Jesus and the Beloved Disciple

Was There a Disciple that Jesus Favored Most?

Who Was the Beloved Disciple?

The so-called "beloved" disciple is first identified at 13:23 in the Gospel of John: "Reclining on Jesus' bosom was one of his disciples, the one whom Jesus loved." This happens during the 'Last Supper' when Jesus identifies to this disciple who it is that would betray him, as the disciple leans back upon Jesus' bosom. J. Ramsay Michaels, in his massive commentary The Gospel of John, writes that this sequence (verses 21-30) "is seen and told through the eyes of this disciple 'whom Jesus loved.'"

This disciple appears again at the foot of the cross (John 19:26-27): "When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, 'Woman, behold your son!' Then he said to the disciple, 'Behold your mother!' From that hour the disciple took her into his own household."

The disciple appears next in the story (John 21:20-23) when Peter saw "the disciple whom Jesus loved" and asked Jesus what would happen to that disciple in the time to come. Lastly, the writer of the gospel switches into the first person (John 21:24-25) and identifies himself as this same disciple.

When Christian scribes began to collect more than one gospel into a single document, they identified each gospel by name, preceding the text with kata Johannes, "according to John." Through all the early history of the church, this was believed to be John the son of Zebedee, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus. Some recent writers have other theories.

One more appearance should be noticed: In John's gospel, the first disciples that meet Jesus are two disciples of the Baptist, Andrew and an anonymous companion. From the time that I began to read the Bible, I have identified this companion as John son of Zebedee. Again, some recent writers deny this, although it has been the traditional view of the church.

Okay, We Have His Identity, but What's This  About Being Beloved?

Didn't Jesus love the other disciples? What's different about this one?

In Christian tradition, John has been seen as the youngest disciple, the younger brother of James son of Zebedee. The painting above reflects this tradition. It was thought that John, as the youngest, particularly received Jesus' attention due to the love Jesus had for children. It is probable that John was at least 13, the age at which children became responsible for their own sins, with their father relieved of that burden.

Some liberal commenters have alleged that John and Jesus were gay lovers. This is completely wrong on two points. First, it betrays the commenter's confusion between love and sex. These two things can exist together or separately, and one does not necessarily imply the other. Second, the Greek of the original gospel is explicit. There are three different Greek words for love: eros, for erotic love; phileo, for familial love; and agape, for unselfish love. Every Gospel instance of Jesus' love for John uses agape.

But there is more. As the youngest, John would have been assigned the tasks usually relegated to the least disciple. This included being assigned to see to the personal needs of the master, such as bringing him his water. When the other disciples would go on a mission or errand, the least disciple would remain with the master in case he should need something.

This assignment put John son of Zebedee in a position in which he would see things and hear things which the other disciples would not be aware of. And indeed, that's what we find in his Gospel. When Jesus goes in private for a secret meeting with Nicodemus, a powerhouse in the Ruling Council of Jews, John is there with him to record their conversation. When all the other disciples go into the Samaritan town to buy food, John stays with Jesus at the well and witnesses the conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan, and hears Jesus for the first time declare that he is the Messiah.

But there is even more.

Not Worthy to Untie the Strap of His Sandal?

John the Baptist declared, "After me One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals (Mark 1:7). The Baptist was speaking of a menial job which was often given to the lowest servant in a household: the least servant. The Baptist's point was that the One to come was greater than he like the master of a household is greater than the least of his servants.

John son of Zebedee may have encountered this task for himself, when Jesus was at the end of a long tiring day of hiking or preaching.

Jesus was especially sensitive to the underclass--to those usually thought of as the least important members of society. But he saw the hope in them and prophesied their fulfilment: In the end the last would be first and the first would be last. The lowly ones would be lifted up, and the exalted ones would be brought down.

Jesus Shows How Privileged People Should Behave.

At the Last Supper -- before the incident when John reclined on the bosom of Jesus -- Jesus demonstrated for his disciples how he expected them to act. Though he was the Master and the very Holy One of God, he took the lowliest job at their meal and washed each of the disciple's feet.

This was not always a pretty thing to do or see. The streets of town would be dirty, littered with things like the excrement of the village dogs. Some of the streets in and around Jerusalem had open sewer lines cut in rock at the side of the road to carry human offal out of the city. Washing feet was needed--but a dirty job.



Jesus Loved John just as Jesus Loved the Lowly.  For many hours and days, Jesus was physically close to John. John took care of Jesus and Jesus took care of John. He was always there to bring the lowly to Jesus' mind.

And lastly, Jesus knew he would never have a son or daughter born to him while he was on earth. The prophet Isaiah had said of the Messiah, "And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken (Isaiah 53:8).

John was the closest thing to a son that Jesus would experience during his sojourn with us. John was the disciple whom Jesus loved.

The Family of Jesus

ARE YOU IN THE FAMILY?

Spring, AD 27

Here's Jesus on a Journey.

Imagine, if you will, that this is the journey that Jesus took from Cana to Capernaum.

After the wedding, Jesus went down [from Cana] to Capernaum with his mother and his brothers and his disciples, and they remained there for a few days. (John 2:12).

First, about Jesus' starting place at the wedding in Cana:

A. Jesus and also his disciples had been invited to the wedding (John 2:2). But Jesus had just met at least five new disciples at a location over two day's travel away from Cana, and Jesus had instructed them to follow him. From the detailed incident about wine at the wedding, it can be proposed that the same disciple who witnessed the call of the disciples (i.e., the writer of the Gospel) also witnessed the water changed to wine. Evidently Jesus was close enough to the family of the bride or groom that he was empowered to invite whomever he wished.

B. Jesus' mother Mary was concerned about the wine running out at the wedding, and was either empowered to do something about it, or took on the responsibility herself (John 2:3). Evidently she too was close enough to the family of the bride or groom to feel responsibility for the happy celebration of the marriage. Mary said to Jesus, "They have no wine." Someone else (they) was actually in charge, but 'they' had dropped the ball. Remember also that Mary's husband Joseph is not mentioned anywhere in the ministry of the adult Jesus, and is presumed to have died before (or at the time!) Jesus turned 30 years old.

C. Mary says to the servants (literal translation), "Whatever [Jesus] tells you, do it!" She used the imperative form of the Greek verb when speaking to the servants. Does this mean that the family of Jesus had multiple servants in Nazareth, and they had been brought to Cana to help with the wedding? That's literally possible from the text, but is certainly not the presumption of centuries of Christians who have read the Bible. It just seems more likely that the servants were part of the household at Cana that was hosting the wedding, rather than being help brought in from Nazareth. In any case, Mary is evidently empowered to give commands to the servants helping with the wedding. This not only shows her closeness with the family of the bride or the groom, but elevates her status to one who can tell servants how the wedding should proceed (at the detail level).

D: At John 2:12 (above) we learn for the first time that the brothers of Jesus were probably also at the wedding, for they joined Jesus' journey to Capernaum immediately afterward.

E: If Jesus and his mother had places of prominence at this wedding, and most of his family members were invited, it strongly suggests that this wedding was between someone in Jesus' family and a person in Cana. Although it may have been someone from Mary's or Jesus' extended family, I propose that it is more likely that the person getting married is either a brother or sister of Jesus. I believe that if it were one of his brothers, the Gospel writer would have mentioned that. But if it were one of his sisters, that would have been passed over, following the custom of their day of not mentioning women unless it were critical to the telling of the story.

This was a family wedding! I propose that one of the sisters of Jesus was getting married in Cana, and this was important enough to Jesus that he would interrupt his disciple-gathering activity near John the Baptist, so that he and his new disciples could attend.

The sisters of Jesus are identified in tradition to have had the names Mary and Salome. There is a separate tradition that identifies a third sister, with the name Anna. As to the sister-wedding idea, the belief that his sisters were older than him (from Joseph's first marriage) would speak against it. Women were married off long before they were 30, when possible. Yet it is not impossible.

If say, Anna, were a daughter of Mary the mother of Jesus she could be quite younger than he, and this could be her wedding day. But I'm sticking to the first-century tradition that all of Jesus' brothers and sisters were older than he. (Mostly out of stubbornness.)

Second, about the journey from Cana to Capernaum:

A. Jesus is on his way to Capernaum, probably to the home where Simon Peter lived. According to formal custom, this would have been at the invitation of Peter. We know that Peter was married, but we do not know if his wife was accompanying him or had remained at home in Capernaum. We do know that Peter later took his wife along with him on missionary journeys (1 Corinthians 9:5).

B. Jesus had told his new disciples to follow him, at least as far as Cana. Now it is evident that they are to follow him again to Capernaum on the shore of Galilee. The majority of the disciples had roots in the fishing village of Bethsaida which lay beyond Capernaum. After visiting in Capernaum, they would not be too far away to also visit their parents and other relatives.

C. Jesus apparently invites his brothers to come also. Or, Peter may have invited them. We don't know if his sisters came, although they may have been at the wedding. If they joined the party going to Capernaum, they would probably be in the company of their husbands. (The now-married bride of the wedding would have been moving in to the new house that a husband was expected to provide.)

So this group of a dozen or more men and women were travelling together. At least three families were involved: the families of Jesus, Simon Peter, and the sons of Zebedee. These are new acquaintances getting to know one another.

Third, about the destination in Capernaum:

A. We know that Peter's mother-in-law resided with him (Mt 8:14, Mk 1:30,  Lk 4:38). We also know that Peter is a native of Bethsaida. Apparently Peter had moved into the home of his wife and mother-in-law rather than providing a new home himself. As there is no mention of his wife's father, we can surmise that her father has died and Peter is a quite welcome addition to his wife's mother's home.

B. We also must assume that this is a fairly substantial house, that can accommodate a dozen guests for a short stay. Later on, this house becomes Jesus' headquarters as his disciples grew in number. When Jesus appointed his twelve apostles, when they were not being sent out they would be with him (Mk 3:14). They may well have stayed with Jesus at the house of Peter and his wife.

C. It is not too far-fetched to describe this home in Capernaum as the first Christian house-church. Note that it begins as a meeting place for families to get to know one another. Later in Jesus' ministry, he would describe his disciples as his mother, his brothers, and his sisters--his new and true "forever-family" (Matthew 12:48-49).

What is the lesson to be learned from all this? Church is a Family!  It's not a building where we meet once a week. It's not simply a gathering of like-minded people with a mission to practice their religion. That would be a business enterprise, not a Church. John in his letters tells us that we should be able be identified as those people who love one another.

If your church does not seem to be an organic family that does things together, do something about it. Invite some of those people that you see every week to come to your house. Invite them to go with you to events. Help organize occasions when you can gather together as "forever-families."

Bonus: Here's Another Journey.

This is a journey that Joseph the widower took.
He's on his way from Nazareth to Bethlehem.
His three sons James, Joses and Simon are on the right.
His two daughters Salome and little Mary are on the left.
On the donkey is his youngest son, Jude.
Behind Jude is his new wife, Mary.
Mary is pregnant.

Jesus was born into a large family.
Is it time for you to be re-born into a large family?


If these story-journeys have struck a chord with you, you may be interested in reading some historical fiction that expands on these premises. Check out rolinbruno.com, where you can find the first two Episodes of the story of John son of Zebedee. The third episode is due out in 2016.

Are You Sure You've Found Jesus?

...Come And See!

Early Spring, AD 27

"Among You Stands One Whom You Do Not Know" 

So said John the Baptist to certain Pharisees, men who were priests and Levites dedicated to the service of God. They had come to see if this wilderness prophet might be the Holy One promised in Scripture. They had a chance to meet the Holy One, but missed it. They went back to Jerusalem to tell the powers that be there how John described himself--a forerunner, one who was unworthy to loosen the sandals of the Holy One. (John 1:19-28)

"Behold, the Lamb of God who Takes Away the Sin of the World!"

The very next day, and we hear the name "Jesus" for the very first time in the fourth Gospel. Jesus is that Holy One of whom the Baptist spoke, and here he is again, walking towards the Baptist. The heralding of this Jesus is the very purpose of the Baptist's ministry: "I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God." But Jesus walks on. (John 1:29-34)

"Behold, the Lamb of God!"

On the third day we are in company with Jesus again, and we learn that two of the Baptist's disciples have been listening to all this. This time they leave the Baptist behind, and walk to follow the Holy One. Jesus turns and says, "What do you seek?" The disciples want to know where Jesus is staying, for he has not been among the other disciples of the Baptist. (John 1: 35-38)

And what does it mean, "two of the Baptist's disciples?" Have they been staying with him and learning from him for months? Weeks? Or did they come out into the wilderness to hear what the Baptist had to say, and decided to follow his teaching and become Baptized? Surely these two have accepted the Baptism offered by this prophet. That may be all it takes for them to describe themselves as disciples of the Baptist.

"Come, and You Will See," says Jesus.

But Jesus himself is in a strange land. He has recently spent 40 days in the wilderness, and he has not returned to his home in Nazareth, many miles from here. The painter of the image above has imagined how that might be. But Jesus is a traveler, and soon he will travel again. Perhaps the tent in this image belongs to Jesus, and he has a donkey with him to haul it from place to place. Or perhaps he has moved in with another homeless person, someone who has offered him hospitality.

The Scriptures tell us that Jesus is at the otherwise unknown village of Bethany-Beyond-Jordan. Later in his ministry, when Jesus is seeking some respite, he will return to this village again. For now he is near the east bank of the Jordan River, almost certainly south of the Sea of Galilee. His visitors are from north of the Sea of Galilee, from the fishing town of Bethsaida. Jesus invites them to stay the night with him. (John 1:39)

What do they talk about? Surely they would talk about where they were from. Jesus would speak of Nazareth, and of the large family that he was from, with four older brothers and two (or three) older sisters. The extraordinary means by which Jesus became born and adopted into that family would be a story for another day. 

Who are these two baptized disciples? One of them is Andrew son of Jonah, whose older brother Simon has not yet been baptized by the prophet. It's not hard to figure out the other one: he is John son of Zebedee, the young fisherman who would later write the Gospel known by his name. He is the younger brother of James. These sons of Zebedee are mentioned in John 21:2, but nowhere in this Gospel are the actual names of these two fishermen/apostles disclosed.

Simon is in the vicinity, a long ways from home, and has evidently been listening to the prophet. Andrew goes to fetch his brother, saying, "We have found the Messiah!" Simon is brought to meet Jesus, who gives him a new name: Peter. (John 1:40-42)

Also in the vicinity is Andrew's neighbor Philip from Bethsaida, along with Philip's friend Nathanael (Bartholomew) from Cana. (Cana is not on the Sea of Galilee, but it is closer to where we find the Baptist.)

But here Jesus goes into action. He himself finds Philip, and says, "Follow me!"  Jesus has decided to go to Cana in Galilee, and is inviting his newly found potential disciples to attend a wedding there. Philip goes to find Nathanael and brings him to Jesus, saying "We have found the one of whom Moses and the prophets wrote--he is Jesus of Nazareth."

Find and be Found:

You may be looking for Jesus. You may have heard of him or even met him, but before you can know him you must truly find him. But Jesus is also looking for you. He's ready to go looking to find you, for the shepherd knows his sheep. And when you have found him, you will know his voice, and follow him.

An extraordinary thing is happening in the Islamic world today, and I don't mean the terrorists. The terrorists are only doing in the open what they have always wished for privately. No, I mean the people of Islam who are being found by Jesus. In the hundreds (if not thousands) they have been receiving dreams and/or visions in which they see or hear Jesus calling them. This is happening even in the hearts and minds of certain mujahidin warriors. I have known of these myself, and have seen photos of them being ordained and consecrated into the family of Jesus, in private groups amidst the world of Islam.

You will not see the details or the photos, for theirs is a very dangerous calling. They have already experienced martyrdom when exposed. But Jesus knows the voice of his sheep, and when he finds them, they will also know his voice, and will follow.

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End Note: Word Study on "Find"

The Greek word eurisko [hyurisko] "I find," can be found in the English exclamatory "Eureka!, "I have found it!", associated with the discovery of gold in California in 1849.

Etymology: eu means "good," as in euagggelion [yuangelion] "good word" or "gospel"  from which we get "evangelist." The second root is related to zeteo [dzaytayo] "I seek." Jesus uses this word (in the imperative tense) together with 'find' (in the future tense) at Matthew 7:7 and Luke 11:9 -- Zeite kai euresete, "Seek and you will find."

The primary use of "find" in the New Testament is as a successful outcome of an effort to "seek." A secondary use is when something is encountered unexpectedly: Mary was "found" to be with child.

The Theological Dictionary of the NewTestament (TDNT) has a good summary for "find:"

This word occurs in the New Testament mostly with reference to things relating to God's work and kingdom, e.g., surprising events (Mt 1:18), of miracles (Mk 7:30), or supernatural gifts (Mt 7:7-8), or the gift of God's kingdom (Mt 13:44), or encounter with Jesus (Mk 1:37), or experience of God (Lk 4:17), or gifts of salvation such as pasture in Jn. 10:9, grace in Acts 7:46, mercy in Rom. 4:1, and redemption in Heb. 9:12, or God's call and salvation (Mt 18:13), but also with a suggestion of responsibility (Lk 13:6-7), and the seriousness of divine judgment (Mt 24:26).

Therefore we can conclude that Andrew and Simon and John and Philip and Nathanael and probably James were all at the Jordan river, far from their homes, because they were seeking something-- someone-- who could make sense of this world they were in and the direction it was going. They were seeking the Messiah! Andrew and John had the messiah pointed out to them. The Messiah himself went to find Philip, after which Philip told his friend, "We have found" the one who had been foretold by the ancients. Their group had met with success. Little did they expect that this Holy One would invite them into his family to attend a wedding (perhaps his own sister's wedding) where his mother would be checking up on the wine supply.

It's your turn now. Seek Jesus. Be found by him. Become part of his family.

IMAGINE the MANGER

Spoiler Alert: Not Your Parents' Manger Scene.

I've been wondering what seems to be missing from the manger scenes that I see everywhere this season, and I've finally put my finger on it: there's no children! Or if there is, it will be one child who happens to be part of a group of adoring shepherds.

I went searching for a depiction of children at the manger and found only this one above. It's not great, but it's still touching. The manger, ox, Mary & Joseph, and baby Jesus are all credible first century depictions. But the child-angels at crib-side?

If Mary had seen angels and told Luke about it, he surely would have included that in his Gospel. My theory on this picture is that the three center children are from 1950's USA and are being given a tour of the manger scene. The angels are holding them by the hand because they will soon conduct them back to 1950 where their clothes will fit the era. Mary and Joseph do not see them.

So you ask, "Why should there be children in a manger scene?"

What Should Be in a Manger Scene?

While I was searching and wondering, out of the blue my new fb friend Jeab posted this one. It's incomplete, of course, but it's a very good start. First of all, it starts with a cave as a backdrop. I quote from the 1999 Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Manners & Customs (p.421):

In the second century a tradition existed that Jesus' birth had occurred in a certain cave that had been behind the inn. ... The argument that the traditional cave [seen today by tourists] is too small to be used as a stable is not very strong because its present divisions into sections is misleading.  ...  [Emperor Constantine] ordered construction in AD 326 of a church over the revered cave. ... The present Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem stands over [the] cave which has been revered since the second century as the birthplace of Jesus. It may indeed be the place where Jesus was born.

Now as to the sheep: It is unthinkable that the shepherds who heard from the band of angels would drive their flock into the cave where Mary was sheltering her new-born son. Plus, the hosting town-dwellers (or innkeepers) were not shepherds themselves and would not have had sheep except perhaps a male lamb which had been purchased to sacrifice at the annual Passover observance. But if the visiting shepherds had a very young lamb which had been orphaned, they might have carried it in with them to protect it. On the other hand, the presence of one or more goats is a distinct possibility, to provide milk for the town-dwellers (or for the guests at the inn).

A single donkey is often seen in manger scenes. It is presumably the donkey that Mary rode from Nazareth to Bethlehem. It has been argued that the donkey was unnecessary because a healthy young pregnant women of the day could have walked the distance with little problem. Never having been nine months pregnant, I cannot venture an opinion on whether walking or riding a donkey would be more uncomfortable in that condition. I do know that my oldest son was born ten weeks premature because his mother insisted on driving alone from Phoenix to Miami. She made it as far as San Antonio. So I can attest that travelling great distances when very pregnant is fraught with danger.

The ox so often seen implies that Mary and family have not arrived on the premises of an innkeeper, but rather that of a townsperson who owns a plot of farmland outside town, and needs the ox to pull the plow. I suppose there were other uses for oxen, such as pulling a merchant's cart.

Sometimes I see dogs and cats in manger scenes. The dog I can vouch for, because surely shepherds had sheep dogs in use to control their flocks. Cats I'm not so sure of. When Mary and family get to Egypt they will find cats commonly domesticated. But in Palestine, I don't know if any traces of domesticated cats have been found by archaeologists.

Of course, the biggest no-no is to show both shepherds and Magi ("wise men)" in a manger scene. The Magi did not arrive until well after the birth, perhaps as long as two years later, while the shepherds were there within a day of Jesus' birth.

And now to children.

Christmas is about children, starting with the child Jesus. In our days, that is even more true. The exchange of gifts among adults can hardly lay a candle beside the wondrous eyes of children as they arise on Christmas. Just like Passover, children belong in the Christmas scene. Like Passover, it gives us an opportunity to teach them about what God has done in their lives, and who Jesus really is.

We started out at the top by affirming a second-century tradition that Jesus was born in a cave. Another well-attested second century tradition is that the four brothers and two or three sisters of Jesus were the children of a previous marriage by Joseph. Three apocryphal documents of the second century refer to Joseph's elder children as if everyone already knew that as fact. 

Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph at the time of the angel's appearance to her. I believe that the two were married shortly after Joseph became aware of Mary's pregnancy. Small-town residents know how to count nine months very well, and even an immediate marriage would spark whispered rumors.

With up to seven children, there is a very good chance that the youngest was an infant or toddler. In fact childbirth was a not uncommon cause of death among women of the first century, and the combination of a new baby without a mother would have pushed Joseph inexorably toward a second marriage. While he would have had to employ a wet-nurse at first, Mary's first tasks as a new bride would have included mothering infants and toddlers.

The oldest child of Jesus was probably James, who later became known as James the Just and was the leader of the church in Jerusalem after Jesus's crucifixion. If his siblings were spaced two years apart, as was common, James would be over 14 years old at the birth of Jesus. His new stepmother Mary would have been barely a year or two older that he. Imagine the issues that may have arisen in this  blended family!

In any case, it's likely that Jesus' older stepbrothers and stepsisters were present at the manger scene. If James were 14, he would have been considered an adult, required to register for the poll tax just as Joseph was. The youngest may have been barely one year old.

And think of Mary. We admire Mary for her submission to the call of God on her life, to birth the savior of the world and brave the scandal of conceiving a child without having been married. I admire her also for her acceptance of this challenging new job of managing a large family of children while Joseph earned his living as a construction worker.

Perhaps Mary came from a large family as well. In any case, the Christmas story is as much about Mary as about Jesus, for this young woman stepped in and did what was needed in obedience to a loving God.

I love this picture of Mary's family in a cave. The children are attentive in case there is anything that needs to be done to help. And Mary is blessed not only by God, but also by her husband and step-children.

Hail, Mary, full of grace.

Was Bethsaida Actually the Pagan City of Julias?

The answer is No... and Yes.

But first we need to know more about Livia Julia, Herod Philip, and what year it is.

The Sea of Galilee seen from Bethsaida.

Livia Drusilla Julia Augustus

That's a mouthful for a name, and there's a complex story of how she got it. Her birth name was Livia and her father was Marcus Livius Drusus Claudianus, a senator of the Roman Republic in the first century BC. "Drusilla" is a diminutive for Drusus. She was born about 58 BC, and was married about 43 BC to Tiberius Claudius Nero, her cousin of patrician status who was fighting alongside Julius Caesar and Mark Antony against Octavian. In 42 BC she gave birth to the future emperor Tiberius and then a second son. But she ended up on the wrong side of that war when Octavian prevailed as part of the new Triumvirate ruling Rome, and she fled with her family to Sicily.

When peace came and an amnesty was declared, Livia returned to Rome with her first son (pregnant with her second), and was personally introduced to Octavian in 39 BC. Legend has it that Octavian fell instantly in love with her, despite the fact that both he and Livia were already married. He immediately divorced his pregnant wife and persuaded or forced Livia's husband to divorce her. Within days, he married Livia, with her ex-husband giving her in marriage as if he were her father. (Important political liaisons between patrician families may be a more rational explanation for these actions.)

The rest of the Triumvirate fell away, and Octavian was left as sole emperor. He took for himself the honor-title of Augustus. Livia and Augustus remained married for the next 51 years. However, they had no children of their own, which caused a problem in accession to the Roman throne. Augustus solved that by adopting Livia's two sons, making them successors to power in Rome. Augustus died in AD 14 and was made a god by the senate. In his  will, Augustus adopted Livia into the Julian family and gave her the honor-title of Augusta. Thus her new name became Julia Augusta.

Julia was portrayed as a woman of proud and queenly attributes, faithful and skillful as consort, mother, and later widow and dowager. She was a prime recipient of the emperor-adulation cultivated by Augustus, and became the idealization of Roman feminine qualities and eventually a goddess-like representation of virtue. She was the first woman to appear on Roman coins, and her coins may be dated by her hairstyles, which kept up with the times. She didn't wear excess jewelry or pretentious costumes, took care of the household and her husband (even to the extent of making his clothes), faithful and dedicated. In 35 BC Augustus gave her the honor of ruling her own finances and dedicated a public statue to her. She had her own protégés and clients that she pushed into political office, including the grandfathers of two later emperors. She was truly the "First Lady" of Rome, and an advisor to her emperor-husband.

At Augustus' death her son Tiberius became Emperor and before too long Julia became known as the power behind the throne. At first she and her son got along well. In AD 24 Tiberius granted his mother a theater seat among the Vestal Virgins. She exercised unofficial but very real power in Rome. Eventually Tiberius became resentful of his mother's political status, particularly the idea that his mother had given him the throne. Ancient historians say that Tiberius retired to the island of Capri because he could no longer endure his mother.

Julia died in AD 29 amid the scandal of her disaffection with her son. But later her honor was restored, and she was deified as The Divine Augusta. A statue of her was set up in the Temple of Augustus, races were held in her honor, and women were to invoke her  name in their sacred oaths.

Herod Antipas and Herod Philip

Philip was one of the sons of Herod the Great. Most of Herod's family were sent to Rome for their education and for learning the ways and political habits of the Romans. Two of his sons came to special prominence: Herod Antipas and Herod Philip, both of whom came into power about 4 BC at the death of their father.

Herod Antipas is the biblical Herod that interacted with Jesus and with John the Baptist. He was the tetrarch (ruler of a quarter) of Galilee on the west bank of the Sea of Galilee, and Perea on the east bank of the Dead Sea. He ruled for about 42 years.

Antipas' most noted construction was a capital city for Galilee, on the shore of its sea. He named it Tiberias to honor his patron Tiberius, who succeeded as emperor of Rome in 14 AD. Warm bathing springs were nearby, and the city included a stadium, palace, and prayer sanctuary. However, Jews at first refused to live in it because it was built over an ancient graveyard, and Antipas had to bring in foreigners, forced migrants, poor people, and freed slaves to populate it. The city lent its name to the adjoining lake, and for centuries maps showed the Lake of Tiberias rather than the Sea of Galilee.

Herod Philip is mentioned in the Bible only at Luke 3:4. There he is identified as the tetrarch of Iturea and Trachonitis, which lay to the north and east of the Sea of Galilee and included the fishing town of Bethsaida. He never used the family title "Herod" to refer to himself. About AD 34 he married Salomé, the famous dancing girl involved in the death of John the Baptist, and he died before AD 37.

Philip's most noted construction was his Greek-style modernization of Caesarea Philippi, to which he gave his own name so as to differentiate if from Caesarea on the Mediterranean coast. In AD 30 he renamed Bethsaida to Julias, in honor of the mother of Emperor Tiberius, and gave it the title of a Roman polis. There he had begun Greek-style modernization with the building of a stadium and other structures. Some Christian reference materials say that he named it Julias in honor of a certain daughter of Augustus, but this is incorrect. It is also said that he used the name Julias to curry favor with Rome, which is possible. But we must also remember that Philip was educated in Rome during the reign of Augustus with his consort Julia and he may well have been impressed with that particularly formidable woman.

Bethsaida: What Year Is This, Anyway?

Now we are armed with enough background material to tackle the question at hand: was Bethsaida a sleepy little Jewish fishing town with a synagogue, or a bustling Greek-style city with a pagan temple?

Bethsaida was home to five apostles—far more than any other New Testament town. And it was the target of Jesus’ “Woe” saying in which he lashes out at Bethsaida and two other towns for their failure to repent (Matthew 11:21). But where was Bethsaida?

Archeologists conducted digs at three mounds near the Galilee’s northern shore. Only one had ruins old enough to be biblical Bethsaida. The State of Israel and many scholars accepted this identification, though some controversy lingers, for the mound lies a mile from the shoreline.

But here they uncovered a fisherman’s house that was used in Jesus’s day. They also unearthed the walls of a 20- by 65-foot building. Was it a synagogue? To judge by other finds, Bethsaida was a majority Jewish town. But this structure had no benches or other hallmarks of an early synagogue.

Instead, the archaeologists discovered evidence of pagan worship: bronze incense shovels like those found in Roman temples and votive objects in the shape of boat anchors and grape clusters. Also they found terra-cotta figurines of a woman who resembled Julia, the wife of the Roman Emperor Augustus and mother of Tiberius, who came to the throne in the year AD 14.

It didn’t make sense. The Romans did regard their rulers as both human and divine, worshiping them as deities. But Herod the Great and his son Antipas didn’t build pagan structures in Judea or Galilee, and they kept their faces off the local coins.

However, Bethsaida lay northeast of the Galilee border in a region that was home to gentile villages and ruled by another of Herod’s sons, Philip, the only Jew of that time to put his face on a coin. In the year 30 Philip dedicated Bethsaida to Julia, who had died the year before.

Did he build a pagan temple to the emperor’s mother? Jews lived here. Did their ruler Philip, himself a Jew, erect a temple to a Roman goddess in their very midst? And did he do so in the same period when Jesus was visiting Bethsaida? A writer for Smithsonian thinks that was possible (see link below). Did some of the fishermen—such as Peter, Andrew, Philip, James and John—look at that pagan temple and say, “Enough!”? Did Jesus come along, offering what looked like a clearer path back to God?

There is a slight timing problem with this thinking: Jesus’ ministry most likely took place in the three or four years before AD 30, and John the Baptist had already been killed by then. I find it unlikely that Philip would have built this temple before dedicating the town to Julia. But even without the temple, it might be possible that adulation of the exemplary character of Julia had spread this far from Rome many years before Jesus began his ministry.

In any case, the infusion of pagan culture into Jewish territory was a distinct problem for the time of the disciples, and while sleepy little Nazareth was off by itself, some six miles from a major pagan town, Bethsaida was at the bulls-eye of a planned city where pagans would be moving in next door to Jewish fishermen.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/unearthing-world-jesus-180957515/#qmphwsBYeKhtPufU.99