Israel 2022 - Reflection #15 - Caesarea Philippi Part 2

 

The more I read the Bible, the more questions that fill my mind. 

As we toured this site of one of the most powerful moments in the Bible. (Matthew 16:13-20, Mark 8:27-30, Luke 9:18-20) I couldn't help but ask a "Steve" question. "Steve" questions are questions most people don't ask, but my crazy mind just can't get past them. So, as we learned about this site we found out that during the first century, Caesarea Philippi was a place of pagan worship. Specifically, this site was a worship site for the Greek God, Pan. 

Rami described Pan as "half goat and half man, an ugly-looking god." HAHAHA! I loved that description.  

But, Caesar was also worshipped here. A temple was built over the entrance to this cave. At the time the water from the spring came gushing out of the cave with great force. The worshippers would come and throw their sacrifice, a goat, into the gushing water. The goat would be smashed on the rocks below. If there was blood in the water afterward, the sacrifice was deemed acceptable. 

This area was a Pagan city. Jesus had to have known that. AND this place was not on Jesus' "normal" route of travel. He and his disciples had to travel twenty miles north of Galilee to this spot. The only mention of this town in the Bible is in the New Testament and both mentions are concerning this story. It was not a hot spot for Jewish activity.

So, here is my "Steve" question -- Why did Jesus bring his disciples all the way to Caesarea Philippi to ask the question, "Who do people say I am?"

Couldn't Jesus have asked this question anywhere else? Why here? What point was Jesus trying to make by entering this area, greatly steeped in Pagan culture?  

I have not done any research on this question. I might find answers from people that know a lot more than I do. But, I'll share my own theory, a theory I came up with while on the bus ride between Caesarea Philippi and Tel Dan. 

After Peter gave his Holy Spirit reply, Jesus talked about the church. Most people accept this key moment in the Bible as the point where Jesus firmly planted the church and that church was built upon the single fact that Jesus was the "Messiah, the Son of the living God."

Jesus' church was a different church from the temple built in Jerusalem. This church would be different than the synagogues littering the countryside. This church would NOT be built exclusively for the Jewish people. This church would be built to serve the gentiles, the Pan worshippers, and those that worshipped Caesar, and it would be built for ALL the nations of the world. The gruesome sacrifices that occurred here on a regular basis, the sacrifices on the altar in the Temple, and endless rituals to forgive sins would no longer be needed. I do not think it is by chance that we know longer offer sacrifices and the worship of Pan and Caesar has been replaced by the worship of the ONE true God. 

If Jesus had asked this question in Jerusalem, Judea, or around the sea of Galilee, he could not have made this point.  The GOOD NEWS, THE GOSPEL of JESUS CHRIST, is for all people, all nations, and we as followers of the Messiah, are called to go into all the world and to share that wonderful message. 

YES, we are called to take that message into the PAGAN cultures of our day. We are to be a light in the dark world, just like Jesus entering this dark and pagan culture, we must go and serve those that don't know about the ultimate sacrifice made for us and the eternal life that awaits us. Praise God! 

If you zoom in you can see the way this area probably looked as Jesus and his disciples spoke about 

THE CHURCH. 

These little caves are the goat pens where the goats to be sacrificed were kept.