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Jesus decided to leave Galilee and head south for Peraea, the territory on the east bank of the Jordan. Word of his power had gone ahead of him, and big crowds flocked to him there. Many would have come from Judaea, which was bordered by the west bank. He taught the people and healed many.
Jerusalem, the capital of Judaea, was his eventual target. From there he would be delivered up in order to fulfill his mission.
Before arriving in Peraea, the Jesus group traversed Samaria. Near a Samaritan town, Jesus sent messengers ahead to tell people he was on the way and to prepare to welcome him. But, once the townspeople realized that Jesus appeared to be focused on going to Jerusalem, they ignored him.
James and John asked Jesus: "Should we command fire to fall from heaven to consume them?"[ssf1]
But Jesus rebuked them. "You don't know what kind of spirit you are of. The son of man came not to destroy lives, but to save them."
So, they moved on to another village.
Once in Peraea, Jesus and his disciples were immersing people in the Jordan not far from John, who was baptizing on the other side of the river near the Judaean town of Aenon, near Salim, where there was plenty of water. John had not yet been thrown in prison.
Some men were worried about who should be permitted to baptize others – pointing out Jesus – and asked John about it.
John told them, "A person can receive nothing unless heaven has given it. You yourselves heard me say, 'I am not the Messiah, but that I am sent out ahead of him.' The groom gets the bride, while his friend stands next to him, happy to hear his voice. So, this fulfills my joy. He must increase, but I must decrease."
Later in the Peraean period, Herod Antipas would hear about all the baptisms Jesus and his men were doing (though Jesus did not personally perform any water immersions) and would think John the Dunker had returned from the dead.
A Bible teacher approached Jesus and said, "Rabbi, I am ready to follow you anywhere."
Jesus replied, "Foxes have dens, and birds have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head."
At another point, a would-be disciple said, "Rabbi, permit me to first go and bury my father."
Jesus replied, "Follow me. Let the dead bury the dead."
Another man said he planned to follow Jesus – but first he wanted to go home and say goodby to everybody.
Jesus responded, "No one who has put his hand to the plow, but then looks back, is fit for the kingdom."
At some point, the 70 missionaries Jesus had sent out returned, and happily reported how the name of Jesus was effective, even over demons.
Jesus said, "I saw Satan plunge like a falling star from heaven. Consider: I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and on all the power of the enemy – and nothing will in any way hurt you."
Yet, said Jesus, "Don't rejoice that spirits obey you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven."
While Jesus was staying in Peraea, a Bible scholar tried to trap him with a clever question.
"Rabbi," the man asked, "what should I do to inherit eternal life?"
Jesus replied, "What is written in the Law? How do you read it?"
The man replied, "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, with all your mind. Also, you must love your neighbor as yourself."
Jesus said, "Correct. Do that, and you will live."
But, needing to self-justify, the questioner asked, "But who is my neighbor?"
Jesus replied, "A man was on his way from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was set upon by robbers, who stripped him and beat him and left him half-dead by the roadside. As it happened, a priest came by, but when he saw the man, he crossed to the other side of the road and kept going. Similarly, a Levite, when he saw the man, went around him. But, a Samaritan, when he saw the man, felt compassion. He treated the man's wounds with oil and wine and bandaged him up. Then he put him on his donkey and carried him to an inn and took care of him. The next day, he gave the innkeeper two denarii to take care of the man. 'Anything you spend over that, I will repay you when I return,' he told the innkeeper.
"Now which of these three showed himself a neighbor to the victim of robbers?"
"The one who showed mercy," came the reply.
"Go and do likewise," Jesus said.
One day the Jesus group rested from their road trip at a certain village, where he was an honored guest at the house of a woman named Martha. Martha's sister, Mary, stayed at the rabbi's feet, listening to his words. Martha, busy with a great deal of serving, was upset at her sister's inactivity. "Rabbi," Martha said, "don't you care that my sister leaves me to do everything by myself? Please tell her to help me."
"Martha, Martha," Jesus said, "you are worried and bothered about a lot of things. But one thing is necessary, which is what Mary has chosen. And this will not be taken from her."
NEXT PAGE:
They've had their payoff
https://secretpath191.blogspot.com/2020/11/theyve-had-their-payoff.html
Jerusalem, the capital of Judaea, was his eventual target. From there he would be delivered up in order to fulfill his mission.
Before arriving in Peraea, the Jesus group traversed Samaria. Near a Samaritan town, Jesus sent messengers ahead to tell people he was on the way and to prepare to welcome him. But, once the townspeople realized that Jesus appeared to be focused on going to Jerusalem, they ignored him.
James and John asked Jesus: "Should we command fire to fall from heaven to consume them?"[ssf1]
But Jesus rebuked them. "You don't know what kind of spirit you are of. The son of man came not to destroy lives, but to save them."
So, they moved on to another village.
Once in Peraea, Jesus and his disciples were immersing people in the Jordan not far from John, who was baptizing on the other side of the river near the Judaean town of Aenon, near Salim, where there was plenty of water. John had not yet been thrown in prison.
Some men were worried about who should be permitted to baptize others – pointing out Jesus – and asked John about it.
John told them, "A person can receive nothing unless heaven has given it. You yourselves heard me say, 'I am not the Messiah, but that I am sent out ahead of him.' The groom gets the bride, while his friend stands next to him, happy to hear his voice. So, this fulfills my joy. He must increase, but I must decrease."
Later in the Peraean period, Herod Antipas would hear about all the baptisms Jesus and his men were doing (though Jesus did not personally perform any water immersions) and would think John the Dunker had returned from the dead.
A Bible teacher approached Jesus and said, "Rabbi, I am ready to follow you anywhere."
Jesus replied, "Foxes have dens, and birds have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head."
At another point, a would-be disciple said, "Rabbi, permit me to first go and bury my father."
George M. Lamsa, translator of the Peshitta version of the New Testament, relates that this idiom meant: "Let me take care of my father until he dies."
Jesus replied, "Follow me. Let the dead bury the dead."
Leave the people of the world – the spiritually dead – in their world, Jesus was saying. True disciples must follow and obey him.
Another man said he planned to follow Jesus – but first he wanted to go home and say goodby to everybody.
Jesus responded, "No one who has put his hand to the plow, but then looks back, is fit for the kingdom."
Eager workers are needed to bring in the harvest of souls. Those who have not made a total commitment, but have reservations about their work, will not be all that effective as Christ's servants.
At some point, the 70 missionaries Jesus had sent out returned, and happily reported how the name of Jesus was effective, even over demons.
Jesus said, "I saw Satan plunge like a falling star from heaven. Consider: I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and on all the power of the enemy – and nothing will in any way hurt you."
Yet, said Jesus, "Don't rejoice that spirits obey you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven."
Though the Synoptics seem to suggest that the missionaries to the Jews had been sent from Galilee, there is nothing hard and fast about that conclusion. It would have made sense to send them from a base in Peraea, which they could have used to reach many places in Judaea. Though it is possible the missionaries went back to Galilee, that seems not very necessary from a practical standpoint, as Jesus had already evangelized that region. We may conjecture that Jesus specifically wanted missionaries to announce his coming in the Jewish heartland of Judaea (Judah), the territory which carried, from centuries past, many of the great promises of God to Israel.
Aside from Judah, all Jewish Palestine had been wiped out by Nebuchadnezzar at the turn of the Sixth Century bce (b.c.), with the tribal lands taken over by non-Jews and half-Jews; only Judah survived as a purely Jewish region once the first exiles returned from Babylon to Jerusalem in 539 bce. Samaria had been the region occupied by the destroyed northern tribes, along with Galilee. Though Galilee regained much of its Jewish culture, that area was shared with many of Gentile heritage, unlike Judaea [ssf2].
But, as the time of his sacrifice had not quite arrived, we may further conjecture that he personally stayed out of Judaea and Jerusalem, at least in a public way, before the time he was to be offered up, except perhaps at the Feast of Tabernacles.
In a discussion of Jesus declining his brothers' advice to go to Jerusalem to demonstrate his power, Raymond E. Brown writes that he favors the picture given in John in which Jesus appears to stay in the Judaean area for a five-month period between the Feast of Tabernacles (or Sukkot), which occurs in the Fall, and the Passover Sacrifice (or Pesach), which comes in the Spring. In fact, this seems to accord with the sketchy information of the Synoptics [ssf3].
The matchup is not quite perfect, however, since in John, Jesus, when his brothers urge him to go to the Tabernacles feast in Jerusalem, seems to be somewhere in Galilee during a respite from his missionary crusading.
There are various ways around this difficulty, which we will not pursue here. Still, the impression gains steam that Jesus spent a number of months near, but not in, Judaea before his entry into Jerusalem, where he met his fate.
Aside from Judah, all Jewish Palestine had been wiped out by Nebuchadnezzar at the turn of the Sixth Century bce (b.c.), with the tribal lands taken over by non-Jews and half-Jews; only Judah survived as a purely Jewish region once the first exiles returned from Babylon to Jerusalem in 539 bce. Samaria had been the region occupied by the destroyed northern tribes, along with Galilee. Though Galilee regained much of its Jewish culture, that area was shared with many of Gentile heritage, unlike Judaea [ssf2].
But, as the time of his sacrifice had not quite arrived, we may further conjecture that he personally stayed out of Judaea and Jerusalem, at least in a public way, before the time he was to be offered up, except perhaps at the Feast of Tabernacles.
In a discussion of Jesus declining his brothers' advice to go to Jerusalem to demonstrate his power, Raymond E. Brown writes that he favors the picture given in John in which Jesus appears to stay in the Judaean area for a five-month period between the Feast of Tabernacles (or Sukkot), which occurs in the Fall, and the Passover Sacrifice (or Pesach), which comes in the Spring. In fact, this seems to accord with the sketchy information of the Synoptics [ssf3].
The matchup is not quite perfect, however, since in John, Jesus, when his brothers urge him to go to the Tabernacles feast in Jerusalem, seems to be somewhere in Galilee during a respite from his missionary crusading.
There are various ways around this difficulty, which we will not pursue here. Still, the impression gains steam that Jesus spent a number of months near, but not in, Judaea before his entry into Jerusalem, where he met his fate.
While Jesus was staying in Peraea, a Bible scholar tried to trap him with a clever question.
"Rabbi," the man asked, "what should I do to inherit eternal life?"
Jesus replied, "What is written in the Law? How do you read it?"
The man replied, "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, with all your mind. Also, you must love your neighbor as yourself."
Jesus said, "Correct. Do that, and you will live."
But, needing to self-justify, the questioner asked, "But who is my neighbor?"
Jesus replied, "A man was on his way from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was set upon by robbers, who stripped him and beat him and left him half-dead by the roadside. As it happened, a priest came by, but when he saw the man, he crossed to the other side of the road and kept going. Similarly, a Levite, when he saw the man, went around him. But, a Samaritan, when he saw the man, felt compassion. He treated the man's wounds with oil and wine and bandaged him up. Then he put him on his donkey and carried him to an inn and took care of him. The next day, he gave the innkeeper two denarii to take care of the man. 'Anything you spend over that, I will repay you when I return,' he told the innkeeper.
"Now which of these three showed himself a neighbor to the victim of robbers?"
"The one who showed mercy," came the reply.
"Go and do likewise," Jesus said.
One day the Jesus group rested from their road trip at a certain village, where he was an honored guest at the house of a woman named Martha. Martha's sister, Mary, stayed at the rabbi's feet, listening to his words. Martha, busy with a great deal of serving, was upset at her sister's inactivity. "Rabbi," Martha said, "don't you care that my sister leaves me to do everything by myself? Please tell her to help me."
"Martha, Martha," Jesus said, "you are worried and bothered about a lot of things. But one thing is necessary, which is what Mary has chosen. And this will not be taken from her."
We learn from John that Mary and Martha lived, with their brother Lazarus, in Bethany. There were two Bethany's, it is believed. One was in Judaea, not far from Jerusalem, and the other was on the east bank of the Jordan, near the Dead Sea. John baptized Jesus near the east bank Bethany (which some scholars think was actually a place named Bethabara [ssf4]), while it is assumed that Jesus' three friends lived in the Judaean Bethany.
Jesus was a rugged sort, and he may have stayed outdoors while in Peraea. But it is possible he at least on occasion stayed at a house in the Paraean Bethany. As Bethany (or Bethabara) was situated at a ford, the villagers doubtless earned their living from travelers using the crossing.
In any case, though Jesus may have personally traveled through Judaea, it seems plausible that he was not showing himself publicly much in that region because, as we said, he aimed to come to Jerusalem when his time was due. Also, John relates that after his Tabernacles appearance, Jesus stayed clear of Judaea as there was a plot afoot to have him killed – which could not be permitted to occur before God's appointed time.
With respect to Jesus' first appearance in the Judaean area, John's account does not altogether square with that of the gospels. Yet it seems reasonable to conjecture that, after assisting John at the Bethany ford, Jesus visited Jerusalem. We cannot now know whether he scourged the Temple then, as John says, or only at the end of his ministry, as the other evangelists indicate. Still, we can say that, despite all his Galilean endeavors, Jesus does not seem to have caught the attention of Jerusalem authorities as posing a serious menace until the final year of his earthly life.
Yet one would think that anything as dramatic as a Temple scourging would have immediately drawn official wrath on this poor Galilean's head. Still, one can imagine a strange man "going crazy" in the Temple outskirts and vanishing into the crowd before the Temple police arrived. Crazed behavior by the deranged is a feature of urban life. The whole incident could have been quickly forgotten. But on the "second" occasion, as related in the pages ahead, officials knew exactly who had scourged the Temple vendors and would have been highly displeased.
Jesus was a rugged sort, and he may have stayed outdoors while in Peraea. But it is possible he at least on occasion stayed at a house in the Paraean Bethany. As Bethany (or Bethabara) was situated at a ford, the villagers doubtless earned their living from travelers using the crossing.
In any case, though Jesus may have personally traveled through Judaea, it seems plausible that he was not showing himself publicly much in that region because, as we said, he aimed to come to Jerusalem when his time was due. Also, John relates that after his Tabernacles appearance, Jesus stayed clear of Judaea as there was a plot afoot to have him killed – which could not be permitted to occur before God's appointed time.
With respect to Jesus' first appearance in the Judaean area, John's account does not altogether square with that of the gospels. Yet it seems reasonable to conjecture that, after assisting John at the Bethany ford, Jesus visited Jerusalem. We cannot now know whether he scourged the Temple then, as John says, or only at the end of his ministry, as the other evangelists indicate. Still, we can say that, despite all his Galilean endeavors, Jesus does not seem to have caught the attention of Jerusalem authorities as posing a serious menace until the final year of his earthly life.
Yet one would think that anything as dramatic as a Temple scourging would have immediately drawn official wrath on this poor Galilean's head. Still, one can imagine a strange man "going crazy" in the Temple outskirts and vanishing into the crowd before the Temple police arrived. Crazed behavior by the deranged is a feature of urban life. The whole incident could have been quickly forgotten. But on the "second" occasion, as related in the pages ahead, officials knew exactly who had scourged the Temple vendors and would have been highly displeased.
NEXT PAGE:
They've had their payoff
https://secretpath191.blogspot.com/2020/11/theyve-had-their-payoff.html
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