“There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, in all, and living through all” (Ephesians 4:5-6, NLT).

In the time of Jesus, Israel was divided into three regions. In the south was JUDEA, which included the southern desert all the way up to Jerusalem. In the mid-section was SAMARIA, an area inhabited by a caste of people who the Jews regarded as less than dogs (the woman Jesus met at the well and the Good Samaritan were from this region). And in the north was Galilee, the land surrounding the Sea of Galilee and all the way up to Lebanon and Syria.

Though Jesus traveled throughout Israel, most of His three years of ministry took place along the northern shores of the Sea of Galilee, around the town of Capernaum.

In Matthew 11, Jesus laments three towns of northern Galilee because of their lack of faith in God and their unrepentant hearts. These towns were Korazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum. Each town had their own unique perspectives that Jesus was addressing in His rebuke.

KORAZIN was a town of very Torah-observant Jews. Yet, bowing to cultural pressures, the rabbis had allowed images of Greek gods to be carved into the lentils of the synagogue.

BETHSAIDA was a town of gentiles, non-Jewish people, who had never had any kind of relationship with God, whatsoever, yet it was located in a heavily Jewish region.

CAPERNAUM was a town of Hellenized Jews, Jews who had abandoned their faith in God in favor of embracing the wild and hedonistic lifestyles of the pagan Greeks.

Jesus’ problem with these three towns is that they had all once upon a time been rooted in God’s Word, the Holy Scriptures. Yet, each town, in their own manner, had turned their backs on God and His Word in order to pursue their own desires or cave under the pressures of a changing society.

Might that sound familiar to us today? Do we pursue our own desires instead of pursuing God’s desires for us? Do we give into cultural and societal changes rather than taking the time to understand the timeless nature of God’s truth and His life-giving impact in our lives?

What can we do to learn the timeless lessons of surety that God has for us? What can we do to avoid falling into the traps that doomed Korazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum?

One of the most dynamic things we can do is to get to KNOW GOD. And, unlike the people in Galilee, we are able to stay connected to God through HIS WORD and the Gift of the Holy Spirit.

There’s a lot of JUNK MAIL trying to influence our lives today. Let’s remember to open GOD’S LETTER that was written in Truth and Love.

David McCall

Executive Pastor