Today, I visited Capernaum. My images of a city were shattered and replaced by a small, very small, fishing village of about 30-40 families of 8-12 people each. The stage of Jesus' ministry was much smaller than I imagined. And, it was poor, very poor, even by first century standards.
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John give Capernaum a place in the beginning of Jesus' gospel. John suggests that Jesus spent a few days there, but Mark suggests that Capernaum was a significant base of operation for Jesus from which he launched his three year ministry. Walking through the ruins of Capernaum, we knew that Jesus had at the least walked along the main roads and spent the night in Peter's mother-in-law's home. So, we walked where Jesus walked. It was a holy place, but I was struck by how much it reminded me of Haiti. Capernaum was small, crowded and poor.
Today, there is a church with a glass floor built over the site of Peter's mother-in-law's home. The walls of the home are preserved and the scale of both Capernaum and the room / house were surprisingly small. Having just returned from Haiti, i recognized the small one room home as indicative of slums around the world. Imagining Jesus and the twelve disciples huddled in the small space was challenging until I remembered the teeming masses of poor Hatians and the close proximity they live in. Whether Jesus lived "a few days" or several years (depending on which gospel) among the poorest of the poor, we know that he was more like the people of the third world than like us.
Jesus carried water. Like billions of people throughout human history, Jesus carried water as a child for his family. Like the children that I saw in Haiti carrying water for their mother, Jesus would have carried water for Mary as a child. Jesus did not have his own room. Americans today take privacy and personal space for granted, but Jesus was most likely raised in a more communal setting sleeping on the floor with a little straw with his other siblings. When he was older and in Capernaum, he likely slept with several people in Peter's mother-in-law's house. And, in the summer likely slept on the roof. Jesus was likely no stranger to hunger as the frailty of first century life meant that even in the best of times meals might not be regular.
To be more direct, Jesus did not drive, have air conditioning, watch TV, or whine when his Internet connection timed out. None of these things existed in his world. The hardships of living a first century life among the masses of humanity without being born into privilege, I realized that Jesus was more like the Haitians than like me.
What does this mean about Jesus? Jesus's ministry calls us to love the poor who Jesus chose to live among. Jesus calls us to at times give up our first world pleasures to help those in need. Jesus calls us to open our hearts to all the people he loves. Jesus never let social status, race, or sin exclude someone from his love. It is up to each of us to decide if we will repent and follow Jesus, but how we were born does not exclude us from his grace. Jesus calls us to join him in loving beyond our limitations.
We have a place to sleep, water, food, more than we need. I need to be reminded how so many people in the world are hurting and to not take things for granted!
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