Featuring Commentary By EM Zerr and Others
Washington Street Church of Christ
214 North Washington Street
Warrensburg, MO 64093 (660)429-6681
Ministry of Jesus Around The Sea of Galilee
The Ministry of Jesus Around The Sea of Galilee
Three separate political entities bordered the Sea of Galilee in the first century AD (see Map 9). Galilee proper, governed by Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great, was located west of the sea and Jordan River. The main city on the western Galilee shore was—and still is—Tiberius, founded by Antipas between AD 17 and 20 to honor the new Caesar in Rome. Tiberius is within sight of Capernaum and an easy two-hour walk away, yet the Gospels fail to mention if Jesus ever went there (but cp. John 6:23-24).
The territory lying east of the Jordan River and northeast of the Sea of Galilee was governed by Herod Philip, another son of Herod the Great. Philip's territory was divided into three expansive regions, Gaulanitus, Iturea, and Traconitis (cp. Luke 3:1, 19). Philip raised Bethsaida, his main city on the sea, to the status of a Greco-Roman polis, renaming it Julius after the daughter of Caesar Augustus.
A confederation of ten Greco-Roman cities called the Decapolis lay south of Philip's territory, stretching from the southeastern shore of the sea deep into Transjordan. This Gentile region was home to the Gergasenes, where Jesus healed a man possessed by demons (Mark 5:1-20). One of the Decapolis cities, Hippus, sat on a prominent hill above the Sea of Galilee within sight of Capernaum (cp. Matt. 5:14).
These various political regions in the New Testament period were closely connected by sea and land. Here people with every competing religious and political ideology and agenda were crowded together under tropical heat and the ever-watchful eye of Rome. In this pressure-cooker setting Jesus chose to minister. Here He could touch the very human needs of influential people and commoners alike, of Jews and Gentiles.
The Sea of Galilee was an ideal setting for the Gospel story. Here Jesus placed Himself in the center of all of the forces competing for power and influence in His day. Here He also met and ministered to regular folk, people who were seeking to live quiet lives that were pleasing to God and man.