JESUS AT THE WEDDING FEAST IN CANA

The Wedding at Cana by Jacopo Robusti Tintoretto, 1561

Autumn 26 A.D

Cana in Galilee

John 2:1-12

And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there and both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage.

On the map below, you will see Cana just above Nazareth and if you look further down to the Dead Sea, you will see a Bethany just at the top of the sea. As stated previously, no one  really knows 

the exact location of either of these places anymore. Their placement on this map is the most commonly accepted guess. It is thus estimated that Cana was about 9 miles north of Nazareth. The location of Bethany beyond the Jordan probably was just inside the border of modern day Jordan.

At any rate, there are those who claim Jesus could not have been at Bethany beyond the Jordan and then attended a wedding in Cana in the time frame given by John. However, this is a miscalculation of the text. When they read, “On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee”, they mistakenly think it is the third day after John the Baptist pointed Jesus out to John and Andrew. However, a careful count of the references to “the next day (as we did) shows Jesus decided to leave for Galilee on the third day and the reference of the wedding on the third day is the third day of that trip.

Some still argue the distance was too great, but this only comes from living in a culture and time when we ride everywhere. We are not use to walking great distances to go between places as was common in those times. The distance between Bethany and Cana was most likely 90 to 95 miles. I walk at an average rate of 4 miles per hour. If we allow a slower pace of three miles per hour, a person could cover the distance in three days by walking between 10 and 11 hours a day. If the person did average four miles per hour, it would be eight hours a day. For people used to foot travel, certainly doable. 

Here is where we pickup on the third day when Jesus and his new disciples arrive at this wedding:

And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.”

Jesus said to her, “Woman, what have I to do with thee? My hour is not yet come.”

His mother said to the servants, “Whatsoever he says to you, do it.”

And there were set there six water pots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins [8 or 9 gallons] apiece. Jesus said to them, “Fill the water pots with water.”

And they filled them up to the brim.

And he said to them, “Draw out now, and bear to the governor of the feast.”

And they bare it.

Mary says to Him (probably whispered). “They have no more wine.”  This was going to be a great embarrassment to the family running out of wine before all the wedding celebrating was over. I think Jesus and His disciples had just arrived when the wine ran out and so Mary informed Him of that fact. It would have been customary for Jesus and his followers to be given wine and perhaps this had not happened. If we look at the Young’s Literal Translation of this text it becomes clearer this may have been the sequence of events:

And the third day a marriage happened in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there, and also Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage; and wine having failed, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, `Wine they have not…'

This may have been a family wedding. We find later that Mary, Jesus, His disciples and His brothers went down to Capernaum from there, so His brothers were also guests. Mary as a close family member may have been helping with the arrangements. It may also be this is why Jesus decided to go to Galilee when He did, he had been invited to this wedding. The literal translation says Jesus was called. His new disciples may have been called as a courtesy. These were not gatecrashers, one had to be invited to attend a wedding feast. We have to be called to attend the Wedding Feast of the Lamb. We won’t be allowed in with out our invitation.

Notice that Mary does not ask Jesus to do anything; she just states a fact. Jesus reply is curious, “Dear woman, why do you involve me? My time has not yet come.” (NIV) [Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. (KJV)]

If his mother had called Jesus to the wedding and she had some responsibility for the provisions, was it inferred he would help by creating more wine?

The King James translation sounds harsh, “Woman what have I to do with thee?” The NIV sounds either indifferent or put-upon, “Dear woman, why do you involve me?” First, He is speaking to his mother and we would not today generally refer to our mother as “woman”. But in those times this was actually a term of respect. Second, there may have been a better translation of Jesus’ response. Here is the Young Literal Translation: “Jesus saith to her, `What -- to me and to thee, woman? Not yet is mine hour come.”

This may to be similar to us saying, “Mother, just between you and me, it isn’t my time yet.”

Mary never made a specific request and she doesn’t wait for a specific answer either. She goes to the servants and says to do what Jesus tells them. This again indicates Mary had some authority at this wedding, enough that the servants would obey her. Also notice this is all kept rather secretive. There are only three groups who witness what happens: Mary and Jesus, the servants and the disciples. There is no spectacle made of this first miracle. No one else is let in on it. Mary doesn’t boast, “Look everyone at what my wonderful son the Messiah can do.” Jesus doesn’t stand before the wedding guests and announce, “Watch this and be amazed.”

It isn’t time for that yet.

Jesus quietly points out some empty ceremonial washing jars and tells the servants to fill them with water. He doesn’t say to what purpose. He then tells them to draw some and take it to the banquet master, which they do. 

When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was (but the servants which drew the water knew) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, “Every man at the beginning does set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse, but you have kept the good wine until now.”

This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory, and his disciples believed on him.

The banquet master had no idea a miracle had occurred. The biggest miracle in his eyes was the family had saved the best wine for last, something that just wasn’t done. Generally, it still isn’t. You serve the expensive wine first, and then you serve cheaper wine. Why? To save cost. When one first drinks a cup of wine, the taste buds are fresh and the drinker savors the drink, but after a cup or two, the taste is dulled to a point it is hard to distinguish a change in the drink. In the case of those times, the best wine would be served and then wine that was either a bit close to turning sour or new wine that had not fully fermented. 

There is a lesson here. Jesus honored his mother and saved the bridegroom’s family from embarrassment, but he took none of the credit. As far as the banquet master and the wedding guests were concerned, the bridegroom was a generous person. A true kindness from a generous heart is one unmotivated by self-aggrandizement or praise seeking. It is not self-serving. It is the right hand not knowing what the left hand does so the good deed done is between the doer and God. Mary didn’t have to actually ask, because she knew he would do it out of mercy. Jesus did it without fully revealing himself.

The servants had seen what happened, why didn’t they say something? Perhaps somewhere at sometime they did speak of it to intimate acquaintances they trusted not to ridicule them? Put yourself in their sandals. If you saw a man take a jug of water and turn it into fine wine, would you tell anyone? Who would believe you? Would you tell the banquet master, your boss? He might think you’d been sneaking the wine on duty and fire you on the spot. 

There was someone else Jesus allowed to witness this transformation of water into wine, the five new disciples he had chosen to bring with him from Bethany. Remember what was the last thing said to Nathanael before the trek to Cana began? "You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that." Here is the first of greater things these Disciples will see over the next three and a half years. It is also the first opportunity Jesus takes to manifest his glory to these men to teach them to put their faith in him.

As an aside, I read some believe this wedding was Nathanael’s. This doesn’t make much sense and seems only to come from the fact Nathanael is from Cana. However, if you notice after the banquet master receives this new wine (and don’t think the reception of new wine doesn’t have a far more spiritual and future meaning) he called the bridegroom aside to congratulate him. This would indicate Mary and Jesus were attending the wedding feast. This is an important fact.

Today when we think of attending a wedding it means going to a relatively short ceremony where the bride and groom exchange vows to each other. This is often followed by a joyride, a caravan of cars following the newly weds and blowing horns. This ends with a reception, where a meal is served, music is provided, often dancing and then the happy couple drive off to parts unknown for a honeymoon.

This is not the wedding procedure being followed in Cana in the First Century. First, the couple was for all intent and purpose “married” with their betrothal. This was not the same as our engagement period today. One did not simply decide to return the ring and try someone else. To end a betrothal one had to have legal reason to petition for a divorce. (This was the situation Joseph faced when Mary told him she was pregnant, whether to divorce her for adultery.) 

Once a woman had accepted the man’s proposal and the betrothal was established, the groom would tell his bride he was going to prepare a home for her and would return for her when it was ready. (Keep this in mind; it will come up again later in Jesus’ promises to those who believed in Him.) While he was busy building or preparing this home, she would be busy getting a number of things together by her bed for the moment he returned. When he came back, she would know it because he would come with his friends and there would be the blowing of a trumpet.

Here is why this could not have been Nathanael’s wedding. The groom would collect his bride and followed by the wedding guests and family, they would go to their new home for seven days, their version of the honeymoon. On the first night, the wedding was consummated and proof of the bride’s virginity was displayed. The wedding party and guests would then basically party for a week while the bride and groom enjoyed time alone with each other. At the end of these seven days, the happy couple would reemerge and the Wedding Supper would commence.

Since the bridegroom was in attendance at this celebration, this was the Wedding Supper and Nathanael could hardly have been on his honeymoon when three days prior he was in Bethany.

It is interesting that this whole sequence from when John addressed the Pharisees until Jesus was at the wedding feast paralleled the wedding of the bride and groom. John told the Pharisees the Messiah was coming. Jesus appeared the next day and on the fourth day after he met his new Disciples left for Cana where he arrived three days later; the time of the groom appearing until the end of the honeymoon and the wedding feast.

After this he went down to Capernaum, he, and his mother, and his brethren, and his disciples and they continued there not many days.

There is one person missing from this group, Joseph. Joseph is not mentioned as attending this wedding and has disappeared from the narrative completely at this point. My opinion is Joseph has died between the time Jesus was twelve years old and His baptism.  I think circumstantial evidence in the Scriptures supports this. From this point onward until near the end of Jesus ministry, Mary is mentioned in conjunction with his siblings. It would be expected if the husband died that the family would take care of the widow. (We will discuss this further later.)

FIRST CLEANSING OF THE TEMPLE

Christ Driving the Traders from the Temple by El Greco (Doménikos Theotokópoulos), 1571-76

Spring 27 A.D Passover

Jerusalem

John 2:13-25

And the Jews' Passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem and found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting. And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables.

And said unto them that sold doves, “Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise.”

And his disciples remembered that it was written, “The zeal of your house has eaten me up”. [Psalm 69]

I am a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my own mother's sons for zeal for your house consumes me, and the insults of those who insult you fall on me. Psalm 69:8-9

Let’s picture what it may have been like in Jerusalem when Jesus arrived. He came for the Passover. Passover was an important and sacred time for the Jews, but it was also a feast. It had its solemnity, but also its celebration, much like out Esther time. Different churches practice various ceremonies leading up to Resurrection Sunday. This can include for some walking the Stations of the Cross. There may be a Maundy Thursday, with foot washing and reenactment of the Last Supper. Some people have a vigil through Good Friday. Sunday morning will be filled with joyful song. 

Surrounding the worship services are also secular traditions. Families get together for Easter dinner. There are gifts of Easter Baskets, Easter egg hunts, parades and parties. Over the passage of centuries these secular traditions have come to often overwhelm the sacred. For far too many people going to church service becomes an obligation to get out of the way before the festivities can begin. I have a feeling the Passover Week of Jesus’ time had acquired a similar patina.

I’ve read that the main street to the Temple was lined with vendor booths. It reminds me of when my children were young and we would take them to the Philadelphia Zoo. Hawkers selling balloons, stuffed animals, hot dogs, soft pretzels and other bric-a-brac or foodstuffs lined the street from the parking lots to the zoo entrance. Another image I get are the streets around Wilmington’s Rodney Square filled with lunch wagons and souvenir hustlers during the annual jazz festival.

 There were many people coming to Jerusalem for the week, which means there is money to be made. Out-of-towners were coming who needed lodging and meals. The main street to the Temple was noisy, crowded, and full of tempting smells with a carnival atmosphere. But this was all going on outside the Temple. This was the place for such activity if such activity must be done. Jesus entered the Temple at the Court of the Gentiles and found it not much different than the street scene.

So why are these merchants here?

It probably began with good intensions, but what is the old saying? “The road to Hell is paved with good intensions.” 

The Jewish people of those times were required to make various animal sacrifices, for instance sin offerings (which Christ was to be and replace). Depending on circumstances and sometimes the economic status of the person, cattle, goats, sheep and birds were used. These animals had to be unblemished. 

You can imagine it was not always easy to secure an unblemished animal for this purpose, let alone drive or carry it several miles. At some point, some priest probably had the great idea to supply these goods so people didn’t have to do all that work. Unblemished livestock was provided at the Temple by breeders or sellers contracted by the priests to provide the service and people could simply pay a fee and then offer that purchased beast. (Recall in Luke 2:22-23 Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the Temple after the purification period was over and offered a sacrifice of two birds. They probably purchased these Turtledoves or Pigeons from such a service.)

Because of the devious hearts of men, this soon became a money making proposition. Vendors overcharged for the animals and thus padded their profit at the expense of the people. There may have even been kickbacks to the priests. However, the corruption didn’t end with high prices on such animals.

There were also moneychangers in the Court of the Temple. We seldom use that term today. There was a time when the term was used for bankers and even today we often go to the bank to change money. If I were going to Italy I might go to my bank and exchange some U.S. dollars for lira. An exchange rate would be posted and the bank would give me that equivalent amount and change me a fee for doing so.

The moneychangers of that day were performing a similar service certainly. They were probably busier than usual during Passover Week because so many tourists flooded the city that needed local money. The exchange rate was at the discretion of the moneychangers and they took full advantage of this.

There was another bounty for these men. The people were required to pay a Temple Tax. This tax could not be paid in common lucre. It had to be paid with a special Temple coin. The moneychangers sold these coins and they often charged far more in exchange than the coin was worth. The Court of the Temple had become a place for the fleecing of the worshipper. This is not what God intended.

Jesus was God and he drove these thieves out of His house.

There are some who believe this instance is the same one spoke of in the other Gospels at the beginning of the Passion events. I do not. I stand with those who accept there were two such occurrences, one at the beginning of His ministry and one at the end. These served different purposes. The cleansing at the end of his ministry was used to further agitate the authorities to fulfill His mission and put him to death. The cleansing here at the start was to tell them he had arrived. What a spectacular announcement for drawing people’s attention.

Then answered the Jews and said to him, “What sign show you to us, seeing that you do these things?”

Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

Then said the Jews, “Forty and six years was this temple in building, and will you rear it up in three days?”

But he spoke of the temple of his body.

When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this to them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.

Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles, which he did. But Jesus did not commit himself to them, because he knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man for he knew what was in man.

“Then the Jews…” meaning the authorities demanded what authority he had to do this.

I guess they did!

His answer dismayed them. It was laughable. Perhaps they dismissed Him as a crazy man. This may be why they didn’t immediately arrest him. Note they demanded a miracle to establish His authority. Even then they may have been questioning if Jesus was the Messiah and were being a bit caution just in case. They had questioned John if he were the Messiah and by this time there may have been some whisperings getting to these religious leaders about this Jesus fellow.

We find Jesus did perform some miracles while He was in town and there were a few people who believed in Him. Whether any of these miracles were performed before the cleansing we don’t know. Some may have been and this was part of why they asked for a miracle. At least one of the Pharisees among the rulers believed Jesus was some kind of man of God. His name was Nicodemus.

Notice it says, “Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men.” The context of the surrounding verses and this statement indicate it was not time for Jesus to be arrested and killed, more evidence that there were two Temple cleansings. He is going to meet with Nicodemus secretly in the night and soon Jesus and his few disciples are going to move into the wilderness for a while. They will not be there long before the danger becomes great enough that they flee back to Galilee.

JESUS ENTERS GALILEE AND THE FIRST HEALING

Jesus Heals the Son of a Nobleman by James Tissot, 1886-96

Luke 4:14a and John 4:45-54

Cana, Galilee

And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: then when he was come into Galilee, the Galilaeans received him, having seen all the things that he did at Jerusalem at the feast: for they also went unto the feast. So Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee, where he made the water wine. 

There are a number of interesting things about this passage. One is the comment at the end of the passage, “This is again the second miracle that Jesus did, when he was come out of Judaea into Galilee.” Bibles and commentaries often begin this section with the heading, “Jesus’ second Miracle” or “The First Healing by Jesus”. I even used “The First Healing” in my heading.

We know the “Second Miracle” statement is wrong.  While Jesus was in Jerusalem for the Passover “many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles, which he did.” And when Nicodemus came at that time his first words to Jesus were, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that you do, except God be with him.” John even acknowledges that Jesus had performed other miracles between the wedding at Cana and now. At the beginning of this passage John says, “the Galilaeans received him, having seen all the things that he did at Jerusalem at the feast.”

John referring to it as the second miracle performed after he came from Judea to Galilee is probably a misunderstanding caused by style, translation or time. This was the second miracle performed by Jesus after he came to Galilee from Judea because it was the second time he had come to Galilee from Judea and performed a miracle. It is like this: my wife and I have vacationed in Sussex County twice and stayed at The Inn. We could state this is again the second stay at The Inn we did, when we were come out of New Castle County into Sussex. It does not mean we never stayed at another hotel anywhere; only it was the second time at this particular hotel in this particular circumstance. You get more a sense of this as John’s meaning with the literal translation: “this again a second sign did Jesus, having come out of Judea to Galilee.”

The other heading may or may not be true. We really don’t know for certain this was the first healing. We are told Jesus performed miracles in Jerusalem, but not told specifically what they were. Certainly there may have been healings. It is hard to imagine them being anything else. Did he feed the entire city from a loaf of bread? Did he calm a storm threatening to blow down the Temple? If a spectacular miracle had occurred in Jerusalem it probably would have been given more attention. It seems arguable these were routine cures, if you can call curing routine. Every miracle Jesus performed during his ministry was not recorded in detail. Usually when a specific miracle was described it was for a reason beyond just showing Jesus could perform miracles. This is the case with the curing of the Nobleman’s son.

And there was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judaea into Galilee, he went to him, and besought him that he would come down, and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.

Who was this Nobleman? We don’t know. He was just a “certain Nobleman”. Some have speculated he was a Roman official, some that he was an official to Herod Antipas and some that he was connected to the Customs House located in Capernaum. None of that is known nor does it matter. It is probably safe to assume he was Jewish, but we aren’t told that with certainty.

There is cachet to being a Nobleman. It is a position of eminence and generally of wealth. This man had a staff of servants and being called a Nobleman here indicates he had substance and standing. He would have been a man who could provide for his family’s need and would have been educated. Therefore, he could afford doctor’s to attend to his ailing son, thus his son must have been beyond the skill of doctors to cure.

He heard Jesus had come out of Judea and he went to him. This is not a casual walk down the street. Capernaum was 15 to 18 miles (estimates vary) from Cana. It is a several hour jaunt. Why he thought Jesus could help isn’t given. Perhaps the man had been to the Passover in Jerusalem and witnessed or heard of the miracles Jesus performed there. Perhaps by this time the servants at that earlier wedding in Cana had told far and wide how they saw this man turn water to wine. Whatever this man knew, he had at least a hope that Jesus could heal his son. 

Then said Jesus to him, “Except you see signs and wonders, you will not believe.”

Several newer translations (New King James, New American Standard, NIV) read, “Unless you people…” I don’t see anything in the original text or in the literal translation (Jesus then said unto him, “If signs and wonders ye may not see, ye will not believe. “[YLT])  to indicate Jesus said this to anyone but the Nobleman or spoke of “you people”. It is possible others were around and might have heard the conversation, but it appears the conversation was directed at the Nobleman. 

However, Jesus often used these encounters as teaching moments. He would have known the heart of the Nobleman, so there would not have been need to test the man. But Jesus might have wanted to demonstrate something about belief, perhaps even to just this man.

The nobleman said to him, “Sir, come down ere my child die.”

Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your son lives.”

And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken to him, and he went his way.

We see a growth in faith.  First the man was insistent that Jesus go to Capernaum. He seemed to believe Jesus could cure his son only if he was physically present in the room with the dying child. Even after Jesus’ initial statement, he is persistent in his request for Jesus to come. Yet when Jesus tells him to go because his son lives, the man accepts this. This is a step to understanding that Jesus has the power to answer our prayers even when he is not physically present. Distance is not a barrier to God.

Still the man had a little doubt.

And as he was now going down, his servants met him, and told him, saying, “Your son lives.”

Then enquired he of them the hour when he began to amend. And they said to him, “Yesterday, at the seventh hour the fever left him.” So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son lives,” and himself believed, and his whole house.

This is again the second miracle that Jesus did, when he was come out of Judaea into Galilee.

See, the man needed a bit more proof this was the work of Jesus. It was not sufficient to hear his son has gotten better; he needed to ask at what hour. I don’t think we are any different. We can pray for things in our lives, but when the prayer is answered, we sometimes chalk it up to coincidence or some action we took. We are like Gideon and his fleece [Read Judges 6:36-40]. We always demand some further proof before we truly believe. 

Here we see Jesus’ first statement to the man was on the mark. Except he could confirm this as a “sign and wonder”, he might not have believed. When he learns the son revived at the exact moment Jesus said he would live and he fully believes it was from the Lord. 

This verifying information has the benefit of bringing his whole house to belief, but it still took a sign and wonder.

Note we have in two of these early encounters by Jesus a further witnessing by the individuals encountered. The Samaritan Woman at the well went and told others and as a result they came to belief. Here the Nobleman leads his whole house to belief. 

A final remark about the “exact hour’. The servants reply the fever broke in the seventh hour. There were many different time keeping methods used in those times. The Jews kept the hours from sunrise, so the seventh hour would have been about 1:00 PM. It is difficult to know for sure what this was in Roman time. Rome by this time had the water clock and so wasn’t dependent on the sundial, although the latter was still in use. I do not know exactly how they counted their hours; that is, what was the starting point of a day for the first hour on a water clock. If the time were dependent on a sundial, it might have been around 12:45 PM depending on the season of the year. I have read it said the seventh hour would have been 7:00 PM, but I don’t know how this was calculated for that would have started the calculation at noon.

Seven o’clock PM has a certain appeal since the servant says the seventh hour yesterday. If Jesus had told him his son would live at 7:00 PM the Nobleman probably wouldn’t have made the trip home at night. Seven in the evening or one in the afternoon, it doesn’t really matter. All we know is the man didn’t return to Capernaum until the next day and it isn’t necessary to know the reason.

JESUS CALLS HIS FIRST DISCIPLES

Christ calling St. Peter and St. Andrew, 1681 Diego Quispe Tito

Matthew 4:18-22, Mark1:16-20, Luke 5:1-11

By the Sea of Galilee (AKA Lake of Gennesaret and Lake Tiberias)

The town of Gennesaret was not far to the west of Capernaum. Both sat on the shores of the Sea of Galilee and this body of water was also called Lake of Gennesaret. In this instance, Matthew and Mark refer to it as the Sea of Galilee, while Luke uses the name Lake of Gennesaret. So there is no contradiction here. There is a statement some, who like to do the “gotcha moments”, may claim is a contradiction, if a minor one. This is that Luke says Jesus saw the fishermen on shore washing their nets while Matthew and Mark say Simon and Andrew were casting a net into the sea, and James and John were in a ship mending a net. Actually all these observations are true, not contradictory at all, when you know the whole story.

This passage is titled, “Jesus Calls His First Disciples” in many Bibles. In popular culture portrayals of this instance we never get the entire action and so we have a common misunderstanding about this Calling.

The image we may have from films is Jesus comes walking along the seashore and sees these fishermen at work. He calls to them, “Follow me” and they immediately drop everything and go with this charismatic stranger. Jesus was hardly a stranger to these men and this was far from some impulsive spur of the moment behavior.

And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret and saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets.

And Jesus, now as he walked by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brethren. Walking he saw Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.

Jesus had settled in Capernaum after those in Nazareth tried to kill him. Here he began to preach and gained fame. We are not told how much time passed since he first began this preaching, but by now he had become known enough that people were “pressed upon him to hear the Word”. So Jesus isn’t strolling along the shore alone at all. He is standing by the lake and he is looking about for some space between him and those mobbing him. We see him do this in other passages of scripture.

He sees a couple ships anchored by the lake and some fishermen washing their nets, after a hard night of fishing. The fishermen are at the waters edge, tossing the nets in the water to clean them. See, just because Matthew said Peter and Andrew were “casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers” didn’t mean they were standing on the deck of the ship fishing. They were standing at the shore washing the nets.

And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship.

These are not strangers to Jesus. He knows these men very well. So Jesus goes up the plank onto Simon’s boat and asked Simon to take him a bit offshore. Why? As we said, Jesus wanted some space between himself and all those people who had been pressing up against him. Simon and Andrew grab their nets and clamber aboard and row out a bit.

Jesus sits down and finishes teaching the crowd.

Now when he had left speaking, he said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.”

(A British definition of “draught” is “the drawing in of a fishing net; the fish taken in one draft). Jesus has finished teaching and now he tells Simon to go out to deeper water and he’ll catch a bunch of fish. Perhaps Jesus is rewarding Simon for his loan of the boat and his time.

And Simon answering said to him, “Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at your word I will let down the net.”

Simon doesn’t see much reason to do this. He moans they have worked all night and caught nothing. He’s just finished washing the nets. He is probably tired and wants to pack up and go home, but he does it anyway. Why? Note he calls Jesus “Master”. Maybe he would call him this out of respect having heard about Jesus’ preaching and considers him something of a rabbi, yet he does what is asked because it is “nevertheless” Jesus’ word. Would he really go to a lot of useless bother for some itinerant rabbi? You see Simon knows Jesus and has certain opinions about him that compel him to do what Jesus says.

And when they had this done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake. And they beckoned to their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink.

When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, “Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord,” for he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes, which they had taken.

And he, Jesus, said to them, Come you after me, Follow me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.

And they straightway left, forsook their nets, and followed him.

A miraculous catch happens. Where before they caught nothing, now so many fish fill their nets that the nets are breaking. They can’t handle it all themselves, so they call their business partners, Zebedee and his sons, James and John, to help. The other boat is rowed over to them and the two teams of fishermen upload the bounty, so much so both boats are in danger of sinking.

As they have filled the holds of the boats and started to the shore, Simon falls on his knees, telling Jesus to go away because he, Simon, is too sinful to be in his presence. He addresses Jesus as Lord.

It is at this point Jesus says to Simon and Andrew, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.”

Notice the difference here than the portrayal of this scene in The History Channel’s, “The Bible.” Jesus did not wade out to Peter’s boat to be pulled aboard where he was alone with Peter and he does not tell Peter to come with him because they will “change the world.” They are not going off to change the world; they going out to save people from it.

And going on from thence, when he had gone a little farther, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and straightway he called them.

And they immediately left the ship and their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants, and went after and followed him.

They debark Simon’s boat; leaving everything behind. Simon and Andrew follow Jesus a short distance down the beach. Jesus stops as he looks out at Zebedee’s crew mending their nets aboard their boat. They are mending their nets because that huge catch of fish had torn the nets up. Jesus calls to James and John. The two brothers now stop mending, come to shore and follow Jesus, leaving behind father, servants and their occupation.

Let’s ask a couple questions. Why did Jesus only call these four guys from those on the boats? Why didn’t he include Zebedee or any of the servants? Why did Simon, Andrew, James and John follow so quickly?

I don’t think there was anything spur of the moment about this. It wasn’t a sudden impulse. The four men were probably waiting for this call. Although this is titled, “Jesus Calls His first Disciples”, that title is a bit deceiving. This isn’t where he made his first Disciples, simply where he has called them to action.

These four fishermen were devout Jews and seekers of the Messiah even before they ever heard of Jesus. Remember, we met them about a year before this calling. They had been following John the Baptist in Bethany. It was there they first saw, followed and spent a day with Jesus. Phillip and Nathanael Bartholomew also joined them there. These men were from the same area as Jesus. They traveled back home in his company and stopped at a wedding in the town where Nathanael lived. There at Cana they had witnessed his changing of water to wine during a wedding celebration. Later they had traveled with Jesus to a Passover Feast in Jerusalem where he turned over the tables and chased the moneychangers from the Temple. They had been in the desert with him, baptized others with him, traveled through Samaria with him and lived near him in Capernaum. They had probably heard him preach many times by now, spend evenings with him listening to his lessons and so awaited him to bid them to be missionaries. Now that moment had come. Of course they immediately followed.

Duccio di Buoninsegna, The Calling of the Apostles Peter and Andrew, 1809-11

SETTING OFF TO TOUR GALILEE WITH THE FIRST FOUR

“Beginning the Galilean Ministry”, Artist and date unknown (from mydivinemercy.blogspot.com)

SETTING OFF TO TOUR GALILEE WITH THE FIRST FOUR

Matthew 4:23-24, Mark 1:35-39, Luke 4:42-44

Jesus is about to start his first great campaign. It is known as the Great Galilean Ministry and for good reason. It stretches over a period of a year and a half and is mostly conducted in Galilee or to areas further north, such as Syria. We often associate Jesus with Jerusalem, but he actually spends the smaller part of his life in Judea. He was born in Bethlehem, which is a stones throw from Jerusalem, but as an infant was hustled off to Egypt and then settled for his youth in Nazareth in Galilee.

There were certainly pilgrimages to Jerusalem during the holy feast days, but we don’t find him spending a lot time in southern Israel during his adulthood. He goes south to be baptized, where he meets some of his future Apostles. He returns home for a while, and then goes to Jerusalem for Passover where he causes a ruckus at the Temple. This basically makes him something of an outlaw. He flees into the wilderness until John the Baptist is arrested, then he fleas through Samaria back to Galilee.

He will have a brief ministry in Judea during the fall of 29 A.D., but then the remainder of his preaching travels will be across the border in Perea. Finally he will enter Jerusalem again for the Passion Week. It is clear that for most of his ministering life he stayed away from the center of Jewish religious and secular power. From the time he upset the Moneychangers tables he was a man with a target on his back and lived a life of at least a semi-fugitive.

Now having set up his base in Capernaum and called four of his followers to him, he has indulged in some very localized preaching and healings. His popularity in the region has grown and word of his deeds has begun to spread. He is ready to widen the circle, to take the message further and as a result his fame will grow even greater.

And when in the morning, rising up a great while before it was day, he went out, and departed into a solitary desert place and there prayed. And the people sought him, and came to him, and stayed him that he should not depart from them. And Simon and they that were with him followed after him and when they had found him, they said to him, “All men seek for you.”

This is the Sunday after the Sabbath. The first day of the week, and it on this day Jesus makes a decision for another change. Before he does and before he announces it, he does what we Christians should, but often neglect to do. Jesus goes to a place alone and prays about it. When it says he “departed into a desert place”, this may not mean he went into a literal desert, it could simply mean a deserted or solitary place. He rises and goes to this place before dawn, probably an attempt not to be seen.

Whether anyone saw him leave or not doesn’t matter, he wasn’t solitary for long because the people came looking for him, found him and wouldn’t leave; in fact, attempted to not let him leave either.

“Simon and they that were with him” most likely includes Andrew, James and John, the four fishermen who had been at Simon’s mother-in-law the evening before. They did not accompany him to this place. Jesus probably slipped out while the others were still sleeping so he could be alone with God the Father. Note it says they followed and found him. Their comment that, “All men seek for you” applies to them as well.

And he said to them, “Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there. I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore am I sent forth.

There are several things we see here and an interesting question. First, there has been a definite progression or widening of the events in Jesus’ ministry through this point. Secondly, there has been an indication that each such as been directed by God. It raises a question, which we can’t really answer, of how Jesus all man coexisted in communication with Jesus all God. Third, there has been a pattern of withdrawal before each new moving forth. Jesus.

Now after praying, he says to his four followers that he must preach the Kingdom of God to other cities and that he is sent forth. This would be the direction he received during his prayer session.

 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom. And he preached in the synagogues throughout all of Galilee, healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people and cast out devils.And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.

He has widened the circle again and he began in the same manner as when he came down to live in Capernaum, where we are told: “Then he, they, went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and when the Sabbath came on, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach.”

At this point of his ministry, Jesus is staying within the traditions of the religious practices of his day and he is doing his teaching in the synagogues. Obviously there has not yet rose animosity against him from the local Rabbis or congregations. We are not given a time period for this initial period of preaching where he is moving about freely in the countryside from town to town. We see word of him is spreading because the sick are coming to him and people are bringing those too ill or possessed to come on their own.

It is probably safe to say these people were not yet honing in on his message. The passages have constantly emphasized his healings. Although we have statements where people noted he spoke with authority, there is no indication of anyone disputing his preaching’s as outside the Jewish canon of the times. No one is commenting on it being a new way yet. It is not that Jesus may not be saying anything of a radical nature, for perhaps he was. It would appear that he has not made any stunning declaration along the line of what he said in Nazareth again. Most likely his miraculous healings are the cause of his spreading fame at this point.

Jesus is also moving about freely. The people might flock to him at the synagogues or seek him out when he goes off to a private place, but they have not reached a point where he can’t go wherever he wishes when he wishes. This is about to soon change.

HEALING OF A LEPER

Image of a person suffering from Hansen’s Disease (Leprosy)

HEALING OF A LEPER

Matthew 8:2-4, 4:25; Mark 1:40-45; Luke 5:12-16

A Town in Galilee

And behold it came to pass, when he was in a certain city, there came a leper, a man full of leprosy who seeing Jesus fell on his faceand worshipped him, beseeching him and kneeling down to him, besought him sayingto him, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.”

This would be a man in a desperate situation. Luke, the physician, says he was “full” of leprosy. The Greek word used is πλήρης (pleres), meaning “filled up” or “covered in every part”. He must have been hard to look at and certainly unable to hide his condition. He probably had suffered a long time with it as well for it to develop to the point it covered every part. Most likely he would not have lived much longer in this advanced state.

Notice the reverent approach of this man. He bows and kneels at Christ’s feet, He first worships him and then earnestly, urgently and fervently implores Jesus to cure him. There is both faith and respect in this request. He asks, but does not demand. He also recognized the decision is solely that of Jesus and he asks with the faith that Jesus can do it, if that be Jesus’ will.

This is certainly analogous to us. We are sinners, but even if we have long been sinning and are covered in every part, if we come to the Lord worshipping with faith and ask him to clean us of our sin, he will do so and make us pure in the sight of God.

And Jesus moved with compassion, put forth his hand and touched him, saying unto him, “I will; be you clean.” And immediately the leprosy departed from him; his leprosy was cleansed.

Let’s be clear here, we most likely are talking in this passage about true leprosy, not just some skin condition. In these passages, the Greek λέπρα (lepra) is used which means leprosy. The disease was known at least 400 years before the birth of Christ. The organism Mycobacteriumleprae causes Hansen’s Disease (leprosy). Unlike many scare stories, it is not highly contagious. One must have fairly long contact with an afflicted person to get the disease. It is also a slow disease in development, which is another reason to assume this man had suffered long if he was fully covered. There are two forms called tuberculoid and lepromatous. Both forms cause skin sores, but lepromatous also forms severe and large lumps and bumps. Both forms also cause nerve damage and sensory loss. The stories of body parts falling off due to the disease are untrue; however, due to the loss of feeling people do lose use of limbs from injury or in some cases, scratch off skin because they can not feel the damage.

In Jesus time, this man would have been considered unclean and been shunned by others. He would have been banned from his places of worship and possibly his own home. For Jesus to touch him would have been considered reckless or foolish, but Jesus did indeed touch this man.

And immediately the leprosy departed from him;his leprosy was cleansed.

Matthew and Mark inform us the leprosy was cleansed. It obviously means more than his lesions or sores disappeared. Luke, the physician, tells us the leprosy departed (ἀπέρχομαι – departing evils and sufferings). In other words, the man was completely cured of this infection and restored in appearance.

And Jesus strictly charged him saying to him, “See you say nothing, tell no man; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift for your cleansing that Moses commanded, for a testimony to them.”

If you go to the Book of Leviticus, Chapter 14, you will read of what the cured man and the priest should do under the Law. It might be well to explain also the use of the word “leprosy” in Chapter 13 and 14 of Leviticus as well.

In this Old Testament text there are a number of Laws of what should be done for anyone having some sort of skin blemish. A number of times the word “leprosy” appears in the passages. A modern doctor looking at the passages would say that none of the conditions described fit the symptoms of leprosy, either here and in other portions of Old Testament Scripture, when it talks of the skin turning white. Examples of this would be Miriam turned white with leprosy in Numbers 12 or Naaman in 2 Kings 5. Whatever afflicted Miriam or Naaman was not Hansen’s Disease (leprosy).

So is the Scripture in error. No, of course not, but the translators are. The word translated as leprosy in the Old Testament is the Hebrew “צָרַעַת” (tsara’ath) and it means a malignant skin disease, which can include fungi infections, ringworm and such things as mildew and mold. Modern medicine has basically identified the various diseases described in Leviticus 13 by the descriptions in that chapter, which validates the Scripture. Under these rules even my psoriasis would have included.

By the time of Christ, true leprosy would have fallen under the Law in the eyes of the Rabbi’s and Jesus is sending this man to comply with the Law.

Jesus sent the man to the Priests, but told him not to speak to anyone about what had happened.

But he went out, and began to publish it much, and to blaze abroad the matter, so much the more went there a fame abroad of Jesus. And great multitudes came together to hear and to be healed by him of their infirmities,insomuch that Jesus could no more openly enter into the city. But he withdrew himself into the wilderness and prayedand was without in desert places: and they came to him from every quarter. And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from beyond Jordan.

 Now we have a forced change in Jesus’ behavior. Where before he could come and go easily enough, now he could not go freely into a town without gathering a crowd. If before people who knew he was nearby sought him out, now they flock in great multitudes. He is forced to withdraw more into wilderness places to be alone to rest or pray. Before this leper, he was a local attraction, now people are actually traveling from distant areas to see him. Not only does this interfere with his privacy, it is attracting the ears of the religious leaders and the authorities.