The Hero of Capernaum

         We see in Mark 1: 21-28 a great story of Jesus and his first public sermon launching his Galilean  ministry. Mark tells us that Jesus had just finished his time in the desert and that he has come to the shoreline of the Sea of Galilee to call into ministry a few of his disciples. He was trolling for fishermen. He is near the town of Capernaum, near where the Jordan flows into the lake (sea of Galilee). There is fresh water  with nutrients entering the lake here and thus it was a favoite spot for fisherman then as it still is today.  Capernaum was a fishing village. Today you can see the town of Capernaum in ruins but very visible.  The ancient city has been excavated to a large degree. One can still see the synagogue that Jesus went into on that Sabbath morning in Capernaum. (It is situated below the one now standing.)
         Capernaum sat along a very busy highway that Roman soldiers guarded. The road is called the Via Maris, road or way to the sea. The "sea" is a real sea. The road goes from Caesarea on the Mediterranean Sea to Damacus of Syria. So it was a major thoroughfare. Interesting side note.  The Centurion that we read about later in Mark is posted here and probably commanded the troops. Centurion is taken from  (Latin: centurio; Greek: κεντυρίων) and means that this officer commanded anywhere from 80 - 100 men. Why is that interesting? Glad you asked. Luke tells us that this Centurion built the synagogue in Capernaum!!!(Luke 7:5). The very one that Jesus and his disciples are about to walk into. Mark writes that they enter "straightway" on the Sabbath. 

       That Sabbath was probably like all the others.  The wind gently blowing from the sea through the shoreline trees that act as a natural windbreaks. The people were gathering into the synagogue as is the habit of the Jewish community on the Sabbath. Peter who lived in this village is there with some others in his family. Matthew in the parallel text has Jesus' own family there. Jesus and his newly called disciples entered the synagogue. He was well known enough that they let him teach. 
       Jesus began to  teach while His new disciples are going to be taking notes. The fam is sitting watching, all though the women are probably in another room or at least sitting separate, which was customary.  All are enjoying this peaceful Sabbath morning by the sea. Its a day off for the fishermen, probably their only day off. I could see some of them beginning to drift off to sleep. Some of the young people may be thinking about what they are going to do after "temple". They are thinking about a swim, or go fishing, play kick-the-whatever they kicked back then, do what normal kids do on a Sabbath afternoon in Capernaum. All was as it should be. Expectation were probably low, because Mark records that when Jesus began to speak the townspeople were amazed, shocked, astonished, by his authority.  Mark uses one of his favorite words in verse 23 he writes Euthus - immediately, straightway. Kai… eujqu;ß h\n e∆n th≥: sunagwgh≥: aujtwÇn a⁄nqrwpoß e∆n pneuvmati a˙kaqa◊rtw/ which means "And immediately in their synagogue was a man with an unclean spirit...".  Of course I don't think you can And immediately anything. I think you can And suddenly situations. I think this may have more of the feel of the narrative. Jesus is teaching, the village folk are listening, some swatting at flies, some dozing, some day dreaming, you have been there, its Sunday morning as usual, the gospel is being preached.  Then Harry stands up. You know crazy Harry. OMG. How embarrassing. He screams out "Leave us alone, I know you, Jesus of Nazareth, have you come to to destroy us? You are the Holy One of God." That wakes everyone up. Pop went the day dreams, Huh went the fisherman, "what the hell" blurred the young man,  and faint away went Harry's mother.  Maybe Mary said "oh here we go". But for sure everyone's attention was on the situation. Jesus tells the demoniac to "be musseled like an ox". That is the best translation according to Robertson. We might say "put a sock in it". Whatever Jesus cast out the demon, the man convulses, which means he twitches and, medically speaking, his stomach turns over, (vomits). And then to add to the horror, literally, he screeches as the demon leaves. Wow! What a show! Its like the bar scene in Star Wars. Obeone Kanobe has just cut the aliens arm off. All the music stops and everyone stares in total silence, not even the crickets make noise. The universe is frozen for those few seconds. The smoke rises from the demoniac hair and he sits up a new man. His mothers breaks into tears of  emotional release. His estranged girl friend gazes with renew affection.  The world seems suddenly right there on the shores of Galilee.  The music starts up just like the movie and everything is back to normal or is it?. The crowd awaking to what has just happened tries to put the pieces together. Instead of the normal teaching, they ask "do we have a new teaching with authority?"  What is going on here? The scribes are amazed. The news goes out far and wide. Afterwards, Jesus walks down the street to Peter's place and ministers to his mother-in-law. Jesus stays with Peter.


         What a great little story. What an opening statement to a ministry. One thing I noticed in this; none of the gospels mention the text from which Jesus taught . Most use the word authority in conjunction with the teaching, but they do not point to the text. Actually only two of the Gospels mention the demoniac. They all mention the authority with which Jesus taught. But understand what went on that day in the synagogue of Capernaum we need that demoniac and his reaction to Christ. Mark tells us that the crowd was "amazed"(NASB) KJV interprets the word as astonished. T.A.Robertson translates it as "to strike a person out of his senses by some strong feeling."
         The point I am trying to make is that Jesus' teaching caused a reaction in the crowd. But why? They were astonished at his teaching. If I am astonished by someone then there usually is a reason. The person went beyond my expectations. Probably beyond my faith for that person. Did these good people think they were going to be hearing from a hilly-billy, an uneducated rebel. After all can anything good come from Nazareth? Isn't that what the unclean spirit said. "I know you Jesus of Nazareth".  What was he doing in the synagogue anyway. Were the townspeople that used to demoniacs that they just let them come to the temple. Interestingly Harry uses the plural pronouns in his attack on Jesus. "Leave us alone and ...destroy us? Was Harry talking for the community. Did they have other things hidden that they did not want revealed. Was Harry the only honest man in town? It seems for all of his disturbance Harry went home cleansed that day.
          Jesus actually only spoke 6 words that are recorded that morning. This was mainly an illustrated sermon. I believe that Jesus was saying something to the community through the unclean man. Why? Let us read a little further. In verse 29-34 we read that Peter took Christ into his home which was just down the street. After sundown, the whole town is outside Peters door with ill and demon possessed friends, neighbors and relatives. The whole town is there! Jesus heals and cast out demons the rest of the night. That town was full of Harrys'. I think the citizens got the message that morning in the synagogue.
           Well again what is this to me? So that town was full of demons, great story. But I have to ask myself what is my reaction when Jesus blows into my hometown, like Eastwood on the streets of Laredo.  When the word is preached with authority how do I react. Do I mumble with the other scribes about this teaching, or wonder with congregants about new doctrine or do I just plainly let the demons arise and challenge the timing or the background of the preacher. Or do I make room for the word in my home like Peter?
           When I am working or at home or with friends and the Holy Spirit brings to mind the word I have heard do I react push it aside or accept it. Do I recognize the Holy One? At least the demoniac knew who he was.  Am I just talking with the scribes and the demons about the word. Is my reaction one of mental concent?  Really that little town on the north shores of the Sea of Tiberas is not that far away. That Sabbath morning can be our every day experience, when Jesus comes to my "temple" and mounts the pulpit of my heart. When the word comes to us in whatever form with authority will we allow our demons to be cast out. It maybe ugly for a moment or two, but the newness that the word with authority brings, the word of Christ, is redemptive and salvific.
           Suddenly Harry is looking better in this story. He may be the Hero of Capernaum. 

Hospitality

    Le Chambon, France is a small village in the southeastern part of France. It was one of the few villages during WWII that resisted the satanic persecution against the Jews. Under the sheparding of their protestant pastor they resisted the enemy by offering hospitality to Jews fleeing from the teeth of the dragon. They were sucessful in saving around 5,000 Jews from being arrested and deported to the death camps. Most of these Jews were children. (The image above shows some of the children given hospitality by the people of Le Chambon.)
    Who were these people who risked their lives for the refugees? They were decedents of Huguenots. If you remember your history, the Huguenots were Protestants who were massacred on the streets of Paris during the 16th Century. The people of Le Chambon knew something about bigotry and persecution. They also knew something about the Lord. They knew the second greatest commandment was in part "to love your neighbor as yourself". No qualifications. When asked why they took such extra-ordinary risks, they replied   "We were doing what had to be done." Their pastor on the day after France surrendered stood in his pulpit and said "The responsibility of Christians is to resist the violence that will be brought to bear to their consciences through the weapons of the spirit." And that they did. The result was a remarkable story of divine protection in the mist of insane hatred and absolved responsibility. This story is told in a documentary by one of the surviving children of Le Chambon.
What does this story teach us?
The first thing I think about is, well, was that time different from ours. Is hospitality still demanded of us toward our neighbors? Since the answers to these questions for me are no and yes, this leads me to ask, I am ashamed to say, who then is my neighbor? Immediately images pop in my head of the homeless, the indigent and the immigrant.
Of course,  I have good rational answers for why I do not do more for each category. The homeless don't want help just money for booze. The poor you have with you always.  And the immigrants are illegal. And here's a good one, its not my ministry. Then I think about the people of Le Chambon. They could have had great excuses. It was illegal to give comfort and aid to the Jews. They and their families could have died. On the other hand, the homeless just want my money.
How important is hospitality anyway? I do so much as a Christian at my church. Hell, I give a lot of time and money at my church. Isn't that enough? I invite fellow members over for fellowship. This is good. But the right question rings in my ears, and that is "who is my neighbor?"  Who is our neighbor?
       This whole line of argument makes me want to think a little more privately about our immigration problem. Does this have to do with hospitality? Mexico is literally our neighbor. Yes I know it is going to cost us. Probably in more ways than we know. I personally have seen it cost our Los Angeles schools in lower tests scores. I know it has cost us in crimes and violent behavior and probably drugs, for sure. But how does a citizen of the kingdom of God respond to all this? I know how Doug, citizen of the United States responds. But if I turn off the talk radio and close my eyes to the liberal left's agenda, what is the voice in the dark of my secret place telling me? Really all the illegals I have met have been really down to earth, sweet people.
       Some argue that the problem with Sodom and Gomorra was that the people were inhospitable. This is why God judged them. There is a good argument for at least part of this claim. Abraham treated the angels with gracious hospitality while Sodom wanted to rape them.
       Well I know I don't want to rape anyone so I am safe there. But I wonder.  Hitler blamed the Jews for the economic woes. Are we blaming the immigrants for some of our money woes? Is Arizona thinking the illegal alien is causing problems? What kind of problems are they causing?
Do a search on "alien" in the Bible.  A lot of the scriptures I found talk about not oppressing the alien in your midst.
       I wonder at what point did the people of Chambon made a conscious decision to stop obeying the law? Stop believing the newspaper? Stop thinking the way other Frenchmen thought?  Stop listening to the radio and start listening to their conscious. It is obvious to us now. But to many in Europe, maybe some of our ancestors, it was not so obvious. They did not want to break the law. They must have thought that the Jews were causing the economic problem.
It cost the good Samaritan time and money to help the soul at the edge of the road. Should it cost me? Should that be a consideration?

Worship Begins with Prophecy

In the book of Ezra we have a window into how someone, not Jewish, looked at the rebuilding of the "house of God" in Jerusalem.  Fortunately for us the author of Ezra has left us a letter from Rehum to King Ahasuerus father of Darius, in Aramaic. Aramaic was the language of the Persian empire and for some reason the letter's original language was brought over to the Hebrew Bible. That is right. Two books of the OT have part of their text in Aramaic, Daniel and Ezra. Since the original letters in their native tongue are left in these books it gives a fresh authenticity to the way others looked at the Jews during these troubling years, the time of the exile and the following restoration.
 From the author's point of view he saw the rebuilding of the temple being accompanied by the prophesying of Haggi and Zechariah as one of the contributing factors to getting the work done on the temple there in Jerusalem. We see at the end of chapter 4 that Rehum the govenor of Jerusalem persuading King Artaxerxes to stop the building. He was successful and it remained stopped, the Aramaic report says, until prophets arose who prophesied to the people of Jerusalem and created the desire to rebuild the temple. It sounds like they literally cause two guys to rise up like Ezekiel's bones (Ezekiel 37).  Here is the scripture;

Ezra 4:24 Then ceased the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem. So it ceased unto the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia. 

Ezra 5:1 Then the prophets, Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied unto the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, even unto them. 

Ezra 5:2 Then rose up Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and began to build the house of God which is at Jerusalem: and with them were the prophets of God helping them. 

 Haggai has been called the prophet of the temple and we can see why.  Nothing happened until prophets arose and spoke the word of God to the people of Jerusalem. How important is prophecy? Would the house have stayed unbuilt without Haggai and other prophets speaking the word of the Lord? I think they needed the word of the Lord, His creative force to get the work done.

Is this story helpful to me today? Well, I ask myself, is worship to the Lord going on unimpaired in all areas of my life?  If I look at work, at my home, or in relationships I have to ask, "Do I see God glorified?" If I am honest, not always! Maybe I need a Haggai to start the ball rolling. Or maybe I can start prophesying and see the changes happen.  I think we all need prophets and the creative word of God spoken in our lives.  There is still too much destruction going on. Marriages failing, people getting sick, financial problems, kids getting hurt, unnecessary negativity, on and on it goes. Homes in disarray. Cities needing a place to worship. Okay, I get the point! God created the whole universe by a spoken word. Christ is that word, can I speak it too?  Paul says that the word is near you, even in your mouth (Romans 10:8). Our release may be a spoken word away. Moses desired that all would be prophets (Numbers 11). Paul echoed the same desire in 1Corinthians Chapter 12. "Rather that you may prophecy... because one that prophecies edifies...."

 It is neat that the Persian scribe notes how the prophets helped Zerubbabel to rebuild the temple. And beyond that Darius the king warned that if anyone resisted the Jews their houses would become like...well to say it nicely a "dunghill" (KJV).  He also furnished money and material for the work! The prophets spoke the creative word of God until the very government's attitude was changed. Do we need more political rallies? Or do we need to start prophesying to principalities and powers? "I am feeling the need, the need for speed" or that is prophecy.We need the prophetic word made more clear until the day star arises in our hearts (2Peter 1:19). We are dependent on the prophectic word. Maybe God has committed to us to get the job done. At least Haggai and Zechariah thought so.

Want to learn more about prophecy? Go to The Living Word  for literature on prophecy.

The Second Adam

I was reading Genesis 1:26-30 the other day and I was amazed at how rich these five verses are. They also contain some of the most contested theological topics of the last 10 years. Male and female equality, relationship between mankind and the rest of creation, stewardship, procreation, authority and imago Dei, to name not a few. Let us read the section and see if you can pick out the topics. It is from the New International Version. 



²⁶ Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, ^[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
 ²⁷ So God created man in his own image,
       in the image of God he created him;
       male and female he created them.
 ²⁸ God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."
 ²⁹ Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. ³⁰ And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food." And it was so.



Did you see them? You probably saw those and others. There is definitely a lot to talk about and it would be fun to sometime go through each one. But for now I want to just pick out one and look more closely at it. Verses, 26 and 28 both contain language about authority. God seems to straight forwardly direct mankind to "own" His creation. After spending the first 25 verses of the books of the Bible on creating the whole earth and more, God turns it over to  mankind. Clarke in his commentary remarks how tender a love God had for us in that he got all of creation ready for the Adames. He placed them right in the middle of it and turned it over to them. That is quite a move. I can almost see Adam and Eve deciding who gets authority over the fish and who rules the furry animals or who has to take the creepy things. I am sure they were in the process of working out this "ruling and reigning" one day when God came walking through the garden. All the trees were bowing and clapping their hands (Is.55:12). The animals were on their best behavior and being very obedient. Adam turns to Eve and says something like "now why don't they behave for us that way?" Or maybe he thought "I would like to be like God someday." Anyway whatever he was thinking, he and Eve, Satan figured out their weak spot and said "Oh by the way the day you eat of that fruit you will be like God." Lights went on for the Adames or off depending on how you look at it.  Well the rest is history. Unfortunately its our history. 


History changes though when the second Adam, the last Adam, shows up(1 Cor.15). He has a different attitude. He doesn't think equality with God is a thing to be grasped. He takes a different route than the first Adam. He becomes a servant. And because he becomes a bond servant God puts him above every principality and power. The road to authority is by serving, who would have guessed? Notice also that Christ didn't try to be placed above every name, God established him (Phil.2). John Stevens in his book entitled Authority Over Futility claims that the job of authority is to serve. 
If the husband wants the wife to submit, he should serve her.  If a pastor wants a congregation to listen to him, maybe he should find a way to be more of a bondservant. A teacher yelling at his class might do better if he/she looked for ways to "wash their feet".  


I was turning into the drive way at our church's school and noticed some red-shirted people sweeping the curb and sidewalk. I slowed down to get a better look and the shirts read "Adopt a Street, Church of Christ".  I thought those people know the secret. They will have leverage with God concerning this neighborhood. Real authority comes through serving. Thank God for servants. Thank God for Christ. Hey, thank God for the Church of Christ.


Now if the first Adam had known to exercise this principle think what a different place this would have been. If instead of wanting to be as God he had chosen to be a servant, satan may have been defeated right at that famous old tree, instead of Calvary's tree.