New Testament 30

Last updated on: January 9, 2015 at 10:43 am by Dan Peterson

New Testament 30 2015-01-09T10:43:03-07:00 Dan Peterson

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I think I’ll restrict myself to these four passages today. It’s a busy day, and there’s a lot of news out of Paris to watch.

These are simple passages. In Mark, Jesus “came into Galilee.” In Luke, Jesus “returned . . . into Galilee.” In John, Jesus “departed . . . to Galilee.”

The language that interests me, though, is in Matthew: “Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew (ἀνεχώρησεν) into Galilee.”

That word suggests a tactical move, designed to avoid being swept up in the government action that ended John’s ministry. After all, Jesus was related to John, and had been associated with John, receiving baptism at his hands. Moreover, John was pointing to Jesus, and describing himself as Jesus’ forerunner. It would have been reasonable, in a way, for the authorities to try to seize Jesus, too.

I presume that Jesus could miraculously have fended off any attempt to arrest or kill him before it was his time to be arrested and crucified. “No man taketh it from me,” John 10:18 represents him as saying about his own life, “but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.” But there seems little need to invoke miraculous power when simple prudence will do the job. Not even for the Savior.

“Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves,” he told his disciples. “Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” (Matthew 10:16)

So, too, for us. Giving up smoking can help us to avoid emphysema long before there’s an urgent necessity for supernatural healing. Doing regular homework might spare us the desperate need for last-minute divine intervention on a final exam. Training children up in the way they should go isn’t foolproof — children retain their agency — but it can certainly reduce the percentage of youth who will turn to delinquency, crime, and drug addiction.

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