Day 8: Do People Suffer for Doing Good?

 

Rachel again. Mount Arbel was our first and main stop today. On the way up the mountain RVL warned us that if any of the bulls begin to charge, we should run up hill as they quickly tire and lose interest. That method had also worked in the past. Thank God, we never had to use that advice.

On one of our first stops we began with Matthew 4:23 “Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.” And the question was put to us: what is the “gospel”? Many answers were given, most centering on our sins could be forgiven and Jesus dying on the cross.

While those are wonderful things, the specific term is found in Isaiah 52:7, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news ("the gospel"), who publishes peace, who brings the gospel of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns.’” The “gospel” is that our God reigns and is reigning. Jesus is preaching that you may be calling God, “Lord”, but is He the lord of your life? Are you living out His mission with your life? Are you caring for the marginalized?

Many people wonder why they suffer, and the Jews pondered this as well. After their return from Babylon they were committed to not falling away from worshiping the one true God, but then they faced a different question: why do God’s people suffer for being righteous? The breeze was one of the only sounds as RVL described the gruesome ways Jews were persecuted by the Greeks and Romans. They were boiled in oil, flayed alive, raped and disemboweled, crucified, or babies were sliced in half and their parents sold into slavery.

We rested in caves that the Jews had hewn on the side of a Mount Arbel and had stowed their wives and children when the Romans invaded. The Romans had then lowered cages down the side and set fire to the cave opening. As the people came forward for oxygen, the soldiers would use giant hooks to pull them off the ledge where they would fall to their death.

“Messiah” as a Hebrew word for king, and this term was previously used in the context of someone who would lead a political revolution. In knowing this, what would you have wanted in a Messiah? Loving your enemies was not a popular message. He was to be the second Moses, and God used Moses to soundly defeat the Egyptians. Although it’s not clear in the Tanakh (“Old Testament”), the Jews concluded that there was a heaven and hell, and the Greeks and Romans would receive their due judgment. God declares that vengeance is His.

But, in Daniel 7:13-14 a judge comes out to sit and he has an appearance like the Son of Man (Hebrew: “Ben Adam”). Who was the literal son of Adam who suffered for doing the right thing? Abel. The Jews thought that Abel had earned the right to judge Cain because Abel had suffered at Cain’s hand for righteousness. Jesus had to suffer for righteousness in order to have the privilege of judging. And, it was because of my sin that He had to suffer. He won the right to judge me.

Once we had scaled the side of the mountain face and reached the top, we gathered and listened to RVL educate us on the area and also let us know that he had already hiked that mountain that day, at 2am no less. It was not so we would be impressed with him, although we were, but so we would know how much we meant to him. His rabbi, Jesus, had done the same for his disciples. And, if we were to continue the mission and make disciples too, we had to be willing to be that dedicated.

After lunch came Chorazin where we studied more of rabbis and disciples. In the tradition, boys would approach a rabbi and ask to follow him, and, “No” was the common response. Becoming a disciple of a rabbi was like playing high school basketball and hoping to make the NBA. Jesus was an anomaly in that He chose his disciples and called them. In so doing, he was saying to them, “I think you can be like me.” He chose boys who had been rejected by other rabbis. He also calls us. He sees the same potential in each of us. This is such a humbling thought to me.

Capernaum rounded out the day. It is a Catholic site now. In one area several stone food-processing tools were displayed: olive press, millstone, mortar and pestle, etc. Other stone items included columns and homes. In Greek, the person who worked with stone was a tekton (“builder”). For those unfamiliar with the Middle East, this term became associated with carpentry, so we often think of Jesus as a carpenter. For some unknown reason stonecutters were also highly knowledgeable about scripture. If you came to a village that didn’t have a rabbi, you wanted to look for a stonecutter who was the son of a stonecutter. Jesus was a stonecutter.

Tomorrow is supposed to be one of the hottest days of the trip, and another hike awaits with unknown destinations and lessons. Until next time.