And it came to pass as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. Luke 17:11
At the time the Lord Jesus was there, Jerusalem was in a region that the Romans ruled as Judea. North of Judea was another region named Samaria. The next region north of Samaria was called Galilee. These three regions made up what we would refer to as Israel, and make up largely what is modern-day Israel. Our text tells us that on His final journey to Jerusalem, the Lord Jesus would travel through these three regions. You and I also travel through regions that are represented by these three.
Galilee was Jesus’ home territory. Nazareth was there, where He grew up and worked as a carpenter. His relatives were all there, and most of His disciples were from that region. It was in Galilee that Jesus preached most of His great sermons and where He performed most of His greatest miracles. This was familiar territory where He was well known. We also have a familiar territory where the Lord Jesus is well known. This includes our families, our Christian friends, our Assembly and those who form a part of it, and any other places and occasions where we are known as Christians and where we are accepted as such. It is in this region where we enjoy the fellowship of the Lord’s people, where we attend meetings and conferences, where we spend time in prayer and in the study of the Scriptures. We appreciate our Galilee region, and give thanks for it every day.
But we also have a Samaria region, just as the Lord Jesus needed to pass through it to reach the woman at Sychar’s well, just as the apostles first reached out there as the Gospel moved beyond Jerusalem in the early days of Christianity. This is our Gospel region, too, the place where we witness to people, the place where we participate in Gospel work in whatever way that we can. This is the area of Sunday School work, the area where we contribute financially and otherwise to the furtherance of the Gospel and to missionary workers. This is the region of prayer for the unsaved and for those who work to reach them for Christ. This too is a very important region, because he that winneth souls is wise (Proverbs 11:30).
In Judea, specifically in Jerusalem, the Lord Jesus was rejected, persecuted, and crucified. There is a Judea region of our lives, too, where people don’t appreciate our testimony for our Lord. Of course, if we have no testimony, or if the things of God have little significance in our lives, our Judea region will be pretty small. But in reality, this ought to be a significant region, because the more that people around us are aware that we belong to Christ, the more they will oppose and persecute us. There is always a price to pay for faithfulness to our Lord. We will be shunned, hated, attacked, and ridiculed if we stand for the truths of the Bible. But this region is always the one where we earn the greatest rewards.
As we pass through the regions of our lives as Christians, we follow the steps of the Lord Jesus. How exciting is that? -Jim MacIntosh