YESHUA MOSHIACH – PART 3

Galilean Ministry:
Almost all the information on this period is found in Matthew, Mark and Luke; referred to as the synoptic Gospels. These may be conveniently divided into three sections. The first briefly outlines the events leading up to the choosing of the Twelve; the second deals with Yeshua’s withdrawal from northern Galilee; and the third deals with his departure for Jerusalem. While the synoptic Gospels concentrate exclusively on the events in Galilee, John’s account indicates that there were some visits by Yeshua to Jerusalem during this period. Also, John records another incident at Cana, where the son of a Capernaum official was healed. This is noted as the second of Yeshua’s signs -- John 4:54. It is chiefly important because of the extraordinary faith of the father, who was prepared to take Yeshua at His Word.

The Calling of the Disciples:
In the synoptic Gospels, there is an account of the initial call to four of the disciples to leave their fishing boats and to become fishers of men -- Matthew 4:18-22; Mark 1:16-20; Luke 5:1-11. They had already met Yeshua and must have had some idea what was involved in following Him. Yeshua did not at this time appoint them to be apostles, but this call was an indispensable step toward the establishment of the Twelve as a group. Setting apart a particular number of disciples formed an important part of the Ministry of Yeshua. The miraculous catch of fish, which preceded the call of the disciples in Luke’s account, served to highlight the superiority of the spiritual task of [catching] people rather than fish. Yeshua offered to teach them how to be fishers of unbelieving men and women. Another significant call came to Levi, otherwise known as Matthew -- Matthew 9:9; Mark 2:13-14; Luke 5:27-28. As a tax collector, he was of a different type from most of the other disciples. Jewish contemporaries despised him because of his profession. But his inclusion in the special circle of Yeshua’s disciples shows the broad basis on which these men were chosen. One of the others, Simon the Zealot, may have belonged to a group of revolutionaries who were religious as well as political. Even a man like Judas Iscariot was numbered among the Twelve and he would later betray Yeshua to His enemies for a small sum of money. Yeshua accepted them as they were and moulded them into men who later came to learn how to be totally dependent on YHVH and the power of His Spirit.

Sermon on the Mount:
The Gospel of Matthew presents a substantial sample of Yeshua’s teachings commonly called the Sermon on the Mount -- Matthew 5:1-7:29. Some of the same material occurs in Luke in a different context and different arrangement. It is possible that Yeshua often repeated His teachings on different occasions and with different combinations. Matthew’s record of the Sermon on the Mount presents an impressive body of teaching, mainly focusing on morals. Yeshua upholds the Law and at the same time, goes beyond it. The beginning of this sermon has been called the Beatitudes -- 5:3-12. It commends moral and spiritual values. The teachings recorded in this section were radical but not in a political sense. The Sermon on the Mount may be taken as a fair sample of the kind of discourses that must have abounded in the Ministry of Yeshua.

Yeshua as Healer:
Throughout the Gospels there are records of miracles involving Yeshua healing people. There are more of these miracles than any other type. A section in Matthew is devoted to a sequence of healings: -- Matthew 8:1-9:34, a leper, a centurion’s servant, Peter’s mother-in-law, a demon-possessed person, a paralyzed person, a woman with a haemorrhage, blind men and a man who was mute. In addition, Jairus’ daughter was raised from the dead. This concentration of healings focuses on Yeshua as a miracle worker, but throughout the Gospels there is no suggestion that Yeshua healed by magical means. In some cases an individual’s faith was acknowledged -- 8:10; 9:22. In at least one incident, the healing was accompanied by an announcement of the forgiveness of the sins of the one healed -- 9:2; Mark 2:5. This shows that Yeshua considered a person’s spiritual needs to be of greater consequence than the physical problems. Yeshua gives us an example to follow in how to truly help and bless people by meeting their spiritual needs. At that time, people held a widespread belief in the powerful influence of evil spirits over human lives. Yeshua is seen exercising his power of exorcism over demons. Yeshua’s Ministry was set in an atmosphere of spiritual conflict, so the confrontations between the forces of darkness and the Light of the World were to be expected. Those who explain away these cases of demon-possession in psychiatric terms miss this key feature of Yeshua’s Ministry. Each time He exorcised a demon, He was demonstrating a victory, which reached its most dramatic expression in His victory over death at His resurrection. In addition to the healing miracles in this early section, one nature miracle is recorded, that of the stilling of the storm -- Matthew 8:23-27; Mark 4:35-41; Luke 8:22-25. This miracle focused both on the lack of faith in the disciples and the mysterious power of the presence of Yeshua.

Yeshua and His Contemporaries:
In the early stages of His Ministry, Yeshua was very popular with the ordinary people. There are several notices to this effect -- Matthew 4:23-25; Mark 3:7-8. This popularity showed no appreciation of the spiritual purpose of Yeshua’s Mission -- Luke 13:17. Nevertheless, it stands in stark contrast to the nit-picking opposition of the religious leaders, who even plotted to kill Yeshua in the early period of His Ministry -- Mark 3:6. Yeshua and the religious leaders often clashed over the observance of the Shabbat -- Matthew 12:1-14; Luke 13:10-17; John 5:9-18. Yeshua adopted a more human-centred view than the strict interpretation of some other religious leaders; as in the instances when He was criticized for healing on the Shabbat even though the Jewish law allowed the rescuing of trapped animals on the Shabbat -- Matthew 12:11; Luke 13:15. To the Pharisees, Yeshua was a lawbreaker. They feared that it would undermine their authority if Yeshua’s teaching were permitted to influence popular opinion.

Preparing the Twelve:
The synoptic Gospels supply lists of the names of the twelve apostles -- Matthew 10:2-4; Mark 3:16-19; Luke 6:14-16. Both Matthew and Mark name them in the context of their exercising authority over evil spirits, showing that these men were being called to enter the same spiritual conflict as Yeshua. The synoptic Gospels also give details of the instructions Yeshua gave to these disciples before sending them to Minister in Israel -- Matthew 10:5-42; Mark 6:7-13; Luke 9:1-6. Matthew included material that appears in a different context in Mark and Luke, but he still shows the concern of Yeshua to prepare His disciples for their future work. They were to proclaim the Kingdom as He had done, but they were not to expect that all would respond to it. They were warned about coming hostility and even persecution. It is important to note that Yeshua warned His disciples against burdening themselves with material possessions. Although the instructions given related immediately to a tour of ministry, He was laying the foundation for the future work of the Church.

Yeshua and John, the Baptist:
For a while, there were preaching and baptisms by both John the Baptist with his followers and Yeshua with His disciples -- John 4:1-2. After John the Baptist was imprisoned by Herod because of his condemnation of Herod’s marriage to Herodias, his brother’s wife -- Matthew 14:3-4, John began to have doubts about Yeshua -- 11:1-19; Luke 7:18-35. He may have been expecting Yeshua if He really was the Moshiach, to come to his rescue. When John sent his disciples to Yeshua to express his doubts, Yeshua took the opportunity to tell the crowds of the greatness of John the Baptist. He said there was no human that was greater than John.