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BACKGROUND FOR THIS EPISODE

(In Order of Appearance)

NEW TESTAMENT OF THE BIBLE:
  • Luke 8:1-3 – 1Jesus went to Olive Mountain. 2Early the next morning, Jesus went back to the temple courtyard. All the people were coming to him. He sat down and began teaching them. 3The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought a woman to Jesus. They had caught her committing adultery. They made her stand in the center. 
  • John 4:46-54 – Again, Jesus went to the town of Cana in Galilee, where he had changed the water into wine. There was a government official there. He had a son who was sick in the town of Capernaum. 47This man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from the land of Judea. The man came to Jesus and begged him to go down to Capernaum and heal his son. (The son was about to die.) 48Jesus said to the man, “You people must see proofs from God and miracles or you will never believe.” 49The government official said to Jesus, “Lord, please go down to Capernaum before my little boy dies!” 50Jesus answered him, “Go, your son lives!” The man believed. He took Jesus at his word and left. 51While the man was going down to Capernaum, his servants met him. They said, “Your child lives!” 52Then the man began asking them questions about the exact time when the boy got better. They answered, “The fever left him yesterday at one o’clock in the afternoon.” 53The father knew that this was the exact time when Jesus had said, “Your son lives!” The man and his whole family believed. 54This was the second proof that Jesus performed, after he came to Galilee from the land of Judea.
  • The archaeological site of Capernaum is spread over an area about a mile along the Sea of Galilee.
  • John 2:11-12 – This was the first miracle which Jesus performed. It was in the town of Cana in Galilee. Jesus revealed his glory, and his followers believed in him.12 After this, Jesus, his mother, his brothers, and his followers went down into the town of Capernaum. They stayed there for a few days.
  • Jesus was a common name in Bible times.  In Hebrew, it was pronounced Joshua.  The Spanish still use the name commonly.
  • John 20:30 –  Jesus showed many more proofs from God in front of his followers, but those are not written in this book. 
OLD TESTAMENT OF THE BIBLE:
  • Exodus 34:18, 22-23 – “You must celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread. As I have commanded you, eat bread which does not contain yeast for seven days. Do this at the proper time, in the month of Abib, because you came out of Egypt during that month…22 You must also celebrate the Feast of Weeks (the first products from the wheat harvest) and the Feast of Ingathering (at the end of the year). 23Three times each year, all of your males must appear in the presence of the Lord, Yahweh, the God of Israel.g 

OTHER JESUS QUOTES IN THIS EPISODE

FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS:
  • ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS BK. XVIII, 2:1 – Herod built a wall about Sepphoris (which is the security of all Galilee) and made it the metropolis of the country….The others sons of Herod [the Great] Philip and that Herod who was called Antipas…their own tetrarchies….But when the Roman empire was translated to Tiberius….Herod also built the city Tiberias in Galilee.  [Herod moved his palace from Sepphoris to Tiberius – the very elegant Roman-styled city he was building.]
  • WARS OF THE JEWS BK. II, 9:1   Tiberias Caesar began to reign AD 14.  He immediately sent Gratus to be procurator of Judea where he stayed 11 years until AD 25.  Pilate became the next procurator about AD 26.  It was at this time that Herod Antipas built the city of Tiberius (AD 26-28).  Jesus began his public ministry about AD 27.  So the transition between palaces would be occurring at this time. 
  • See ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS BK. 18, 2:2-3; 3:1, 3 for more details.