Good Directions

Understanding how the Bible gives us directions

09/05/2023

Lk 4:31-37 Jesus went down to Capernaum, a town of Galilee. He taught them on the sabbath, and they were astonished at his teaching because he spoke with authority. In the synagogue there was a man with the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out in a loud voice, "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are–the Holy One of God!" Jesus rebuked him and said, "Be quiet! Come out of him!" Then the demon threw the man down in front of them and came out of him without doing him any harm. They were all amazed and said to one another, "What is there about his word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out." And news of him spread everywhere in the surrounding region.

Have you heard the story of the late Dr. Billy Graham asking for directions? Dr. Graham himself tells the story early in his ministry when he arrived in a small town to preach a sermon. Waiting to mail a letter in those days, he asked a young boy where the post office was. When the boy told him, Dr. Graham thanked him and said, “If you will come to church tonight, I will tell you how you can get to heaven.”

The little boy thought about it for a moment and answered: “No, thank you, sir. I don’t think I will be there.” Dr. Graham asked, “Wouldn’t you like to know how to get to heaven?” The boy replied, “Oh, yes, but you don’t even know how to get to the post office!” The little boy doubted the good doctor would give him good directions.

When you start studying the Bible you can doubt whether the Word of God gives very good directions, too. When I was preparing my Bible study on the Acts of the Apostles, the Bible gave directions that totally confused me. I would read, for instance, “the apostles went up to Jerusalem,” or “the apostles went down to Samaria.” And in each instance I thought up and down meant going north or south, like on a map.

What I discovered, though, was that up and down meant literally going up (or ascending) and down (or descending) from Jerusalem, which sits on a mountain roughly 2,500 feet above sea level. Sometimes the directions the Bible gives are as confusing as those of Dr. Graham, at least like the little boy thought.

I mention this today because our gospel this morning begins with more bewildering biblical directions. We read in Lk 4:31, “Jesus went down to Capernaum, a town of Galilee.” Now, if you recall, Jesus had just been in Nazareth earlier in Lk 4, which is located south of Capernaum. And so when Jesus “went down to Capernaum” he really went “north to Capernaum.” See how confusing that can be?

In other words, going up or down in the Bible has nothing to do with going north or south, but rather with going up to Jerusalem or going down and away from Jerusalem. Directions in the Bible are more theological than topographical. They indicate movement closer to or farther away from the Holy City of Jerusalem, and therefore, closer to or farther away from God. The directions the Bible gives will not get you to the post office, but they will help you get to heaven, which is the new Jerusalem.

My friends, we are all going somewhere – many of us are running headlong somewhere. And sooner or later we all need to stop and ask for directions. Most of the time we don’t worry about directions to heaven because we just want to get to the post office. When I go to visit my parents on Fridays, they will ask me to help them fix something.

Maybe they’ll ask for help with their computer, and I answer: “Sorry, mom and dad, I don’t know anything about technology, but Paul (my brother) can help you.” Or they might ask me about some plumbing issue or landscaping need, or how to refinance their home. I answer, “Sorry, mom and dad, I don’t know anything about that, but Paul can help you.”

And sometimes I wonder: Why don’t people ask me something about the Bible? I might actually know the answer to that question!” But most of the time we just want to know how to get to the post office and we’re not really worried about how to get to heaven. And that’s okay, because getting to the post office is important too.

But some day you may worry about getting to heaven, and then you can come talk to me. As Galileo famously said: “The Bible tells us how to go to heaven, not how the heavens go.” And when the Bible talks about going to heaven, we find the phrase, “they went up to Jerusalem.”

Praised be Jesus Christ!