Where Jesus walked, part 5

By Andrew McIlwrick

The second year: Capernaum and beyond (Proverbs 3:1-8)

The Reason for the Journey- the point – not just where He went but how He walked – See reading written by Solomon – God’s Wisdom.

In all your ways acknowledge Him and he shall direct your paths (Proverbs 3:6) – practical demonstration.

In order for Jesus to be the perfect sacrifice, to do the will of His Father, He had to demonstrate that He was perfect, not just say He was. Hebrews tells us:

Hebrews 2:10 For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

Hebrews 7:19 for the law made nothing perfect; on the other hand, there is the bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God.

Jesus will, over His time on earth display all that we should have been without sin, walking in perfection with God every day and in all that we do, sinless, but because of Adam we are sinners and for a Saviour we need someone who can show their perfection by the keeping of the law. Having demonstrated that it should have been possible, it proved that He was fit to be the one to remove the stain of sin. The sacrifice of animals would never remove sin, they were created in a fallen world and affected by it, but it is the blood that cleanses from sin for the individual but it did not remove it. Christ’s death and His blood alone would pay the price and remove sin, because He is the perfect sinless sacrifice required of God, a sacrifice that lived in the conscious understanding of who God is and the responsibilities and actions that are required by that knowledge and in living as God intended. He never had to change or consider His actions, He only ever did that which was right.

God could have sent His Son to earth as a fully grown man and men could have sentenced to death. He would still be perfect, He could still have atoned for sin because God would see Him as perfect, but the Captain of our Salvation evidenced that He was perfect for all to see for 33 years. His life is a model for us and His death, burial, and resurrection would give us a new perfect start at salvation. He proved that life was possible to be lived out in perfection.

We saw in the first sessions that he fulfilled the law as the firstborn child of a Jew as:

1 – His parents went to Jerusalem and sacrificed an offering for their firstborn

2 – He was circumcised on the eighth day

3 – He went to Jerusalem for the feasts as required for the Passover and Harvest

4 – He honoured His father and mother (Luke 2:51, emphasis added. And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.)

subject : – A Greek military term meaning “to arrange [troop divisions] in a military fashion under the command of a leader”. In non-military use, it was “a voluntary attitude of giving in, cooperating, assuming responsibility, and carrying a burden”.

5 – He had no other God – we saw that in the temptation in the wilderness (Luke 4:4 not live by bread alone but by every word of God. Luke 4:8 And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”)

Our cry should be!

‘You shall not tempt the LORD your God.’ (Luke 4:12b)

Tempt – to prove, test, thoroughly

Tempt – to put to proof God’s character and power

Luke 4:13 Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.

The battle is not yet won, Satan would not keep trying – he always has and will and we need to continue to fight the battle. He was defeated inevitably at Calvary, and will one day be finally defeated when the war is over. But we are to be aware always and keep relying on the One who saved us to keep us day by day.

6 – Did not bear false witness (ninth commandment) Meeting with John and His baptism

Luke 7:26 But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet.

7- The woman at the well, The Samaritans, love your neighbour

Exodus chapter 20:17 “You shall not covet your neighbour’s house; you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbour’s.”

He did not covet (tenth commandment) anything she had. We can fill in the others as we go along and you can work out the command that He fulfilled at the time, or do so in your reading at home.

Before Christmas we were looking at where Jesus walked and the things He accomplished as He moved among His own people. The travels as a child to and from Jerusalem and Egypt until the death of Herod, His challenge of the doctors and lawyers in the temple as a child, and then on to his leaving his home in Nazareth and going out to meet John the Baptist, to take over the teaching of John and begin the teaching of the kingdom of heaven, the salvation that comes through Faith in Him, not through works and the sacrifices on the temple altar. He went into the desert and was tempted by the Devil and rejected him.

The disciples began to follow him, he went to a wedding and changed water into wine, he went to Jerusalem for the Passover and upset the Jewish leaders when he drove the money lenders and animal sellers out of the temple. He went to the region of Judea to preach to His own before heading north via the well at Sychar to speak to the woman at the well who was saved, along with many in the place where she lived.

He returned home to Nazareth and went to the temple where they were unhappy that He pointed out their mistake in not believing in Him when He read from the passage in Isaiah that told of His coming as the light and they tried to throw Him off the cliff, but He passed through them and left them wondering what happened.

That just about sums up the first year.

The second section begins with where we left off, His changing of His home from Nazareth to Capernaum. Having been rejected in His own city, He moves to another town where He would be less well known in the first instance and a place that would ultimately accept Him and the claims He makes without trying to kill him. Capernaum is a fishing village and His move to the area is cited in the book of Isaiah (Isaiah 9:2 The people who walked in darkness Have seen a great light; Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, Upon them a light has shined.)

(Matthew 4:13-16 Now when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, He departed to Galilee. And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles: The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, And upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death
Light has dawned.”)

Historians have found the ruins of the town and suggest that it had a population of about 1500. It appears to have been founded in the 2^nd century BC and was populated until the 11^th Century AD. There is evidence of two synagogues built one on top of the other, the second one larger and more ornate than the first, and an octagonal church. It appears to have been a thriving village with grain and oil mills for grinding the locally grown crop, olive presses and fishing hooks and other paraphernalia associated with its proximity to the lake of Galilee. It is about 6 miles or so from Bethsaida where the brothers, Peter and Andrew and James and John fished as a pair of boats in the lake.

It was an area far from the influence of Jerusalem and the religious leaders and it was a heavily traded area, with the passing of many foreigners, and the local Jewish population had mixed with the Gentile nations. Naphtali and Zebulun had not been able to drive out the inhabitants of the area when they entered the land and these would cause them issues later. They had been attacked by Benhadad. (1Kings 15:20 So Ben-Hadad heeded King Asa, and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel. He attacked Ijon, Dan, Abel Beth Maachah, and all Chinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali).

The area was defeated and the people taken captive by Tiglath-Pilesar to Assyria. (2Kings 15:29 In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria came and took Ijon, Abel Beth Maachah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali; and he carried them captive to Assyria).

This was a successful trading area, but a place of spiritual darkness as the religions of the surrounding nations took hold and the people abandoned God. There were some powerful nations to the north and east down the centuries and the area was often under attack and punished by God for their unfaithfulness.

Luke 4:31-32 Then He went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and was teaching them on the Sabbaths. And they were astonished at His teaching, for His word was with authority.

Having been threatened and thrown out of the synagogue in Nazareth, He does not change His daily life or method of teaching. He is the Messiah, God and man and therefore unchangeable and always right in all He does or says. His word may be offensive, but only because it is right and the light of His word shining on the lives of those around caused them to react to it.

Here in Capernaum the reaction is similar to the leaders in Jerusalem where He spoke as a young boy, astonishment and wonder at His teaching and the authority with which He taught. I was recalling recently with someone that so often we are reminded by the health professionals to lose weight and eat healthier, many of them evidently do not heed their own warnings, and therefore do not come across with the same authority because they are not speaking from a position of accomplishing what they are asking, the statement “physician heal yourself” comes to mind. This one who had just moved to Capernaum was teaching with absolute authority, He knew and applied all that God required of man for a perfect relationship, therefore He had that wonderful relationship of a perfect, blessed walk with God, and came across with authority. Throughout His time on earth, He always was in this position of doing His Father’s will, and therefore in perfect position to teach.

Capernaum recognised the authority with which He spoke and listened with wonder week by week in the synagogue as He taught the truths of God.

The shoal of fish (Luke 5:4-9)

It is during His time here that He calls His first disciples. He is at the lakeside of the sea of Galilee and He is observing all that is going on. Andrew and Peter and James and John are washing and mending nets and these are the first disciples to be called. These tough and hardy fishermen would be those closely tied to walking every day with Jesus and learning of Him. Having used one of their boats to speak to the crowd on the sea shore, he tells them to cast their just washed nets again. Now after a backbreaking night of fishing and no result, I am not so sure I would want to dirty my nets again and Peter highlights the fact that they had caught nothing, it was a waste of time, however, they obey and they catch more than they can handle and the other boat is called to help. And they both were sinking.

Jesus not only proved His credentials of being able to control creation, His omniscience, knowing where the fish would be and bringing such a large shoal together, He repaid the hire of the boat and gave evidence of His ability to supply more than they needed to survive on when they followed Him later.

It is at this point that Simon Peter recognises that Jesus is the Christ and makes that well known statement of personal recognition that all must come to before salvation, “ I am a sinful man”.

It is these four that are first called to follow Him having the evidence of who He is and His ability to control nature and supply all they may need. We are told in Luke 5:11 that they “forsook all and followed Him”.

Healing a demon possessed man (Luke 4:33-37)

Following this they all go to the synagogue and the Lord heals the man who is devil possessed. A man who cannot help himself is cured, and the demons acknowledge and recognise Jesus as the Holy One of God, they had more insight then we often do! Jesus displays His omnipotence over Satan and His power by casting the demon out. And the amazed crowds as well as the evidence of the healed man bring the crowds.

In this early part of the move to Capernaum, Jesus establishes His claim to be God in human form with a number of miracles that are recorded for our learning as well as His teaching, which the people learn to admire immediately, here was one who spoke with wisdom and authority.

This incident clearly displays to the public His power over Satanic forces. We read of His power to reject Satan and to overcome his desire to encourage failure, but now the narrative describes the understanding of the demons of who Jesus is, of His power to destroy them. There is no doubt in their description that this is One who is ultimately more powerful then them or their leader. If Jesus was not ultimately God, but merely a wise individual, then they could have easily called on their leader, Satan, to come and command Him to get lost, and that this man was his and if he was more powerful then he could hold on to this poor man. Instead they have to abandon the man they have overcome, and he is freed by the power of the Lord Jesus. It will be seen time and again through the scriptures as Jesus rebukes and gets rid of the demons that control people. In this case we are told there were several demons present and they were not able to overcome the power of God to be removed, and ultimately we will see later that a legion of them were not able to overcome either.

This incident gets their attention for sure. If you were not sure about this man and His authority, if you did not believe He is the Messiah, then this incident would certainly have to be one that makes you think more carefully. They are recorded as being amazed because of the authority and power of control over demons. The reports of the healing of the man went out around the area and it would bring the crowds, both to be healed and to watch, to listen and to believe.

The healing of Peter’s mother-in-law (Matthew 8:14-15; Mark 1:29-31; Luke 4:38-39)

Immediately after this He goes over to Simon’s house, where his mother-in-law was ill, and feverish. The disciples, having seen what He could do, ask for Jesus’ assistance in healing the lady, and she is immediately well enough to prepare and serve. Most of us would acknowledge that any form of illness sets us back and it is days before we can get motivated to do anything, but this lady is immediately made well.

One other side note. Peter has a mother-in-law, therefore he is married. This would put a challenge in the portrayal of the him as a pope, who according to tradition must be celibate.