Walk With Jesus: Holy Week 2020-Tuesday

This week, I'll be posting a study: Walk with Jesus: Holy Week 2020. You can download the entire study, or just visit this page every day. (If you download the pdf, you should be able to print it 2 pages to a sheet (8.5 x 11) if you set it to landscape.)
We'll journey through Israel, pausing to read and reflect at various events of His life and ministry. These events took place at specific locations, so you’ll learn a bit about Israel in 30AD, too. There are questions to inspire you to meditate on your response to Jesus’ ministry and how that may be different this year due to self-isolation and social distancing. After completing the daily study, take time to reflect and journal on the questions. If you are doing this study with friends, share you insights with each other. Each session has an activity to do as well to help you move faith into action.
Close each session with the prayer in the lesson.

Opening Prayer

Lord Jesus, walk with me and open my heart to what you would have me learn from these lessons. Amen.

Call of Christ (Tuesday): Sea of Galilee

What do we think of when we receive an invitation? Probably our first thoughts are questions: Should I go, what to wear, who will be there? Jesus invited the disciples to leave their nets and follow him into the unknown. He does the same to us.

Pick the quote below that speaks to you about your response to Jesus’s invitation. Why is this true?

Courage is fear that has said its prayers. (Dorothy Bernard)

Failure is success if we learn from it. (Malcolm Forbes)

A goal without a plan is just a wish. (Antoine de Saint-Exupery )

Once God has spoken; twice have I heard this; that power belongs to God. (Ps. 62:11)

Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever… (Matthew 6:13)

And they were astonished at his teaching for his word was with authority. (Luke 4:32)

Jesus invites (calls) us each into ministry with him. How do you respond?

 John the Baptist, Jesus’ cousin, preached repentance and foretold the coming Messiah along the Jordan River, until his arrest. Many of his followers became disciples of Jesus. Jesus called others from their homes and work around the Sea of Galilee.

The Jordan River, lifeblood of the nation of Israel is born in the snows of Mt. Hermon in the north of Israel. The river flows south through the land in the rift valley left by the shifting land long ago. It is fed from the surrounding highlands by brooks and streams like the Jabok where Jacob wrestled with God.

The Jordan River area is full of history. Joshua, the warrior hero of the Conquest of the Promised Land is remembered for stopping the flow of the river so the Israelites could enter the land. Naaman the Syrian officer was told by Elisha to wash in the river and be healed of his leprosy. 

The Sea of Galilee is actually a large lake (5 miles east to west, 15 miles north to south)  in the northern part of Israel. It is also known as the Sea of Chinnereth. Surrounded by fishing villages and fish processing towns, the area was the center of export for both fresh and cured fish, including sardine, carp, perch, catfish and eels. Judean fish were highly prized by Roman society. Fish was such an important commodity Jerusalem had a “Fish Gate”, where fish were bought and sold.

Boats up to 26 feet long and 7 feet wide, crewed by four rowers and carrying up to fifteen men, plied the waters along with smaller craft. Most of these boats also had masts, to take advantage of the lake winds. The most common method of fishing was the seine net. It is cast out over the water and weights on the edges make it sink. As it sinks, a drawstring is closed so that fish are caught in the net as it is drawn tighter and tighter. Individual fishermen employ nets that one man can handle. Two or three fishermen might join together to use 500 foot diameter nets. Larger operations used two boats or a crew on shore and one in the boat working together to use 1500 foot nets.  When the catch was sold, the profit was shared by the crew, although taxes had to be paid as first.

Jesus and his followers spent a lot of time in the Lake District because it was familiar territory to many of the men like Peter and Andrew, James and John who left the family business to follow Jesus.

Read  Mark 1:16-20

James and John left their father. How do you think Zebedee felt about his sons’ abandoning the family business?

Are you willing to follow where Jesus leads without thinking about the ‘cost’? 

Capernum is about 30 miles south of Caesarea Philippi and 15 miles from Cana but the village is entirely different from either of these towns. Volcanic hills rise 750 feet beyond the beach on which the town sits. Homes in Capernum are built of the surrounding rock, not the mud brick used in other towns. Even the synagogue was constructed of black volcanic basalt rock.

The prosperity of this town on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee was partly due to its location on the trade route running between the tetrarchy of Herod Antipas in Galilee and the tetrarchy of his brother Philip on the northeast side of the Sea.

Tiberius was built by Herod Antipas as his capital in Galilee. He had the Roman-style city constructed at the site of a famous hot springs. Named for the Emperor Tiberius it had a colosseum that held 10,000 people, about a quarter of the population.

Antipas, like other rulers throughout the empire, minted his own coinage. Merchants used the Roman currency with the image of the emporer. A denarius was a common coin—worth about 15 cents. The smallest coin in circulation was the lepton equal to ¼ cent.

Tax collectors were a necessary if unsavory part of the economy. Many tax collectors were considered thieves, charging more than is due and pocketing the extra. Matthew, also known as Levi, was a tax collector before Jesus called him to the life of discipleship.

Read  Mark 2:13-17

Levi left his position with the Roman government to follow Jesus. Would you give up a prestigious position if Jesus called you?

How do you invite your friends to hear about Jesus when we cannot physically meet?  

About 50 miles to the northeast of Cana lies the Gentile town of Caesarea Philippi. Located at the headwaters of the Jordan, this was the capital of Herod the Great’s youngest surviving son Philip. Once known as Paneas, Philip renamed the city in honor of himself and the Emperor. Raised in Rome, this son of Herod was appointed tetrarch of the region bordering Syria. Philip ruled the resident nomadic tribes like a sheik, collecting his share of their wealth gained in trading horses and camels. Jesus astounded the traditional among his Jewish neighbors by visiting Gentile towns. It was near Caesarea Philippi that Jesus asked his disciples. “Who do you say I am?” 

Read Matthew 16:13-21

Jesus asks each of us “Who do you say I am?” What answer are you willing to give?

What do you fear letting go of to accept the changes to your life if you say “you are the Christ”?

Taking Action:

Write or draw, and decorate an invitation similar to the one at the beginning of this section. Put it where you can see it every day.

Reflect on how you can invite others to meet Jesus in new ways.

Pray Today:

Jesus, you called the disciples to leave all they knew and follow you. Help me to be willing to abandon my careful plans in order to go where you call me. You ask each of us to respond when you ask ‘who do you say I am?’ Give me the wisdom to respond and follow. Amen.

Prayer for Tuesday of Holy Week

O God, by the passion of your blessed Son you made an instrument of shameful death to be for us the means of life: Grant us so to glory in the cross of Christ, that we may gladly suffer shame and loss for the sake of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.