Jesus and the Few: the Neophyte

Who Went on Jesus' First Preaching Tour?

Mid-Summer, AD 27

Jesus and his First Disciples

Jesus picked up his first disciples in the late winter or early spring of AD 27, down by the river Jordan where the Baptist was preaching..  The disciples' names that we have of this encounter are Simon Peter, his brother Andrew, Philip, and Nathanael. Another disciple, un-named, was also there; he was most likely John son of Zebedee. Either then or soon after, Jesus would also have picked up John's brother James to join his team.

With this team of six, Jesus attended a wedding in Cana and visited with Peter's wife and mother-in-law in Capernaum, where he brought along his four brothers. Then came Passover. Jesus went to Passover in Jerusalem, taking along several if not all six of his disciples. In Jerusalem he overturned tables in the temple and met secretly with Nicodemus, who is accused by some of being the richest Pharisee in Judea.

Jesus remained in Judea at an un-named water source where he preached and his disciples baptized in his name. He stayed there until the Baptist was arrested, then returned to Galilee via Samaria. We know his disciples were with him because he sent them into the Samaritan town to buy food.

Jesus was rejected at Nazareth, probably because he was in the process of moving his home to Capernaum. Near Capernaum, in the summer of AD 27 he called four of his disciples to become "Fishers of Men." These first four were Peter, Andrew, James and John. They followed him to the synagogue where he preached and cast a demon out of of a man that was there.

At Peter's house afterward he healed Peter's mother-in-law, who was probably the owner of the house where he and Peter and Andrew were staying. (Peter was raised in Bethsaida, and possibly moved to Capernaum when he got married.)

And after all that, Jesus went on his first preaching tour in Galilee. Who went with him? Almost certainly he would have brought the four Fishers of Men with him. Possibly Nathanael (also known as Bartholomew) and Philip went with him also.

Who else? Jesus had not called Matthew yet (also known as Levi the Tax Man); this would not occur until the Autumn of AD 27.  Jesus had not named his twelve apostles yet; this would not occur until the Spring of AD 28. by that time, somewhere along the way Jesus had gathered more than twelve disciples from  among whom he could choose the Twelve.

We are not used to thinking of Jesus with a small band of disciples; our notions are generally of the twelve plus others--and we forget the three female disciples: Joanna, Susanna, and the Magdalene. Completely left out is Peter's wife, who may have been a fourth female disciple.

For the first year of Jesus' ministry, therefore, Jesus was the leader of a quite small band. In the second year, Jesus begins to heal multitudes and attracts much attention and many disciples.

Like Jesus, we can expect to start small. And like Jesus, our ministries can grow as needed and provided through the will of the Father and the enabling of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus started small. So must we.

The Lost Testimony of the Twelve

Jesus Sends Out the Twelve

Jesus Sends Out the Twelve

Late in the year AD 28, after Jesus had appointed twelve of his disciples as his emissaries, he sent them out into the field to act as "fishers of men." He charged them to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, and cast out demons--four types of miracles. They were to do this while preaching, "The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!" (Matthew 10:7-8).

What happened? We know they went out, for the Bible tells us that they returned and gave their testimony to Jesus of all that they had done and taught (Mark 6:30, Luke 9:10). But what was their testimony? The Bible is muted. We know that they taught, and can assume they had at least some successes at performing the four miracles. What did they say about themselves? We do not know.

Late in the year AD 29 Jesus sent out an additional 72 disciples, under much of the same charge, as an advance team preparing the way for his own planned itinerary (Luke 10:1-24). Only Luke reports this in his meticulous research project which we now know as the Gospel of Luke. Luke follows up with the story of the enthusiasm and great joy that the 72 reported: "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!" 

Surely, if Luke had found a similar testimony for the return of the Twelve, he would have reported it in his Gospel. Luke does report that they went preaching and "healing everywhere," without mentioning other activities. But someone has evidently stolen their personal testimony!

Who Were the Twelve?

Matthew was also a son of Alphaeus. Nathanael was known as Son of Tholmai (Bartholomew)

A motley crew of mostly Galileans, the Twelve included at least five fishermen from the Sea of Galilee. The Twelve consisted of Peter and Andrew, sons of Jonah; James and John, sons of Zebedee; Philip their fisherman friend; "Levi" Matthew and "Little" James, the sons of Alphaeus; Judas Thaddeus, probably the son of "Little" James; "Twin" Thomas, who averred that he would go along with Jesus to his death; Nathanael, the son of Tholmai (Bartholomew); "Zealot" Simon; and Judas the man of the town of Kerioth.

The youngest of them has always been identified as John, assuredly still in his teens when he met Jesus. The richest of them was clearly Matthew (nicknamed Levi the Tax Collector), who would have amassed at the least a comfortable house, a wife, and a family. He and his brother "Little" James Alphaeus may have been the only disciples older than Jesus. Peter was probably around Jesus' age.

What Happened With the Twelve?

A Disparate Group: Mostly Galileans

I have been blogging about the history of Jesus' ministry, dealing with issues that came up as I was writing the history-based fictional tale of what it would be like to be John son of Zebedee. I started my story in the winter of AD 27 see (http://rolinbruno.com). As of my blog post on demons, I have come to the summer of AD 27. But as I write these blog posts I am also writing my third book, which begins during Hannukah on January 5, AD 29.

This is about the time that the Twelve would have returned to Jesus and reported all that they and done and taught. So what else is going on in their world that might give me a clue about what happened to the memory of their  testimony?

One climactic event stands above everything else that is happening at the time: John the Baptist is beheaded by King Herod Antipas, who was tricked into doing that by his wife Herodias, a tale noticed outside the Bible by the contemporary historian Josephus.

Execution of John the Baptist

John the Baptist was Beheaded by King Herod Antipas

The Bible tale of the relationship between the Baptist's execution and the Twelve's mission is muddled, but it is likely that the Baptist was alive when they set out two by two on their six missions, and was killed before they returned to Jesus. Luke's Gospel, for instance, inserts a paragraph which mentions the Baptist just after the Twelve were sent out and just before they returned (Luke 9:7-9).

Were the Twelve on the trail when they heard about the Baptist and aborted their mission to flee to Jesus? Jesus had been known as a disciple of the Baptist because he accepted John's baptism; was his life in danger? The same for John and Andrew, who were disciples of the Baptist when they met Jesus. Philip, Nathanael, and even "Big" James may also have been followers of the Baptist. Would King Herod seek them out to kill them?

There is another isolated odd datum: some un-named Pharisees warned Jesus, "Go away! Leave from here, for Herod wants to kill you." This is placed by Luke in late winter of AD 29, after Hanukkah on December 21.

This is odd because there is no other indication in the New Testament that Herod Antipas wanted to kill Jesus. Herod was fascinated and disturbed by Jesus , saying that Jesus had risen up to haunt him for killing the Baptist. Either this threat was a lie concocted by the Pharisees, or--more likely--a rumor which had arisen after the death of the Baptist. I suspect that Antipas would have been careful not to allow himself to be tricked into killing a second prophet, after regretting the killing of the first one: John the Baptist.

Jesus reacted to the warning with disdain: "You go tell that fox that.... [the time for the appointed end of my ministry here has not yet come]." The Pharisees were reporting old news which by that time Jesus had already dealt with.

As to what happened when the Twelve returned, Luke reports that Jesus withdrew to Bethsaida--outside the territory of Herod Antipas--and took the Twelve with him. So the testimony of the Ministry of the Twelve became intermingled with the reaction to the death of the Baptist, and got dropped from the repertory of the tales told about the ministry of Jesus.

Due to their disarray, it is possible that the six pairs of disciples returned to Jesus at separate times depending on when each team learned of the death of the Baptist and the purported threat against Jesus. This also would have fragmented the collection of their testimony. In contrast, the 72 appear to have returned to Jesus at the appointed time, and gave their testimony as a group. Thus their testimony survived while the Twelve's faded from the memory of the followers of Jesus.

The triumph is that although the Twelve were in disarray, Jesus was always in command, and knew exactly what to do to re-energize and re-encourage his disciples. And so it is with us: we can always be encouraged by Jesus, who knows what to do for us next when we don't know what to do for ourselves.

Woe to You, Chorazin!

The Chorazin Synagogue Today

"Woe to you, Bethsaida!" "Woe to you, Capernaum!"

Late Spring, AD 28

What was it about Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum that ticked Jesus off so much? Jesus said that if the miracles that happened in these three cities had happened in Tyre or Sidon or Sodom--cities that opposed God--they would fare better than the cities where Jesus spent most of his time.

But tiny Chorazin?  Here's a look at the extent of this small town:

The Town-site of Chorazin

The historian Eusebius in the fourth century was aware of the fate of Chorazin, and mused that its destruction was fulfillment of the prophecy of Jesus.

Let's take a deeper look at the things that ticked Jesus off (except for hypocrisy in the religious class, his pet peeve). One complaint was that the crowds following him were looking for marvelous signs rather than responding to his message. The message that earned the name "gospel" (good news) went like this: "REPENT! And believe the Good News of the Kingdom of God." It's clear that not enough belief in the good news, and especially not enough repenting, were taking place.

The religious class (Pharisees and Sadducees) weren't helping this a bit. Instead, they were challenging Jesus to perform some really big SIGN (miracle) that would prove that Jesus was an emissary of God. The crowds, egged on by this challenge, showed up by the hundreds and more to witness the big event, but Jesus refused their request. The only sign that they would be given would be the day that Jesus arose from the grave.

With a few scraps of food, Jesus fed 5,000-plus people, and then again 4,000-plus people. When they came looking for him again Jesus said, "You're not looking for me because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the bread" that he produced miraculously (John 6:26).

Jesus summed the situation up succinctly thus: "While seeing they don't perceive, and while hearing, they don't understand." His constant refrain became, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

"If you have ears to hear, then hear."

Jesus' curse against Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum is found in the Bible twice. The first occurrence is at Matthew 11:20-24 after Jesus answers the question sent to him by John the Baptist. This takes place in the summer of AD 28 during the second year of Jesus' ministry. Here Matthew collects the varying responses to Jesus' message in chapters 11:2 through 12:50.

The second occurrence is at Luke 10:13-16, as part of Jesus' instructions for the seventy-two disciples he is sending out into the field to prepare the way for his own arrival (Lk 10:1). This takes place in late Autumn of AD 29, during Jesus' third year of ministry. Here Luke skillfully weaves the Chorazin story into the lesson that the seventy-two can expect no better response to the Gospel than Jesus himself received.

There is no reason to believe that Jesus did not proclaim these curses more than once: In his travels from town to town there is little doubt that Jesus had a stump speech (like our current politicians) where he repeated the lessons needed to be heard by his listeners. But the Gospel writers are interested less in a chronological re-telling than the importance of the lessons themselves and that they be placed in settings in which they might be "heard" -- truly understood.

What is the lesson here for you and I? I suggest that if we approach Jesus wishing and expecting a particular message, that is the message we will hear. Unless we open our minds and hearts to Jesus and become teachable, we will miss what he has for us. We have a great capacity for hearing what we want to hear and seeing what we want to see. It is the Holy Spirit in our lives that opens us up to hear and see what Jesus wants us to hear and see.

Finally, there is a sculpture which overlooks the ruins of Chorazin yet today. In it Jesus teaches the message of the Good News to his disciples, against the backdrop of dead Chorazin, which had the chance, but will never hear.

Jesus Teaches the Twelve

Are Demons Powerful?

Do You Have a Demon In Your Life?

Summer, AD 27

The Gospels are highly populated with demons, or so it seems. After Jesus walked down that fateful beach and called four fishermen (Peter, Andrew, James, John) to leave their boats and "follow me," their lives would never be the same. Formerly they were part-time fishermen and part-time students of Jesus. Now they were full time "fishers of men."

Jesus, followed by the four, went "immediately" (according to Mark) from the beach to the synagogue in Capernaum to teach (Mark 1:21, Luke 4:31). What lesson would he teach for the benefit of his now full-time disciples? What key precept would Mark or Luke choose from Jesus' sermon that day for their Gospel message? Surprise! Neither Mark nor Luke tells us what Jesus preached that day, except to note that he preached with authority.

Instead, the important lesson of that day was What To Do About Demons. Jesus is confronted by a man who "had the spirit of an unclean demon," according to Luke. Luke is carefully translating Jewish concepts for his Greek-speaking reader Theophilus here, because in the Greek world a daimon can be either divine or evil, or even neutral. But in the Jewish world of Jesus a daimon is always opposed to the divine, always "unclean" (unacceptable to God), and always a body-less spirit. In the New Testament, a daimon never refers to the spirit of a deceased person, and is always part of the kingdom of Satan.

Jesus encounters this demon IN THE SYNAGOGUE, the place where the Word of God was taught every Sabbath day. The demon uses the man's voice to shout "Leave us alone!" Aha. "Us." There is more than one demon involved here. The pronouns used in this story show us that there are multiple demons in league here (us), while a singular demon does the speaking (I).

Jesus uses two commands: "Be quiet and come out of him!" He uses the second person singular for these commands, indicating that just one demon is "in" the man while the associate demons in league with the first one are out and about in an undefined presence. Although the man suffered a convulsion which threw him to the ground, he was not done any harm.

The Jews in the synagogue were amazed by the power and authority of Jesus. They were not, apparently, amazed that there was a demon present at their worship service. Did they already know that the man in their midst "had" a demon? If they did, they clearly felt they had no power to do anything about that. If so, they were wrong.

Now, about "possession" by demons: The NASB translation here in Luke throws this in gratuitously, saying that there was "a man possessed." Nothing in the Greek here supports that concept. The usual place you will find demon possession alleged is in Matthew's Gospel, most often when translating the Greek daimonizoma. I object to this translation, which is tied too strongly to popular semi-pagan concepts of the middle ages. A better translation of this word is "demonized," meaning that a person is controlled by the evil spirit, rather than owned by it. You will not find an instance in the New Testament where a demon will have any concern for the person who is demonized, as if the person was a possession of the demon.

What is Jesus' lesson for his disciples? Authority. Authority of the Father, and authority of Jesus. This authority can be invoked by his disciples when they issue a command against demonic powers "in the name of Jesus." Note also that there were exorcists among the Jews, and even among the Pharisees. These would be persons who had been taught to combat the demonic forces of evil by invoking the authority of the Most High God--the only God.

A Demon cannot overpower You -- Unless you let it.

How does one Acquire a Demon?

It could be as simple as falling in love with your own reflection in a mirror. Or as addictive as devoting yourself to pornographic fantasy. Excessive use of alcohol or recreational drugs are another way to invite demons into your life. Demons do not know your mind, but they can see your actions. They are more than willing to encourage you to go ever further down pathways that will separate you from the Father. In the extreme, if you participate with them, you may find yourself out of control. If you find yourself doing the very thing that you said you would never do, there may be demonic forces at work to try to persuade you.

In Episodes of my Book Series JOHN!

The event described by Mark and Luke occurred early in the ministry of Jesus, during the summer of AD 27. (Jesus was crucified in April of AD 30.) The Bible text following the event suggests that there were several people oppressed by demons in the area of Capernaum, and that their families brought them to Jesus to be healed. In my book I dealt with the aftermath for the man who was freed from the demon in the synagogue, and how he reacted to the new freedom in his life.

In Episode Two I deal with the conflict between Jesus and a whole legion of demons that took place in the fall of AD 28. I will deal with those issues here at a later date.

A Demon Has No Power Except  What You Give It.

If you suspect that you have a demon affecting your own life, be assured: it does not have any power at all except the power that you give it yourself. The image at the top of this post suggests the minions of Satan that prowl like roaring lions, seeking someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8). If you resist them, firm in your faith, you will be victorious.