Sometimes We Americans travel hundreds or even thousands of miles to visit historical sites or attend athletic events, yet fail to go see places of interest near our homes. Although I have lived in Lansing, Kansas, on the outskirts of Kansas City, for over eight years, I have never toured the Lansing Historical Museum. I have never been to a Kansas City Chiefs game although I have cheered loudly for baseball's Royals at Kauffman Stadium, just across the parking lot from the Chiefs' home at Arrowhead Stadium. I have not visited the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum or the Jazz Museum or the Kansas City Zoo. I've not even been to Legoland, despite having loved building with those toy blocks for over fifty years. I love history but have never been to the Truman Presidential Library in nearby Independence, Missouri.
One of my favorite cities that I have visited is Tiberias, Israel, a very old city on the banks of the Sea of Galilee. Tiberias was founded as a Roman city around 20 A.D., when Jesus was a young man in his twenties living in a village less than 20 miles away. During the following years, Jesus frequently visited towns like Capernaum and Bethsaida that also were near the Sea of Galilee and sailed with his disciples on the lake. According to Matthew 4:13, after the imprisonment of John the Baptist, Jesus moved to Capernaum. However, there is no record or rumor of his ever having visited Tiberias.
While Jesus lived in Capernaum, he began to select disciples to learn from him. He taught groups of people and healed the sick there. But Jesus warned that his teaching and healing there did not confer special status on the village,
"And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to hades. For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you" (Matthew 11:23-24)
Given the negative comments that gather around the memory of Sodom in the Bible, the indictment of Jesus against Capernaum resonates ominously. This indictment is followed by a prayer that reminds those who think they have special status before the Lord because of ethnicity, or geography or academic achievement, or genealogy or wealth or position, to pause and assess their relationship more closely and humbly. Jesus prayed,
"At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do" (Matthew 11:25-26).
Jesus celebrates the wisdom and strategy of the Lord in his prayer. The prayer reminds us that "God moves in mysterious ways his wonders to perform," to borrow the words of a nineteenth century poem and hymn by William Cowper. While Matthew had been a tax collector and collaborator with the occupying Roman Empire, Nicodemus was a member of the Jewish ruling council, a number of priests were among early converts to the way of Jesus (Acts 6:7), and Paul before his conversion had been tutored by the leading rabbi of the first century, most of those who received the message of Jesus eagerly were poor and had less education. They included slaves and other people outside circles of power and privilege.
I live in a nation that is among the richest and most powerful in the world and which many consider to be a special recipient of God's blessing. I have received a generous amount of formal education. The prayer of Jesus warns me, along with his prior rebuke to Capernaum, that I need to approach God in prayer and in worship thankfully and cautiously aware that I have no more privilege before him than any other person on earth except through his grace and mercy. As the writer of the book of Hebrews counselled,
"Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our 'God is a consuming fire'" (Hebrews 12:28-29).
Capernaum did not earn special status because Jesus lived there. Today the town lies in ruins. Tiberius was newly constructed by the powerful Romans, but Jesus may have bypassed it in his traveling around the region. Their example warns us that our standards of achievement or greatness may not be the same as God's. Wealth, advanced education, talent, and charisma may earn positions of influence and power in our culture and nations, but so same traits may cause us to trust more in our own wisdom and power than in God. They may blind us to weaknesses that cripple our spiritual strength. Our pride may cause us to fall. Let us pray that we may see ourselves as God sees us. Let us pray that we and that all the people of every nation may be faithful and humbly obedient to the God who created the world and loves us. Let us pray that the places that we choose to visit will reinforce within us a sense of God's mercy and love.
- Quotations from the Bible are from the New International Version.
O God, we celebrate your power and your wisdom, but especially your love and your ability to transform. We thank you for the wonders and the history of this universe that you created and this world where we live. You give us great gifts. May we remember that we are not the creators of these gifts. We pray, in a world whose people are torn by pride, anger, and quest for power, that we and our fellow inhabitants of your creation may be united by receiving humbly your love demonstrated through Jesus Christ. Break down the walls that divide and help us to see the ties that bind us together in you. While there may be many places that we do not visit in our lives, I pray that we will be with you in the end. I pray in the name of Jesus, amen.
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