The Lord’s Ninth Journey through Galilee—the Last

After the Lord’s discourse with the disciples in Capernaum, the evangelists Matthew and Mark say: the Lord goes into Judea by the region beyond the Jordan. And then they indeed tell of events that took place outside Galilee: discourse about divorce, the blessing of children, and the rest.

The evangelist Luke likewise speaks similarly: the days of the Lord’s taking up drew near, and He is going to Jerusalem. But after this he continues to tell of events and instructions of the Lord, which all took place in Galilee. This is not difficult to verify by reviewing the contents outline of this section of the Gospel of the holy Luke. After the opening verse: the days of His taking up drew near—He went to Jerusalem (Lk. 9:51), recounting several cases, the evangelist writes: He went through villages, journeying toward Jerusalem (13:22). A little below, in the same chapter, they say to the Lord: Herod desires to kill you; go forth hence (13:31). Toward the end of this section it is described how between Samaria and Galilee the Lord healed ten lepers (17:11–19). Clearly, throughout these accounts the Lord remains in Galilee, though He moves toward Jerusalem.

This section ends with the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector (18:9–14). After this he also writes of those events which the evangelists Matthew and Mark mention as having taken place outside Galilee: the blessing of children and the rest. In this is further confirmation that the events standing above this in his account took place not outside Galilee.

We place all of them in the middle part of Gospel history, which contains events that took place in Galilee. This is the ninth, the last journey of the Lord through Galilee before His withdrawal to Judea and Jerusalem, from which He was not to return.

About this section of Gospel accounts let us note that since it presents one continuous account of the Lord’s movement through Galilee with direction toward Jerusalem, it should by no means be broken up, but presented all as it is, without inserting anything and without removing anything from it. Moreover, I believe, one should retain even those events, parables, and instructions which have already been mentioned, considering them as repeated.

Having indicated the place for all this section and said that all of it without interruption should be inserted into the course of Gospel history, we have said all that is required and expected of us. Only about certain particular cases is it necessary to say a few words in explanation.

The first event here is that the Samaritans of one village did not receive the Lord. Since it is not evident in the subsequent accounts that the Lord was in Samaria, it must be supposed that in this case the Lord and the disciples had no intention of passing through Samaria to go to Judea.

He wished to enter a Samaritan village only because rest was needed and this village was near. Having turned away from it, He again directed Himself to Galilee.

The second circumstance here is the desire of some to go after the Lord and His answers to them. A similar circumstance also took place before the Lord’s sailing to the country of the Gadarenes, as is told in the evangelist Matthew. But since in this present account there are certain peculiarities, this case can be considered as repeated, although their peculiarities are not very significant. That the Lord’s words are the same is because the subject is one and the speech is parabolic, which, once having come forth from His lips, naturally enters into speech in similar cases.

Next follows the sending of the seventy to preach. That this was not a simple sending for notice of the Lord’s coming, but a true apostolic preaching, is evident from the instructions given to those being sent, which are similar to the instructions given before to the twelve Apostles when sent to preach, and that upon returning they give an account of how they acted and what happened to them. That their return is told of immediately after the sending is so that after this there is no need to return to this subject. In fact, of course, they did not return immediately. Perhaps they went before the Lord throughout the whole time of His last journey through Galilee; for they were chosen so as to go before the face of the Lord into every city whither He wished to go Himself.

After this, having shown a lawyer the way to eternal life, and through the parable of him who fell among robbers explained who is his neighbor, the Lord visited the house of Martha and Mary. These names immediately bring to memory the sisters of Lazarus and raise the question: how could He visit them in Galilee when they lived in Bethany near Jerusalem?—It is possible that here only the names are the same, but not the persons. How many, for example, Marys followed the Lord from Galilee to Jerusalem? Mary and Martha are very common names. But even if they are the same persons; they could have had land and a house in Galilee as well, where they lived at times; for the feasts they would come to Bethany, where we see them at the last Passover.

After this it is told that the Lord was praying in a certain place, and when He had finished praying, one of the disciples asked Him: Lord, teach us to pray. The Lord repeated to them the prayer already known: Our Father!—He uttered this prayer in the Sermon on the Mount. But since new disciples continued to come to the Lord, it became necessary, as with many other instructions, so also this prayer, to repeat many times: for the Lord desired that His disciples all, as they remained in one mind, so also pray alike.

There follows the healing of a mute demoniac; the slander of the Pharisees, that the Lord casts out demons by the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons; and the Lord’s condemnation of them for this. A similar circumstance the evangelists Matthew and Mark place in another arrangement of events, as we have already seen in the Lord’s fourth journey through Galilee. Nevertheless, we give it a place here as well. We are guided in this by the example of the holy Matthew, who, having told of the healing of a mute demoniac, the slander of the Pharisees, and the condemnation of them, in the same arrangement of events as the holy Mark, tells also in another place of the healing of a mute demoniac and the slander of the Pharisees—without giving the condemnation of the Pharisees (Mt. 9:32–34). This suggests that the Pharisees repeatedly insinuated to the people such a blasphemous interpretation of the Lord’s casting out of demons, and that the Lord sometimes heard these slanders, sometimes not—and, hearing them, sometimes condemned the Pharisees, but sometimes left their lies without attention. The discourse on this could always be the same, because it concerned one subject and was moreover a parabolic discourse; a parabolic discourse, once having been spoken, as has already been noted, returns to speech immediately when there is need to speak of the same thing. Considering it therefore very plausible that the event told here by the evangelist Luke was distinct from other similar events, we give it the place it occupies here.

After this, beginning with the dinner at a certain Pharisee’s house to the end of this section, defined by the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, there come manifold instructions of the Lord, raising no questions. The fact that certain instructions already known are repeated here should disturb no one. We shall say about them generally: all these utterances are pronounced here in other circumstances, sometimes in another course and relationship of thoughts; almost all of them are of a parabolic nature, and by their very content are such that there could be no lack of occasions to repeat them many times over. Why it has been considered appropriate, and even necessary, to bring them here in their proper places, notwithstanding that they have already been read above.

A question might arise: how is it that the Lord’s utterances often appear unexpectedly, standing far apart from the preceding speech?—In order not to yield to such perplexities, one must keep in mind that the Lord’s utterances were called forth not only by verbal questions, but also by the heart conditions and thoughts of those surrounding Him, as were also His miracles. Having answered verbal questions, the Lord proposed answers also to those thoughts which occupied and troubled others. Since these thoughts stood far apart from the thoughts of the questioners, the Lord’s utterances also turn out to stand far apart from one another in content, though uttered and transmitted one after another in succession.