“And when they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret.”
– Matthew 14:34
Nearly all Christians know the two recorded events of Jesus feeding the five thousand (plus women and children) and Jesus walking on water. These two events are found together in Matthew 14:13-33, but few give attention to the three verses that follow. According to verse 34, Jesus and His disciples arrived at Gennesaret after having crossed the sea of Galilee. Most readers are unaware of what Gennesaret meant for first-century Jews. Gennesaret was a fertile plain with a small town. It was a place where streams flowed aplenty with bountiful wild trees, flowers, and vegetation. The plain was known for its agricultural yield, where farmers grew grapes, rice, wheat, melons, figs, olives, vegetables, etc. The land was so fertile and so beautiful that it was compared to the Nile Delta of Egypt. In fact, Jewish rabbis referred to it as “the Garden of God” and “paradise.”[1]
You have to understand the literary context in order to understand Gennesaret’s significance. Jesus had demonstrated the creative power of God by multiplying five loaves of bread and two fish to feed thousands a few verses earlier (vv. 17-20). He then walked on water, demonstrating power and authority over creation (vv. 22-33), and declared Himself to be the “I AM”, a title of God (read the Greek text of Matt. 14:27, and the worship He received from His disciples shortly after in verse 33). In verse 34 Jesus then arrives at what the Jewish rabbis called “the Garden of God” or “paradise.” And what happens here? We are told in verses 35 to 36 the following:
35 And when the men of that place recognized him, they sent around to all that region and brought to him all who were sick 36 and implored him that they might only touch the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well.
We are not told how, but the Spirit of God opened the eyes of the people to recognize Jesus. And upon recognizing who this man was they immediately sent word out to the whole region in order that the sick might be brought to Him. And they did just that: they brought the sick to Jesus. And they demonstrated such faith by imploring that if they could just touch the fringe of His garment they would be made well. We see such faith with the woman with the hemorrhage (Matt. 9:20-22), and with the centurion whose servant was sick (Matt. 8:8). And Jesus allowed it, so that all who touched the fringe of His garment were healed. As I had mentioned earlier, this is a passage often overlooked, but it is just as significant as the other events in this chapter. Here we have two shadows: The first is the shadow of God walking with man in the Garden before the Fall. The second is the shadow of what is yet to come where God will walk with His restored people in His renewed creation. While we see a glimpse of the beginning and a glimpse of the end, we also see the work Christ had come to do, to restore paradise. And paradise was partially restored in the sense that, through Christ’s redemptive work on the cross, the necessary requirements were fulfilled for man’s renewed fellowship with God (Lk. 23:43). It was not “heaven” that Jesus promised the crucified repentant thief, it was “paradise.” Of course, we know that the full restoration of paradise will not take place until Christ returns, but what a gift that that restored fellowship does not have to wait until that day, it was restored the day Christ died, and it was affirmed with such power on the day of His resurrection.
It can be very easy to miss the significance of such events in Scripture. All the more reason for us to take the time to contemplate God’s Word, to diligently study every jittle and dot, and ask in prayer for the illumination of the Holy Spirit by which we can see and understand the truths contained therein. What was it that the apostle Paul wrote in regard to the study of the Word? He said a lot, but I have this verse in mind: “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth” (2 Cor. 2:15).
[1] See Thomson, The Land and the Book, II, 293f.; Hastings, HDCG, I, 640, 641; E. G. Kraeling, Rand McNally Bible Atlas (1956).