The Bridegroom Preparing a Room

We sailed on the Sea of Galilee today, an unexpected but pleasant surprise. In between waving at fishermen and enjoying the view we discussed fishing and Jesus. Luke 5:1-11 recounts the moment that James, John, and Simon Peter left everything they had and followed Jesus. But one of the things that struck me was how Jesus handled the whole matter. He did not tell them that what they were doing was bad or worthless rather before they followed Him He gave them one of their biggest catches yet. As our professor said, Jesus did not disregard or place work lower on the ladder of significance, He redeemed it. He took their skills and made them fishers of men. Another important thing to note is that the fisherman’s job is to kill. All day long he kills fish and sells it. Jesus changed it up. He made the fishermen into shepherds and the job of the shepherd is to preserve life. He stays with his flock through thick and thin and takes care of them. From the Sea of Galilee (which is more of a lake) we went to the region of Gergesa.

Gergesa may not sound familiar but the people of that town were known as Gergesenes, ring any bells? No? Your Bible may call them Gadarenes? Or Gerasenes? Anyways, Luke 8:26-39 has the story if you are wondering. In short, it is where a man possessed by, let’s say a lot, of demons is healed by Jesus and people freak out. This man was a monster. The Bible records that no one could hold him down with chains or subdue him. Jesus casts out the demons and the people ask him to leave, obviously. The sheer power that Jesus has to have to do this probably made the people tremble violently. But what I want to point is that when Jesus is leaving the man comes up to Jesus and begs Him to let him come. I mean, it makes sense. He had been an outcast for so long and Jesus had just turned his life upside down, why stay? Jesus has a track record for telling people to keep quiet when He does something great, yet in this passage He tells the man to go and tell people what God had done for him. What a concept, a Gentile missionary to the Gentiles. That must have rattled some of the disciples’ cages.

We moved from Gergesa to a lookout point over the Sea of Galilee and looked at Matthew 5:14. Scholars suggest that the city Jesus is referring to is known as Hippus, a Roman city prominently set up on a hill right by the Sea of Galilee. People from miles around could see it. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. The view was beautiful and it was a good reminder of how Christians are to be a pronounced blessing on others. Yet, my favorite part of the tour today was sitting in a rebuilt Jewish home from the fourth century AD. John 14:1-4 talks about Jesus going away to prepare a place for us. Unfortunately for everyone who grew up in Sunday School this doesn’t mean we all get a mansion in Heaven (I don’t know where that idea came from but it’s a pretty ridiculous one if you think about it, a mansion all for yourself? How boring). In the Jewish culture when a guy and a gal are going to get married they have a yearlong engagement period where they are basically married but not living together. It is extremely serious and during that time the groom is building a room to add onto his father’s house for his wife and himself. In that day they just built a new room rather than moving down the street and creating a sitcom (Everybody Loves Raymond reference? Really?). The kicker is that the room is not ready ergo the marriage does not officially occur until the groom’s father says it is. Meanwhile the bride is making all sorts of blankets and whatnot for their marriage but she is waiting for the day when the trumpets blast and the groom comes down the road to her house and takes her away to the wedding feast at his house. But that does not happen until the father tells his son that the room is ready. Jesus goes to prepare a place for us and before He promises that He says that in His Father’s house are many rooms, not cul-de-sacs with mansions, but rooms. The Son does not know the time, only the Father knows (Mark 13:32). Consistently throughout the New Testament we see the Church explicitly referenced to as the bride of Christ. He is preparing a room for us and we will not live down the street from each other but in close proximity, as a family. May this causes us to cry out in anticipation, “Lord, come quickly!”