JESUS AND THE GALILEE
The gospel writers are not writing history. They are selecting oral and written traditions from a an ever-expanding collection, or repertoire, of Jesus teachings, pity sayings, legends, and miracle stories. They adopted the genre of the greco-roman biography, however, their source material is diverse, both oral and written. And so the gospels cannot be read as history in the modern sense, but instead, as a testimony to a remarkable Jewish sage whose death and resurrection as a passover sacrifice for human sins became a story told around the entire Mediteranean world. We might say the literature itself is the witness to Jesus as more than just any perapatetic wisdom teacher, but reading it literally or chronologically or historically will lead us to the wrong sorts of questions.
At the same time, the gospels do capture a brilliant, compassionate teacher whose life seems marked by the impossible. Even more, we can reconstruct Jesus in his cultural context by reading between the lines of the New Testament and extra-biblical accounts of Jesus of Nazareth. We have a goldmine of Jewish literature to illuminate the path, but unfortunately rare is the teacher of the Bible who has dug far enough to be a reliable guide. The Jewish context of Jesus and the greater context of Roman Palestine can help us find our way in the cavern of time lost.
JESUS AS A GALILEAN JEW
One of the first ways to reimagine Master Jesus is as a Galilean. Being a Galilean Jew meant something particular and peculiar, and explains the conflicts between Jesus and the religious elites participating in the temple system or explaining the Law of Moses in urban centers. The Galilee can also account for Jesus as paradigmatic in the charisma tradition of Second Temple Judaism (between 515 BCE and 70 CE) and how he explained in the early Christian tradition.
Galilee is a small but important region a good walk north of the temple system in Jerusalem. She was centered around a tiny Lake, only 12 miles across, which gets called the Sea of Galilee or the Lake of Tiberias or Genesseret. “Lake” is a stretch to be sure. The whole region is walkable on foot with an idyllic scenery making it worth the effort. Jesus is born in Nazareth or “shoots-ville” carrying forth the prophet Isaiah’s notion that a shoot from the line of Jesse will “shoot forth” or “spring up”… which is pretty baller. He based his teaching in the city of Capernaum and frequented Korazin and Bethsaida. Capernaum, Korazin, Bethsaida. These three cities make up what some scholars call the Galilean triangle of Jesus’ influence. He ventured out of these cities, to be sure, but this was hiome base and he and his talmudim had places to stay in these villages of a few hundred.
Centered in the Galilee, Jesus did not fit the bill for the Pharisaic expectation of a Messiah, or annointed person who would bring deliverence. But he did fit Isaiah’s expectation, at least in Second Temple interpretation:
Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan—The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.
Isaiah 9.1
In Isaiah’s day the Galilee was in the north of Judah where Israel used to be before Assyria sacked the cities and deported the population abnd imported Mesopotamian blood. This is why it is a Gentile city to Isaiah (non Jew). In Jesus day the Galilee was Jewish, and particularly Jewish at that. Galilean Judaism would lay the foundations and really give way over time to rabbinic Judaism. The Mishnah, which is the collection of rabbinic procedure regarding the adherence to the Law, and the Mishnah’s expansive commentary, the Palestinian Talmud (Talmud Yerushalmi —see the word Jerusalem? that’s how you can keep it straight from the Talmud Bavli (Babelonia…)).
The famous academy at Yavneh, ostensibly founded by Yohanan ben Zakkai after the temple was destroyed in 70 CE, was moved north in 140 CE to a small town, Usha. Usha became a second Jerusalem for a time and rabbinic tradition went forward from this village. This is why the Galilee gets forever intwined with phariasaic thought and tradition, which comes to be known as rabbinic over time. But. not. yet.
You see this in no way means that rabbis adhering to the Mishnah and the talmud were walking around Galilee. It means the kind of thinking about how to keep Jewish Law and the traditions of these kinds of teachers would eventually end up in those books. But. not. yet.
The culture of the Galilee would formed by the fires of the Jewish rebels against Rome, especially those who managed to survive the Bar Kochba rebellion in 132-135 CE. They rebelled against Hadrian and as punisment were forced to settle in the north away from the city of Jerusalem. Jerusalem had a well earned reputation for rebellion by this time, and it was an attempt to quash future uprisings. And so the Galilee inhereted a Pharasic mentality and became the base for what we now call rabbinic Judaism. But. not. yet. Pharasaic thought would win the day in the Galilee post 135 world, but when Jesus lived and taught things were different…
TURBO BUTTON.
When Jesus lived and taught, the Pharisees thought Galileans were backwards, defiant, edgy, and rebellious… and they kinda were :D Pharisees and Galilean teachers were at odds. They both cared deeply for God and how to be the best embodiment of God’s character but they were extremely sectarian and chauvinest in their thinking. This was true on both sides. I mean, check this out— it will blow your mind. Here is a Talmudic quote preserving the outlook of the Pharisees, again who would become rabbinic Judaism’s forefathers, for Galileans like Jesus the teacher:
“No man may marry the daughter of the ‘am ha’arez, (the people of the land :D), for they are like unclean animals, and their wives like reptiles, and it is concerning their daughters that Scripture says, “Cursed is he who lies with any kind of beast (Deut. 27.21).”
Or try this one on for size:
Greater is the hatred of the ‘am ha’arez for the learned than the hatred of the Gentiles for Israel; but the hatred of their wives is greater!
b. Pes. 49b
Both of these quotes show how they looked down on and were at odds with Galilean teachers. And notice this is ethnic— wives keep coming up because the concern is breeding. Making more Galileans. Nothing is new under the sun… Now, imagine if one of these teachers not only gained an audience, but became more popular than you in your home-turf of Jerusalem, and was even called Messiah?!
Enter Jesus. Galilean observance of the scriptures was modeled around a rabbi who embodied Torah, liked to see the world upside down, love to be hyperbolic and pithy, and often shocked people into thinking with stark imagery and playful stories. Sound familiar? But Jesus became wildely popular as a communicator, an alleged miracle worker, and exorcist (future blogposts :D). And, for all his wisdom and beautiful profoundity made everyday, think how many times Jesus publically humiliates the Pharisees in conversation. He totally owns them, at least in the gospels, and it must capture the tension at least between Jesus and the Pharisees.
And so, when Jesus lived and taught, these interpreters of the Bible were in Jerusalem and surrounding Judea and thought Galileans were…the worst. And Jesus seems to love putting them in their place as well.
TAKEAWAYS FOR READING THE GOSPELS.
Jesus gets casted by the gospel writers, especially the more Jewish one, as a Galilean rabbinical teacher of sorts over and against the Pharisees or “teachers of the law.” The likes which was still developing at the time of Jesus’ life and ossified only by the second century after the final Roman rebellion. And at the same time, he seems at odds with most other people teaching Torah. This is also because he is a Galilean.
Jesus functions like a Galilean rabbi even thought it is somewhat of a retrojection. You can understand what it means to see Jesus as a teacher and as a Master in this tradition. And you should see this over and against urban Pharisees who have an ever expanding tradition of oral torah commandments for keeping the Law of Moses. This means that instead of a Pharisaic understanding of hedging the torah, or making laws around the laws to make sure niot to violate it, Jesus is in a tradition where the Master embodies torah. The disciple took the Master’s life alongside the scriptures as the best way to live out Torah. And so the goal for the ancient disciple in Galilee and arguably today, is to take on the life of Jesus in everyday ways. Hold loosely the large theological arguments about what happens when we die or what it means to be saved— these are later Christian concerns of the first five centuries after Jesus. Hold tightly to the life of Jesus. Watch how he treats people, listen to how God is a loving father and a reliable Master of the world-house, and trust like a child that you can depend on the love of your creator and love other creatures yourself. You will go far in your faith when you find a Master. Fear of punishment is not compelling so much as a life worthy of imitation.
Jesus is a marginal Jew because he really was a Galilean. And at the same time, he is perpetually in conflict with everyone teaching religion, in particular, the Pharisees. Well. Why? Shouldn’t he be on the same page as the other teachers of his tradition? Why is he such a marginal Jew? It is because he lives and teaches in the rural Galilee and his concern is not a system of laws, although he was a torah observant Jew, as much as a life worthy of his teacher (whomever that was) and emulation.
As a Galilean, think of Jesus as very tied to the land and agriculture, as understanding faith as the connection of the profound with the simple and everyday, as understanding God as a patriarch of the House of the World and humans as members of God’s household. And most of all—EMBODIMENT. The goal of the teacher was to embody scripture and the goal of the disciple was to embody the teacher until he or she themselves embodied Torah.
For Jesus love of God and love of others was expressed with 1) internal piety and compassion as opposed to rituals and law keeping, 2) an intense an intentional owning of the darkness of our own hearts as opposed to an assumed goodness or piety as our starting point, 3) the need to intensely and intentionally understand God as a gracious father of the house who forgives, and 4) the invitation to follow a Master (himself) out of the mess a step at a time. Finally, and arguably weirdest and most important, all of the communities founded by Jesus’ closest followers believed Jesus thought himself to be not just a messiah, but the messiah. And more than that, the point of each of the four gospels is that Jesus offers himself as a passover lamb on behalf of our sins.
What “belief” in Jesus meant to… Jesus.
This is what a lot of well-meaning evangelicals mean when they say “believe” in Jesus: Accept that Jesus died for you and then God will like you again and let you into heaven. And so God is so angry that he had to kill the son instead of you…so that you could go somewhere else when you die. That is somewhat hyperbolic…but so was my teacher. :D
I would humbly suggest reframing it like this. Jesus talked about himself as a passover lamb. God passes over our sin because the Messiah is a righteous lamb, and now we can leave Egypt and journey with God. Here is why that helps: God was actually angry at things that break the world. Pharaoh and Egypt was committing genocide and beating their slaves to a pulp in the storyline of the Exodus, and this is what incites the anger of God. We need to reframe sin as the dark force in the world that urges us to destroy relationships, ourselves, wish others were not in our world and even take actions so make it so, exploit others for money, power, and sex…and the list goes on. I imagine few of us are upset to understand our Creator as being angry about these things. And so, think of our sin as a little of the darkness creeping into everything. But God is angry at evil and sacrifice is the image all humans have always understood. And what is passed over is innocence, pure intent, righteousness, everyone trying to participate in the goodness of the world… these things remain and this is the metaphor we are working with.
This passover followed by Exodus is the foundational story of Jesus’ people. We are enslaved and we need rescuing from a whole lot of problems. At least I am. With a passover lamb, we can exodus from our addictions, regretted words, hidden habits, deep anger and bitterness and we can camp out with God in the wild and learn our name again. That name is “imagebearer,” statue of the divine. It is embodiment all the way back— God is looking for a people to reflect his image, and we are looking for a rescuer. Jesus is looking for learners to look like he looks like God in the world…and we need a rescuer. When Jesus says “believe in me” he means buy into my way of looking at your Creator, yourself, the world, and how to participate in the Kingdom of God…and then do what I do and act like I act and use words like my own. See the difference?
The goal of the God who hung the stars is not that you would pass some cosmic test as to whether or not you consent to facts about Jesus. The goal is that you follow the master into full participation in the kingdom of God (code for living under God’s reign here and now) and into relational health.
And so I think you should believe in Jesus…as a Master and as a Messiah. As a Master who shows you how to live out the great tradition of scripture in everyday ways that restore relationships and lead to the best possible life. And as a Messiah, who was somehow mystically annointed as a passover lamb on our behalf. For our sins, the debts we could never pay back, and for the evil in the world that seems personal and merciless.
We have not come terribly far from the ancient ones. We live in a badly broken world where people are hungry, sick, scared, tired, and on edge. And it does not seem to be getting better. We live in a world where we know we are kind of lost. A few years ago one of my favorite bands, Foster the People, wrote this:
I've been trying to re-learn my name
It seems like a thousand years
I've been out of frame
And I surrender the truth is what
What I've needed from you
I've been floating within your walls of opinion
And I'm tired, I only want the truth.
-Foster the People, Supermodel
At the end of the day, Jesus has been a guide to the truth for me when I was really lost. No one expect a Galilean Jew to show up and make them rethink everything about God and themselves and this Age and the Age to Come. But he did and it matters. At least for me. And it can be that simple. And it can be that profound.