I live in a small town. The population is about 20,000. I don’t feel terribly isolated, because we’re half an hour from a much larger town of about 200,000. And we’re right across the river from a good sized city of over 600,000. It’s worth noting that my small town is about twice the size of the largest cities in Galilee at the time of Jesus. At the time he began preaching the news of the kingdom of God, the capital of Galilee was Tiberias, with a population of about 10,000. Tiberias was a day’s walk from Nazareth, so Jesus …
Jesus of Nazareth
Mother’s Day With Jesus
They didn’t celebrate Mother’s Day in first-century Nazareth. But pretend for a moment that they did. How many Mother’s Day cards would Mary have gotten? That’s not an easy question to answer, because we don’t know how many children Mary had. There’s an old tradition that Mary was a lifelong virgin and only ever had one child, Jesus. But not everybody accepts the idea that Mary was a perpetual virgin. This is a church tradition that doesn’t go back to the first century. What does the Bible tell us? What Mark Tells Us The gospel of Mark mentions several siblings …
A Good Friday Meditation
Who told Jesus he had to die? Who told Jesus about the crown of thorns? Was he born knowing he was doomed to the cross? Did his parents tell him his destiny? Did he read it in the prophets? Maybe so. But then again, maybe not. We can’t know for sure how he learned it. Could it be that he discovered his destiny gradually? The same way you and I do, step by step, working it out? We read. We talk. We think. We pray. We listen. Bit by bit, we find our way in the world. The ancient creeds …
The Incident at Nazareth
Three of the gospels report a very strange incident at Nazareth. Jesus had spent some months making a name for himself all around Galilee. Then he came back to his hometown. And the villagers gave him a very cold shoulder. You can read all about it in Mark, in Matthew, and in Luke. Each of these gives us unique information. What Mark Tells Us Mark is our earliest gospel, and it tells the story in Mark 6:1-6. Jesus came to Nazareth with some of his disciples and was asked to teach in the synagogue on the Sabbath. Mark reports that …
Around Galilee With Jesus
In a previous blog post, I talked about what it was like to go On the Road With Jesus. Jesus took a lot of road trips. He seems to have gone often to the major feasts in Jerusalem (Passover in the spring, Pentecost in early summer, Tabernacles in the fall). It was a long trip to go from his home region of Galilee down to Jerusalem. Each trip must have taken several weeks. But he also took a lot of local trips inside Galilee. What was Galilee like? Galilee Was Small Galilee was a pretty small region in the time …
Jesus in the Big City
You sometimes hear it said that Jesus was a country boy from a tiny village in Galilee. That is true, sort of, but it’s a bit misleading. Yes, Jesus grew up in Nazareth, a small village covering maybe 10 acres. At that time, Nazareth had a population of somewhere around 200, give or take. It might possibly have had as many as 400 souls. A small village, typical in first-century Galilee. But Nazareth was also only about 3 miles away from the big city of Tsipori. When Jesus was a boy, Tsipori was the capital city of Galilee. (When Jesus …
Imagining the Day John Baptized Jesus
Ever wondered what it was like to be there on the day Jesus came to the Jordan River to be baptized by John? There are a lot of questions I’d like answered: When and where exactly did this happen? What did the place look like? What was it like to get baptized by John? Where Did John Baptize? The four gospels all say that Jesus met John at the Jordan River. Mark’s account is earliest and says that John was “in the wilderness” and also “at the Jordan River.” Matthew’s account was written a bit later and is very …
Jesus and the Magdala Synagogue
If you go to Israel, you’ll be shown all kinds of sites where Jesus allegedly walked. The site where his mother is said to have seen the angel Gabriel. The site where he is said to have been born. The site where he’s said to have been baptized. Two sites where he’s said to have fed the 5,000. Two sites where he was arrested. The site where he was tried. And executed. A couple of sites where he was buried. Many of these have churches to mark the “exact location.” There’s a church on the site where he’s said to …
The Mysterious Names of the Disciples of Jesus
Can you name all the disciples of Jesus? Everyone knows Jesus had 12 disciples. But very people can name them all from memory. Can you do it without looking them up? Try it and see. Every time I try this exercise, something very mysterious happens. I come up with more than 12 names. If I scour every corner of my brain, I come up with 21 different names for the disciples of Jesus. What’s going on here? Work with me, and see if you agree. 21 Names of the Disciples of Jesus The first four names of disciples are pretty easy—Peter, …
Getting Baptized With Jesus
Ever wondered what you’d have seen if you’d been there the day Jesus got baptized? All four gospels have accounts of his baptism: in Mark 1:9-11; in Matthew 3:13-16; in Luke 3:21-22, and in John 1:29-34. Baptizing Jesus is not as simple as it sounds. Here are four extra facts that makes things complicated: The earliest Christians were baptized naked Christian baptism comes from the Jewish practice of immersion Jews at the time of Jesus immersed naked Jesus was Jewish If you put those facts together, you might ask: Was Jesus Baptized Naked? Whoa, whoa, whoa! That’s a very weird …