Month: November 2010

The Executive Order

This series of posts is my attempt to demonstrate that the language of the Revelation was actually symbolic code that was very intelligible to a first-century Jewish Christian living in the Roman Empire. I’m re-writing the Revelation to communicate the same message, but to a twenty-first century American Christian audience, using symbols we understand. This particular section parallels Revelation chapter 10. If you want to catch up, here’s a PDF of the entire series so far: The Revelation to JR – Chapters 1-10.

I saw another enormous angel coming down from heaven. He was wrapped in a cloud and I saw a rainbow appear over his head. I could barely look at him because his face was as bright as the sun and even his legs and feet burned like fire. He had an Executive Order in his right hand (it looked so small in his huge hand!). He planted one foot on the land and one in the ocean and then yelled at the top of his lungs.

When he yelled, I heard a giant roar, like seven jet engines. I was about to write down what I heard in the engines’ roar, but someone up in heaven said

“Seal up what the seven jet engines have said – don’t write it down!”

16-20: Stand Up for Yourself, Nicely

16. God isn’t on my side.

Maybe it’s because I was raised in a pretty conservative family and church, but I always had the impression that God was on my side. That I was (basically) a good guy and had life (mostly) figured out. That while I was occasionally arrogant and a bit of a jerk, I was all around pretty righteous, so God clearly must love me. God probably hates the same people I hate. And wants for me what I want for me. I’m not sure when I learned it, but somewhere along the way that God isn’t actually on my side.

God is on God’s side (I heard a great talk from Andy Stanley on Joshua 5:13-15). At bare minimum, this ought to engender humility and compassion as we interact with the world.

17. Love isn’t always mushy.

The Scriptures are clear that God’s central attribute is love (1 John 4:7-12). Because our culture has reduced the idea of love to emotional fluff, that statement about God’s character comes under frequent attack. Calling God ‘love’ conjures up images of a meek-and-mild Jesus who doesn’t challenge us, who has a loosey-goosey approach to dealing with sin.

But the Scriptures don’t define love that way. Love is self-sacrifice, self-giving. Love always seeks the good for others. Love in the Scriptures is primarily a covenantal term. To say that God is Love is to say that God is always faithful to the promises He has made – even when we are not. That God always seeks our good, even when we try to self-destruct. That God is the giver of all good gifts, that everything that sustains us is the overflow of God’s fundamental character.

18. How to say “No”

Does anyone else have a problem saying ‘No’? I always have. I want people to like me and I want to be dependable. So I say ‘Yes’ to everything. I learned that if I can’t draw healthy boundaries, I end up doing many things poorly, which means instead of coming through for everyone, I tend to let everyone down.

At my previous church, I was often tapped to do dramas. I liked it, and I did a pretty good job (I assume, since they kept asking me), but I simply didn’t have the time and energy to devote to them. Every time I agreed to do a drama, the rest of my work suffered.

In those situations, I have to say ‘No’. I have to know what I am capable of and where my limits are, and I have to practice making wise investments of my time and energies. My decision to quit participating in dramas was actually a good thing – it forced the drama team to find some new blood. Saying ‘No’ actually makes it possible for more people to get involved, creates more opportunities for other people to step up. And that’s a win for everyone.

19. How to say “No” nicely

Learning to draw boundaries is an important step, but it’s only the first step. I also had to learn how to communicate my decision in a healthy way. When I started saying ‘No’ to stuff, people really thought I was saying No to them. They often took my rejection of their project or idea as a rejection of them personally.

And it’s not. In fact, a healthy decision to say No is a pursuit of health, not only for myself but for the persons and projects to whom I’m saying No. So communicating it that way does wonders to keep hurt feelings from becoming grudges.

20. Practice makes perfect.

It doesn’t matter what you’re doing, you’re probably not going to be very good at it at first. A lot of people choose just to give up, but if you really want to excel at something, you’re going to have to put in some legwork. Malcolm Gladwell suggests it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert at something.

I’m working on my writing and speaking. And I’ve got a long way to go before I hit 10,000 hours. What about you? What are you working on? And how far along are you?

The Three Curses

This series of posts is my attempt to demonstrate that the language of the Revelation was actually symbolic code that was very intelligible to a first-century Jewish Christian living in the Roman Empire. I’m re-writing the Revelation to communicate the same message, but to a twenty-first century American Christian audience, using symbols we understand. This particular section parallels Revelation chapter 9. If you want to catch up, here’s a PDF of the entire series so far: The Revelation to JR – 1-9.

The fifth angel turned on his camera and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key the bowels of the earth. He opened it and smoke came billowing out of the hole like from a blown radiator. The smoke covered the sky and plunged the whole planet into darkness.

Then I saw locusts emerge from the smoke, and they were given authority like soldiers. They were specifically told not to harm the crops or food supply, but instead to hurt anyone who hadn’t been notarized by God on their heads and wallets. They were allowed to torture them for five months, but not to kill them. And it was bad – worse than anything that went down in Guantanamo Bay. During those five months, people will try to kill themselves – they’ll chase after death – but they won’t be able to die.Continue reading

Enculturation Eschatology Revelation Worship

I Must Be Crazy

This is the final installment of The Beard Goes Home, a chronicle of my trip to Israel, Cairo and Rome from November 3-18. If you want more information on a picture, hover your mouse over it for a pop-up caption. If you want to see a bigger version of the picture, click on it.

Over the course of this trip, I have traveled to three continents, engaged three major world religions and more interacted in at least a half-dozen cultures. I’ve been further outside my comfort zone than ever before in my life, and all in the name of following Jesus. Of walking where he walked and seeing the things he saw, as much as possible.

I was certainly without most of the comforts of home – I was much less connected to the Internet than I’m accustomed to, and between that and the 6-7 hour time difference, I felt very disconnected from my wife and community in the US. I met new persons every day, and all of them were in some way the Other. I learned that two weeks is more than long enough to spend adrift and apart, with no place to put down roots. I understand now why we create colonies, little islands of our own culture, when we go to a new place.

I learned that I’m a lot more xenophobic than I thought I was. I spent the whole trip as the consummate outsider. Even Thomas was at home among his Dominican brothers; each of our rest stops offered something familiar for him, a place he understood and knew how to function in. Initially I only felt a sense of shame at my suspicion towards the Arabs or my indignation at the disgust I felt from the Jews. My fear of being alone in Rome.

But the longer I’ve been gone, the more I’m trying to cherish these uncomfortable moments. I am learning in a way I never have before what it means to be a Stranger, an Alien. Amanda and I chose ‘Forasteros’ as our last name because it is the Spanish word for this very idea. Because we both want to be that and to learn the art of hospitality, of welcoming strangers and aliens.

In Middle Eastern cultures (Jewish, Muslim OR Christian), there are two categories of person (as I was just discussing with one of my new Dominican friends): Family and Enemy. The Arabic phrase for ‘Welcome’ roughly translates as ‘I make smooth the path for you to come into my family’. If you’re not a part of my family, then you’re my enemy, and I have full freedom (and possibly even an obligation) to cheat you. I certainly don’t have to welcome you.

This makes the Biblical mandate to welcome the stranger even more powerful. As the Israelites were preparing to enter into the Promised Land, Moses reminded them:

For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who is not partial and takes no bribe, who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them food and clothing. You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. – Deuteronomy 10:17-19

This would be a radical teaching in the Holy Land today. It was at least as radical then. If we’re honest with ourselves, it’s radical in the good ole’ U.S. of A. too. We’re not much better at making strangers feel welcomed in our country, let alone our homes. Especially if they don’t speak our language or look like us.

But welcoming the stranger is fundamentally what it means to follow Jesus. His Incarnation is the ultimate sojourn. God became human. He took on flesh and moved into our neighborhood. And we killed him for it. Which only goes to show that God’s commands to God’s people didn’t take hold very well.

And we who follow Jesus today aren’t any better. We still play favorites. We still stick close to our families (whatever we decide those look like) and we do little to step outside our comfort zones. We usually actively avoid it. Intentionally becoming a stranger is difficult. It’s not a vacation (which is why we build resorts that have all the comforts of home but still let us feel exotic).

And yet again and again the New Testament appropriates the metaphor of stranger/alien/sojourner to describe the Christian life. We are on a journey in a foreign land.

All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them. – Hebrews 11:13-16

Here’s the end of my story: I took a trip and it turned my world upside down. You should try it sometime. If you want a tour guide, let me know. It helps to travel with friends.

Church Israel Jerusalem Other Rome

Rome Alone

The Beard Goes Home is an ongoing chronicle of my trip to Israel, Cairo and Rome from November 3-18. If you want more information on a picture, hover your mouse over it for a pop-up caption. If you want to see a bigger version of the picture, click on it.

Thomas and I landed in Rome on Monday, November 15. We made it to the Angelicum, a Dominican school where we’d be staying, and settled in for the night. Just after I’d gone to bed, Thomas came to my room to tell me that a family emergency had come up and he would have to fly home ASAP. The earliest he could arrange was Wednesday morning, so on Tuesday we met up with a group from his parish in Columbia as originally planned and took a whirlwind tour of the city.

I confess that I was very nervous about Thomas leaving. I’d never been to Rome and didn’t know my way around; I was also feeling very ready to get back to Dayton. All of these emotions were strange to me – I’m usually much more adventurous, so I spent some time in prayer and reflection and determined to make the most of my time.

Rome turned out to be a city where it’s easy to get lost in the trees, but the forest is (relatively) easy to navigate. Once I’d gotten a good sense of how the famous Seven Hills are laid out, I could figure out how to get back to the general area of the Angelicum.

We managed to see a good many sites for as little time as we had, though since the rest of my group was Catholic, it mostly revolved around art and the 17 billion or so churches in Rome. We took in St. John’s of Lateran (the Pope’s actual church), St. Peter’s (including the Vatican Museum, St. Peter’s bones and the Sistine Chapel) and several Caravaggio’s.

One of the highlights of the trip was our Wednesday audience with Pope Benedict XVI, with about 20,000 people from all over the world. He addressed us in a half-dozen languages – the same five-minute homily to each group. After being in Israel, I was shocked at how lax the security surrounding the whole Vatican was (unless those goofy Swiss guard uniforms grant secret superpowers).

For me, though, the Roman ruins were definitely what I was most excited to see – especially anything pre-Constantinian (315-330 CE). This was a lot tougher than I thought it would be because Rome has been Christian for so long. It turns out that we’ve done a great job of Christian-izing pretty much everything in Rome. Even the red-granite Egyptian obelisks that are all over the city all have crosses or statues of Peter and Paul on top of them. All those marble columns that surround Vatican square? Their marble used to cover the Coliseum. The grand Circus Maxims, that made Herod’s circus in Caesarea Maritima look like a little league stadium? It’s basically a big strip of grass with some stairs cut into it. The Pantheon, a temple built to all the Roman gods is now a church dedicated to all the Christian martyrs.

As a person of faith, I get it. Rome was the capitol of the Roman Empire (I’m sure this is not a news flash). The monuments to the pagan gods were just as widespread in the city as Christian churches and monuments are now. But the history nerd in me weeps over the artifacts and monuments that have been lost (or destroyed). The church (and the Empire) found it expedient to recycle – to tear down old monuments to men and gods long dead in order to build new monuments to the new kings and new God of Rome. It was cheaper and it erased from history the records of the Other cultures.

This is something I’ve seen over and over in this trip – the new cultures and religions cannot abide the old, so they destroy and replace. Caesarea Maritima was a great example of this – it changed rulers five times before it was abandoned, and each army destroyed what was there and built their own monuments. Mt. Megiddo was the same. Not to mention the city of Jerusalem (::cough:: Temple Mount ::cough::).

And, of course, Rome.

But I wonder if we could try something different. What if, instead of looking at these structures and monuments as Other, we instead celebrated the good in them.

The ancient Temples are beautiful in their way, and they’re certainly marvels of architecture. I can confess that without praising Roman gods (or Muslim or Canaanite or whatever). I can wonder at the ingenuity and power of the human spirit that is, after all, created in God’s image without worrying or feeling threatened. That creative drive that led to the construction of Cairo’s ubiquitous mosques and Rome’s obelisks, columns, arches and temples is the same creative drive that spawned the enormity of St. Peter’s and the beautiful churches that mark all the sacred sites in the Holy Land. It’s the creative drive that we have been given by our Creator, and I believe that we can celebrate it in a way that honors the Gospel without compromising it.

Church Israel Other Rome

From Jebus to Jesus

On our last day in Jerusalem, Father Kevin took Thomas and I to experience one of the coolest (in nerd-speak) sites in the city – the City of David. Bethlehem is sometimes called ‘the City of David’ because David was born there, but the name was also given to Jerusalem.

According to 2 Samuel, David’s first act upon becoming king of Israel was to take the city of the Jebusites, Jerusalem (in around 1000 BCE). The Jebusites seem to have been a small clan that lived in the southern part of Israel, in the midst of the lands given to the tribe of Benjamin. They built a pretty substantial (for its day) walled city on the top of Mt. Zion, and David managed to take it. Probably because it was a great location, David made Jerusalem his capitol city (2 Samuel 5:6-10).

After David’s death, his son Solomon became king, and built a Temple to God on another hill overlooking Mt. Zion. Solomon’s Temple was one of the greatest temples in the ancient world, and even after Israel divided into two kingdoms (thanks to Solomon’s son, Rehoboam), the Temple ensured that Jerusalem remained the capitol of the kings of Judah (which is what the Southern kingdom was called) until Jerusalem was destroyed by Babylonians in 586 BCE.

As Judah’s power and presence in the world waxed and waned, later kings did what they could to continue to expand and reinforce the City of David. The city gradually grew towards the Temple so that the original city complex was at the south end of the growing town.

Today, the City of David is being excavated, and it stands outside the city walls built by Herod the Great. As we walked down the stairways, we could see the layers of history. Walls built into the hillside by the Jebusites peeked out from under and behind fortifications added by later kings and even some of the ruins of Nehemiah’s rebuilt walls.

Without question the most spectacular experience of our visit to the City of David was our trip through Hezekiah’s Tunnel. King Hezekiah carried out one of the largest and most important innovations to the town during the 7th century BCE (2 Kings 20:20). Jerusalem’s water came from a spring at the base of the city. The problem (much like at both Masada and Mt. Megiddo) was that in order to get the water, a person had to leave the city walls. Which is not a problem unless your city is besieged by a foreign army.

In Hezekiah’s time, the Northern Kingdom, Israel, had already been conquered by the Assyrian Empire (in 722 BCE) and Judah existed in an uneasy tension. Hezekiah had a tunnel carved beneath the city that diverted the spring inside the city to a pool that was called ‘Siloam’.

Armed with flashlights, we entered the tunnel where the spring emerged from the rock, wading quickly into water that flowed up around our waists. For most of the trip, the water ran around our ankles as we walked through passages that were usually high enough for us to stand. A few times we nearly had to crawl, and it was rarely wide enough that I did not hit my shoulders on the walls. With no lights except for our small flashlights, we plodded through the tunnel’s 530 meters (1,740 ft., or about 1/3 mile) in just under 45 minutes.

We finally emerged at the site of the current Pool of Siloam – because of changes to the City’s geography, the water has gathered in a few different spots. This pool is famous because Jesus healed a blind man by making mud (with dirt and spit), smearing it on his eyes and then sending him to wash in this pool (John 9).

Without question, this was one of the highlights of our trip. We were literally walking through biblical history spanning 3,000 years. Moreover, the tunnel was dug from both sides, just like the Chunnel, but without the advantages of modern technology. It’s amazing what we can accomplish, and how much of it is now little more than a tourist attraction.

City of David Hezekiah Israel Jerusalem

How to Be a Villain

After we visited Armageddon, Thomas and I made our way to the Mediterranean coast of Israel, to the ruins of Caesarea Maritima. It’s a beautiful ruined harbor built by Herod the Great just before Jesus was born (10-8 BCE).

After the last of the Hasmonean kings died out, Rome conquered Israel and made Herod the Great king of Israel. Since Herod wasn’t technically Jewish, the Jews were not thrilled with this decision, and Herod spent his entire reign walking a fine line between sucking up to Rome and keeping the Jews happy enough that they wouldn’t revolt. Because the only thing Rome liked less than an unconquered territory was a territory they’d already conquered that was unruly.

For all Herod’s faults, he was an incredible builder (remember – he was the one who first turned Masada into a luxurious, nearly impenetrable fortress). His dream was to create a harbor in Israel that would rival Alexandria. He came to the shores of the Mediterranean and literally created a city out of nothing. The city was a marvel of the Mediterranean – everyone who saw it agreed that Herod had accomplished his goal.

The coast had no natural harbor, no natural water breaks, so Herod utilized cutting edge technologies to create an artificial harbor. He built giant wooden boxes and floated them out onto the water. Once they were in place, they were filled with volcanic ash that, upon contact with water, hardened into a salt-water-resistant concrete. The breakwaters gradually dissolved and after a few hundred years (and a couple of earthquakes), the harbor sank. Today, you can still see the remnants beneath the waves.

Because Caesar Augustus had made him king of Israel, Herod named the city Caesarea (Herod’s son, Philip, built his own Caesarea north of the Sea of Galilee; to differentiate between them, Herod’s became known as ‘Caesarea on the Sea’ or Caesarea Maritima, while Philip’s became Caesarea Philippi). Facing the harbor, on the highest point in the city, Herod built a temple to Roma and Augustus, his patron. As you can imagine, this infuriated the Jews, so to appease them, Herod massively renovated the Second Temple, transforming it into the largest temple complex in the ancient world for nearly 100 years (Rome destroyed it in the First Jewish War in 70 CE). After Rome was Christianized under Constantine, the Temple was leveled and a large octagonal church built in its place.

In addition to the temple and harbor, Herod also built a Circus and Theater to entertain the citizens of Caesarea. The Circus held chariot races, and possibly gladiatorial events by the end of the first century CE. Each of the buildings could hold 10,000 persons and both looked out onto the Mediterranean. Herod also built himself a massive, luxurious palace (of course), complete with a sweet-water pool for public bathing.

As the Christian movement began to spread, Caesarea played a major role. The apostle Philip moved here (Acts 8:40), and the first Gentile convert to Christianity, Cornelius was stationed here (Acts 10). Paul used the port at Caesarea frequently in his travels.

After Herod Antipas died and Rome took over direct control of Israel, the Roman governors stayed here. When Paul is brought before Festus (Acts 25), he is brought to Herod’s Palace in Caesarea. You can walk into the ruins of this room today when you visit.

In the 600s, Caesarea fell to Muslim invaders, who leveled the 4th century church building and constructed a mosque over it. But in the 1000s, Crusaders reconquered the city and tore down the Muslim buildings, constructing a new church building and massive wall around the city. In the 1200s, a huge Muslim army besieged the city and took it.

Maybe because he was sick of all the drama, that general leveled Caesarea and abandoned it. The city lay that way until it was rediscovered at the turn of the 20th century. It’s still being excavated, but it’s now also a popular vacation spot. You can fish, snorkel, swim or lay on the beach. It’s not quite the bustling harbor town Herod imagined, but it’s got a little something for everyone.

I can’t help but see Caesarea Maritima as a fascinating chapter in Israel’s history. Before Herod’s renovations, the Second Temple was a pathetic echo of the temple Solomon had built. But thanks to Herod, it became the envy of everyone who saw it. But Herod had no interest in God (remember – he’s the one who tried to kill baby Jesus!). He renovated the Temple to prop up his own political power. He knew he had to keep the Jews – well, not happy exactly, but at least not miserable enough to revolt. And so while he labored on his true passion – a monument to his own greatness – he also transformed God’s Temple into the envy of the ancient world.

Of course, then Jesus said, “Tear this Temple down, and I’ll raise it again in three days.” And while all that’s left of Herod the Great is a bunch of ruined, excavated palaces, the baby he tried to kill has had a gorgeous, enormous house of worship built over every spot his followers even think he might have done something. Which is a nice commentary on what happens to the guys who trust the kingdoms they build instead of the kingdom of God, right?

Caesarea Maritima Herod the Great Imperial Cult Israel Syncretism

The End of the World, A Few Years Early

On our way back to Jerusalem, Thomas and I decided to stop off at Mt. Megiddo. We left Tiberius and drove southwest, passing just a few miles south of Nazareth and through the Valley of Jezreel. Jezreel was the site of quite a few bloody battles, and most of them did not turn out well for Israel. By the 7th century BCE, the place had already acquired a pretty awful reputation (God told Hosea to name one of his sons Jezreel; this would be sort of like naming a child today Auschwitz). It was sometimes known as the Valley of Slaughter.

Mt. Megiddo is at one end of the Jezreel Valley, and it was inhabited steadily from about 3,000 BCE until the 4th century BCE or so. The Canaanites first lived there, and today you can see an ancient Canaanite worship space – archaeologists have identified 17 layers of Canaanite temples. The Canaanites’ chief god was Ba’al the storm god; Israel often turned away from God to worship Ba’al and his goddess wife, Asherah.

After Israel conquered the Canaanites, Mt. Megiddo was fought over by pretty much everyone. It’s been ruled over by Egyptians, Israelites and Assyrians. In fact, the Egyptians killed King Josiah – one of the most faithful of Israel’s kings – at Megiddo.

Another of Israel’s kings, Ahab, turned Mt. Megiddo into one of his three major centers of government. Much like Herod did to Masada, Ahab transformed Mt. Megiddo into a luxurious palace complex complete with stables for hundreds of horses. He even dug a tunnel through the mountain (which is really more hill-like) to the spring at the foot of Megiddo, so that during a siege the city still had access to water. Ahab was one of Israel’s most politically successful kings, but the Scriptures judge him as a failure because he openly embraced Ba’al worship thanks to his wife, Jezebel. Mt. Megiddo’s long history of Ba’al worship might be part of what drew Ahab there in the first place.

After the Assyrians conquered Israel (including Mt. Megiddo), they fell to the Persians and Mt. Megiddo lay an abandoned ruin at the edge of the Valley of Slaughter. It had a long history of idol worship and warfare, and was a place of shame and sin in the Hebrew culture.

The Hebrew word for ‘mountain’ is har. But the New Testament was written in Greek, which doesn’t have an ‘h’ sound, so Har Megiddo became Armegiddo. Here’s what John saw in the Revelation he received:

I saw three foul spirits like frogs coming from the mouth of the dragon, from the mouth of the beast and from the mouth of the false prophet. These are demonic spirits, performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty. And they assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon. – Revelation 16:13-16

That’s right, everyone. I made it to the end of the world. I just showed up a little bit early (Which was fine with me). With everything that Mt. Megiddo represented to a person shaped by the Old Testament, is it any wonder that John chose this place as the site where the Unholy Trinity would gather their forces to wage war on the Kingdom of God?

Armageddon Eschatology Idolatry Israel Mt. Megiddo

Jesus’ Neighborhood

After our visit to Masada, Thomas and I drove North through the West Bank to the Galilee. We stayed in Tiberius, on the Southern end of the Sea of Galilee. Because it was a Roman city, Jesus probably never went there (no pious Jew would have). Ironically, today the city is a favorite weekend getaway for many of the Orthodox community in Southern Israel. The next morning, we got up ready to experience the places Jesus spent most of his time ministering.

Whether you follow John’s chronology (which has Jesus visiting Jerusalem at least three times, and possibly as many as five) or the Synoptics’ (Matthew, Mark and Luke, in which Jesus visits Jerusalem only once, and it kills him), Jesus spent most of his days ministering in the Northernmost part of the country – the region surrounding the Lake of Galilee.

Capernaum became his home base – probably because Peter and Andrew lived there. Capernaum was a tiny village (as most of the towns on the Galilee were) whose Hebrew name was Kfa Nahum – the village of Nahum; in Greek (the language all four Gospels were written in), it became ‘Capernaum’. Because it was the first town a person coming into Herod Antipas’ territory (from his brother, Phillip’s territory) reached, there was a taxing station, which was probably where Jesus called Matthew (Mark 2:14). Because this was Jesus’ home base, he did tons of miracles here. He healed the centurion’s servant, the hemorrhaging woman, and Peter’s mother-in-law, along with many other unnamed people (Matthew 8:5-16). Plus, Capernaum had a synagogue (which the non-Jewish Herod Antipas had built for the Capernaumites because they were so poor). A man named Jairus was a prominent leader in this synagogue – Jesus raised his daughter from the dead (Matthew 5:21-43). He also cast demons out of a man in this synagogue (Luke 4:31-36).

**Bonus: Capernaum is also the site of one of my favorite of Jesus’ miracles. Check out Matthew 17:24-27**

They’ve excavated much of Capernaum, so you can now see the 4th century synagogue built on top of the one where Jesus would’ve worked (but you can see in a corner the first-century excavation! You can also see the first-century homes, which don’t have roofs anymore because they were made of thatch – which you could cut through and lower someone down (Mark 2:1-12).

Peter’s home – and the room in which Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law – is excavated and protected by a massive church that has been built on stilts over the site. You can look into the room itself, which is a pretty incredible feeling.

Very near Capernaum is the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fish. In case that is unclear, this church preserves the rock on which Jesus miraculously fed 5,000 (Mark 6:34-44). The site is less than a 20 minute walk from Capernaum and sits at the bottom of the Mount of the Beatitudes where Jesus (probably) gave his famous Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). The Sermon on the Mount is one of Amanda and I’s favorite passages of Scripture – it is the theme of her tattoo sleeve and she has the whole thing memorized! – so needless to say, the Mount was a particularly special place for me. The Church on the grounds is a small but beautiful octagonal building (to represent the 8 Beatitudes) and the grounds themselves are a beautiful, well-kept garden looking out over the Galilee.

Only a few hundred yards down the beach from the site of the miracle of the loaves and fish is the spot where Jesus made himself known to Peter and the Beloved after his resurrection (John 21). Again, being at this site provided me with some amazing perspective. Peter had been a fisherman before Jesus called him. After Jesus died, Peter – crushed and defeated – returned home to the only other trade he knew. He and some other disciples sailed out from Capernaum and, because they weren’t catching anything, had sailed a few hundred yards down the shoreline. A man cooking food on the shoreline called out to them, told them throw their nets on the other side of the boat, and when they did, they began to haul in a miraculous number of fish.

Peter realized right away that it was Jesus, so he dives in and swims for shore, leaving the other disciples to bring the boat. He gets to shore and is confronted by Jesus. Because Peter denied Jesus three times, at this site Jesus asked Peter three times if Peter loved him. When Peter said yes, each time Jesus told him to take care of Jesus’ sheep.

The church preserves the rock on which he cooked their breakfast is preserved in the church, and I found it to be a great place to pray for everyone I have the privilege of serving as a pastor. To be entrusted with the responsibilities I have as a minister has been an awesome privilege, and I found walking in Peter’s footsteps to be a special, unique experience I’ll treasure for a long time.

Bible Galilee Gospels Israel Sermon on the Mount

The Press Conference

This series of posts is my attempt to demonstrate that the language of the Revelation was actually symbolic code that was very intelligible to a first-century Jewish Christian living in the Roman Empire. I’m re-writing the Revelation to communicate the same message, but to a twenty-first century American Christian audience, using symbols we understand. This particular section parallels Revelation chapter 8. If you want to catch up, here’s a PDF of the entire series so far: The Revelation to JR – 1-8.

When the Lamb signed the seventh line on the Order, there was utter silence in heaven for about half an hour. Then I saw the seven angels who comprise God’s cabinet, and they were given seven news cameras.

Another angel with a golden coffee cup came and stood at the podium. He was given gallons of coffee to place along with the prayers of all the saints on the golden podium that stands in front of the desk. The aroma of the coffee, along with the saints’ prayers, rose up to God from the angel’s hand. Then the angel took the coffee cup and filled it with boiling coffee from the podium and threw it down onto the earth, and when he did, I saw lightning flash, heard thunder crash and saw a massive earthquake.Continue reading

Enculturation Eschatology Revelation Worship