Lesson #28
In the narrative of John 2, we find ourselves between two major events; the wedding at Cana where Jesus performs his first miracle and the cleansing of the temple in Jerusalem. Verses 12 and 13 describe a minor detail of travel between the two. It would be easy to simply read these two verses and move on to the cleansing of the temple, but I think it would be good for us to join Jesus and his party for a time of travel. If we are going to travel we will need a map of Israel at the time of Jesus. NET Bible had just the map.
When I began I thought this would be an easy and fun lesson, but quickly I found trouble. On the map above the distance from Bethany to Cana is about 80 miles. John 2:1 allows just two days for travel by foot, which is not possible. After some digging around I discovered that the location of the ancient city of Bethany is not known. Bethany as shown on the map above cannot be correct because it is too far from Cana to walk to in two days. To solve the distance problem some think ancient Bethany is located near the Sea of Galilee, but there is no agreement as to where. Some say it is north of the Sea of Galilee and others say to the south. Wherever ancient Bethany was located it had to be within a two day walk of Cana where Jesus went for the wedding. Since Jesus was going from Bethany to the area of Galilee it seems logical that Bethany would be south of the Sea of Galilee.
“After [the wedding, Jesus] went down to Capernaum with his mother and brothers and his disciples, and they stayed there a few days” (John 2:12 NET). Try to imagine being one of the brothers of Jesus and you just witnessed him making wine out of water. How would you feel and what kind of conversation would you have? After the wedding we learn that “his disciples believed in him” (John 2:11), but what did they believe? What are Mary’s thoughts now that she realizes that this is the start of his journey toward the cross?
Capernaum is an interesting tourist location today. The following link shows what it is like there now.
“Now the Jewish feast of Passover was near, so Jesus went up to Jerusalem” (John 2:13 NET). The distance from Capernaum to Jerusalem is about 106 miles and would have taken six days, covering about 18 miles per day. Going up or down is in terms of elevation.
This lesson sure was different. I pray you gained something from it.
Prayer
Father, this was a different kind of lesson. I realized that when I simply read the Bible it appears to be no more than a collections of stories, but when I stop and study it is like sitting down to a wonderful meal. I find flavor and nourishment when I do. Father, over time that nourishment produces a life more like Jesus. Without this regular nourishment how can a person not be spiritually anemic and face all kinds of spiritual problems during their life? Lord, thank you for keeping me close to your word.
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