Lesson for the Lord’s Day
And He said unto them, I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also, for therefore am I sent. And He preached in the synagogues of Galilee. Luke 4:43,44
According to Josephus, the Galilee region at the time of Christ was made up of some 240 towns and villages, with a population nearing three million people. Within this region would be many dozens, if not hundreds, of synagogues. One expert suggests that the preaching tour indicated in our text would have occupied four or five months. Details of the preaching tour are contained in the next several chapters of Luke. The synagogues were used primarily on the Sabbath, with Jesus resorting to open-air preaching in the fields, the mountains, and the seashore throughout the week. The fact that He could enter so many of the synagogues was a tribute to the welcoming spirit of the people of the region, before many of the religious leaders turned against Him. There are places today where the Lord Jesus is welcomed to take the leading place among the worshippers.
Although there was much wrong with the old synagogue system, we can learn a lesson from them as they provide a little illustration of God’s Assemblies. For one thing, these synagogues were community centres, or meeting places, where Jewish worshippers gathered. It was not the building that was important, but the people who gathered there. Does that sound familiar? It should, because we acknowledge that the place where the people gather together is insignificant compared to the importance of the people who have been gathered together. In fact, our Assemblies are composed of people who are gathered together whether they are attending a meeting or not.
In a Jewish synagogue, the Word of God was given the central place. Nothing was as important to the synagogue as its copy of the Torah and other portions of the Scriptures. This should also sound familiar to us. In our Assemblies, the highest authority is the Word of God. No opinions or activities of man can be allowed if they differ from what is written in the Word. And none of the Word of God is to be excluded from what is taught and practiced among us.
Each of those synagogues in Galilee appeared to be independent; what happened in one was not necessarily reflected in another. For example, the people of Nazareth angrily rejected the Lord Jesus while those in the synagogue in Capernaum welcomed Him. Although fellowship and cooperation among our Assemblies is important and precious, it does not supplant the principle that each Assembly is autonomous in its government and in its responsibility to the Lord.
We are not told specifically that the Lord Jesus visited each and every synagogue in Galilee. But we are told that He does not merely visit, but is the very centrepiece, of each Assembly that is gathered to His Name today. As we gather according to His Word, His presence is precious, much more precious than the visiting Preacher that He was to the Galilean synagogues. – Jim MacIntosh