Jesus’ Initial Galilean Ministry

By “Wright, Paul H.”

Jesus’ Baptism and Move to Capernaum.

Based on data provided in the Gospels, it is not possible to establish a definitive chronology of Jesus’ ministry, or to be certain of his travel itineraries or even the number of times that he visited Jerusalem. Jesus began his ministry when he was about thirty years old (Lk 3:23), and most interpreters reconstruct a three-year ministry based on the number of Passover festivals mentioned in the Gospel of John (John 2:13, 6:4, 11:55).

John the Baptist began preaching “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” in the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar, A.D. 27–28 (Lk 3:1–3). John’s activity was concentrated in the Jordan Valley, from the south at Bethabara (i.e., “Bethany beyond the Jordan”; Jn 1:28)—just a day’s walk for the multitudes of Jerusalem (Mt 3:1–12; Lk 3:4–17)—to Aenon near Salim, east of Samaria (Jn 3:23). His bold message has been likened to those of both Elijah and the Essenes, and was part of the spiritual fervor that gripped Judea in his day. The beginning of Jesus’ public ministry was marked by his baptism by John (Mt 3: 13–17; Lk 3:21–22). Immediately afterward Jesus spent forty days in seclusion in the wilderness of Judea, probably in the empty hills above Jericho. Throughout history this desolate terrain has been a place of retreat and refuge, and it was here that Jesus successfully overcame the temptations of Satan (Lk 4:1–13). For his part, John eventually ran afoul of the authorities. He was arrested and beheaded by Herod Antipas—in Machaerus, according to Josephus—for criticizing Antipas’s marriage to his brother Philip’s wife (Mt 14:1–12; Lk 3:19–20).

Jesus’ initial Galilean ministry appears to have been based in Nazareth, with travels taking him throughout the region to villages such as Cana and Capernaum. He soon attracted a significant crowd of followers, including members of his own family (Lk 4: 14–15; Jn 2:12). The Gospels provide various accounts of Jesus’ calling of his twelve disciples (Mt 4:18–22; Mk 1:16–20, 2:14, 3:13–19; Lk 5:1–11; Jn 1:19–51). Most of his disciples were from villages that bordered the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee such as Capernaum and Bethsaida, and several were fishermen. James and John, sons of Zebedee, probably stood to inherit a rather profitable fishing business (cf. Mk 1:20). Notable also were Matthew (Levi), a tax collector, and Simon the Zealot, Matthew’s socio-economic rival. The name “Iscariot” may have indicated that Judas was the lone Judean of the group (from the village of Kirioth), or that he was a member of the radical Zealot group Sicarii (“assassins”). In any case, it is clear that together, Jesus’ small band of disciples represented a cross-section of the peoples of Galilee.

Jesus performed his first miracle at Cana, a village on the northern edge of the Beth Netofa Valley three hours’ walk from Nazareth. Here, at a wedding, he turned water into wine (Jn 2:1–11), the first of several instances in which Jesus seemed to pattern his ministry after that of Elisha (Elisha’s first miracle was to make bad water good; cf. 2 Kgs 2:19–22; Jesus’ first miracle was to turn already good water better). On a later visit to Cana Jesus healed the son of a royal official, a man who was probably attached to the court of Herod Antipas (Jn 4:46–54).

Jesus steadily gained a following throughout Galilee, but had less success back home in Nazareth. There he met resistance in the local synagogue when he unfavorably compared his nationalistic townsfolk to the Sidonians and Syrians, Israel’s cultural and political enemies during the days of Elijah and Elisha (Lk 4:16–30; cf. Mt 13:53–58). This was a particularly sensitive issue in Galilee, a Jewish frontier land bordering these regions. Escaping from Nazareth with his life, Jesus moved to Capernaum for good (Lk 4:31). The prophet Isaiah had known that because of its location, Galilee would always face the dark threat of invasion and so coined the phrase “Galilee of the Gentiles” (Isa 9:1). Citing Isaiah in this regard, Matthew notes that with Jesus’ move from Nazareth to Capernaum, a light was now dawning on a land overshadowed by death (Mt 4:12–17).