare to ask who He was. Jesus invited them to eat the bread and fish they caught (v. 12). After breakfast, Jesus asked Simon Peter, the Galilean, whether he loved (agape) Him. Three times Peter answered honestly that he loved (fileo) his teacher. Jesus accepted and assigned him to shepherd His sheep (vv. 15-17).
Application: we must learn to be honest with God and to others in marriage, family and in society. God does not demand much from us, He accepts us as we are as long as we are honest to Him. And He asks us to serve His sheep, don't make any excuses with thousands of reasons. Remember, He went to Heaven to provide a place for us (John 14: 2-3), Gentiles who have been saved.
Although He had departed, we were not left as orphans (v. 18) because the Holy Spirit was sent by the Father (v. 26) to lead us into all truth (John 16:13). Thus we become independent in responding to the Word of God, not easily influenced by false teachings that distort the Word of truth.
- Jesus was on earth for 40 days after His resurrection then He ascended to Heaven. On the Day of Pentecost (10 days after His ascension to Heaven), all believers gathered in one place. Suddenly the Holy Spirit descended and they spoke in other languages. At that time the Jews from all regions gathered in Jerusalem. Many crowds were confused when they heard the apostles speaking in their own languages (Acts 2: 1-6). They said, “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? (v. 7)
- Doctor Luke wrote the Book of Acts concerning the Galileans, including Peter and other disciples of Jesus, as they watched Jesus ascend to Heaven. About 37 years after the incident, Peter, a Galilean, wrote a letter (66-68) reminding that in the last days mockers appeared who questioned the promise of the coming of the Lord Jesus (2 Peter 3: 3-4).
- In his old days, the Apostle John, a Galilean, was ostracized on Patmos Island. He wrote (in 90-96 AD) his experience of what he heard and saw. He recorded three times hearing the sound “Yes, I am coming soon!” (Revelation 22: 7,12,20).
Introspection: how do we react to the millennial era to the second coming of Jesus? Do we believe He will come and are we looking forward to welcoming Him? When the trumpet sounds, have we and our family been ready to meet Him in the sky (cf. 1 Thess. 4: 16-17)?
We, the Gentiles, are like Galileans who are waiting for the Lord. What should we do? Jesus has come among the Gentiles to save us, sinners. Therefore, bring ourselves to be recruited by God to be His own and to preach the Gospel so that many lost sheep may come to Him and be saved as we have been saved by Him. Amen.