A day in the Galilee

One thing is for sure, and that is that Capernaum is a small and inconspicuous place, especially for the origins of an entirely new faith. Visiting the ancient village and then discussing Jesus’ teachings helped me to make what I think is an important connection. Jesus’ teachings represented and were intentionally a reversal of traditional social values in his day. He emphasized this reversal in his avoidance of the larger towns and cities in the Galilee. A significant religious movement would be expected to begin in a politically significant place, like Tiberias or Sepphoris. Of course, Jesus may have been conducting his ministry in a subtle way so as to avoid disproportionate imperial attention. However, it is just as likely that he meant to “say something” through his attention to the small villages and hamlets of northern Israel.

I think it's also important that I say this. I spent much of the day prior to our time at the Jordan River wondering how I might feel as I abstained from being baptized, or more accurately, from re-enacting my baptism. My reason for abstaining in the first place is multi-faceted, but is ultimately theological in scope. I have no problem with commemorating an important religious event. Memory is, of course, integral to the life of a community. And although the Bible seems to mandate one baptism, I’m sure the ontological legitimacy of the event (whatever that might be) is not hampered by re-enactment. No, my reason has to do with what is an emerging and simultaneously strong element of my identity. I am, insofar as cosmological conviction is concerned, a non-theist. I do not, at present, believe in the existence of a supernatural being or beings. Neither do I imagine the divine to be some sort of “ground of all Being” or “No-thing” as Paul Tillich suggested. I simply do not hold to the conviction that such forces or entities are foundational to reality. Therefore, by abstaining from baptism I felt, in a way, spiritually strong. Despite a waning desire to participate in the life of the church, I conducted myself in a manner faithful to what I feel that I know. And for this, I have no apology.