There
are several locations Christians immediately associate with the life of Jesus.
There is Bethlehem, in Judea, where Jesus was born; Nazareth, in Galilee,
where he grew up; and Jerusalem, where he was crucified. These are the places
where Jesus began and ended his life. But the places where Jesus carried out
his ministry are less familiar.
The
most frequently mentioned and most memorable town is Capernaum. Jesus seems to
have made his ministry's headquarters there, at the home of Simon Peter's
mother-in-law. Not only does Jesus return again and again, but when the
gospels of Mark and Luke say Jesus "returned to his hometown," they
usually mean Capernaum rather than Nazareth.
So
it should not be surprising that many of the other named locations of his
ministry are near Capernaum, such as Ginnesar, Chorazin, Bethsaida and Gergesa.
These are the most frequently mentioned places in Matthew, Mark and Luke, and
most of Jesus' ministry takes place in and around them.
These
towns bring out another observation about Jesus' ministry. It took place
around the Sea of Galilee. Several other events, such as Jesus driving out
demons or preaching to large crowds, take place at unnamed locations "in
the wilderness" on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. At another point
Jesus takes a trip into the "cities of the Decapolis," a region on
the sea's southeast shore.
All
this points to a single conclusion. For most of his ministry, Jesus based
himself on the Sea of Galilee and used it as a means of transportation. This
shows that Jesus took advantage of the fastest mode of transportation in the
ancient world, the sailboat. Neither walking nor riding on donkeys or camels
could match the speed or the comfort of moving about on the water. By sailing,
Jesus could cover the most "ground" in the least amount of time.
While
the Sea of Galilee was a good transportation choice for Jesus' activities, it
raises the question, what was he doing so far from home? In the ancient world,
few people ever traveled more than a day's walk, about 15 miles, from the
place where they were born. After all, their entire family, the family land,
plus their livelihood and responsibilities all were right there. To leave
familial territory was to cut off contact with one's family, for there were no
means of communication. Few people could read or write a letter, but even if
they could, there was no postal service. And of course the telephone and
e-mail were millennia in the future. So what was Jesus doing a two-day
journey, some 30 miles by road, away from his home in Nazareth?
Most
of the gospels ignore this question, but Luke addresses it head-on. In Luke's
story, Jesus fasted for 40 days in the wilderness after he was baptized by
John the Baptist. Jesus then returned to Nazareth, where in the synagogue, he
claimed to be the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy of being God's chosen
messenger. The villagers saw this bold claim as blasphemy and they attempted
to carry the appropriate punishment for this sin, death. They could see him
only as Joseph's son, who had grown up among them, rather than as a prophet.
Jesus escaped from them and left the area. According to Luke, Jesus then
proceeded directly to Capernaum to begin his ministry around the Sea of
Galilee.
So
Jesus picked the best location in Galilee for his ministry, the transportation
center of the Sea of Galilee. In doing so he left his home region behind. But
he was pushed out by the inability of those with whom he had grown up to grasp
his new role.