Holy Places - Reflections on Galilee

Matthew 4:12-17

When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he withdrew to Galilee. Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali—to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah: “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

My first trip to Israel was in 1995, and this last trip is the fourth time I’ve been there (the second time that Rachel has gotten to go along, and she has also developed a deep love for that land). Every time I go there, I learn and see new things, even when looking at the same rocks. For me, Israel is a “thin place,” a place where I experience God’s presence in profound and powerful ways.

When I was there two years ago, one of the folks traveling with me said she was most surprised by Galilee. When we see Biblical movies or even when we read the stories in the Gospels, we picture this land as pretty much all desert. But Galilee is lush, green, beautiful—not that Jerusalem isn’t. There is a beauty to Judea and the wilderness, but it’s different. Galilee, centered around and fed by the lake, is more like a garden. I can understand why Jesus loved that area so much.

There, Jesus began to preach and teach and gain a following. And even though he would go to Jerusalem from time to time, he kept coming back there, to the “country,” to the place where life seemed less hurried. Was it because in that place, away from the city and the religious squabbles of Jerusalem, he found people more open to connecting with God, to hearing his message about the kingdom of God? Though the “religious establishment” looked down on Galilee, Jesus found there a following and a belief in the coming of God’s kingdom. From that place, a revolution was launched that has changed the world and continues to transform lives.

When I first traveled there in 1995, I have to confess I expected more “historical sites” like we have in America. You know, signs that say, “Jesus slept here” or “This is the exact place where such and such happened.” And at the beginning of that trip nearly twenty years ago, I was somewhat frustrated because we don’t have those spots in Israel, those exact places. Instead, we have a richer and deeper history. We remember certain events in churches, we know this event happened “in a certain area,” or maybe we don’t know the area at all, just that they happened somewhere around this lake—or even on the lake! But that’s okay, because what that means is that all of that land is holy. Jesus might have walked here. He might have sat on that rock. He could have taught in the synagogue around the next corner. This might be the shore he taught from. We don’t know, and so that makes all the land holy. In every place and in every moment, we’re looking for his presence. This might be the place. He was here. And he is here.

That famous area of Galilee is, after all, just rock and dirt and water like we have at home. The water that runs in the Jordan River is H20, just like in our faucets. What makes this land “holy” is what happened here, who walked here, and how we respond to his continuing invitation: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” In those hills, around that lake over two thousand years ago, a light dawned. And nothing has ever been the same since. And whenever he comes to you, that place is holy, too.


Comments

Popular Posts