Section 117c
Four lessons on discipleship
Perhaps Perea
| Luke 17:1-10 |
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| 1Then Jesus said to the disciples, “It is inevitable that stumbling blocks come, but woe to the one through whom they come! 2It would be better for him if a heavy millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to stumble. 3Watch yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him. If he repents, forgive him. 4Even if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in that day he comes back and says, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.” 5The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.” 6The Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you. 7“Suppose one of you has a servant plowing the field or tending the sheep. As soon as he comes in from the field would you say, ‘Come and recline at the table’? 8Instead, would you not say to him, ‘Prepare my supper. Put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink0x3B after that you may eat and drink’? 9Do you thank that servant because he did what he was commanded? I think not. 10So you also, when you have done everything you were commanded to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants0x3B we have only done what we were obligated to do.’ ” |
Notes
Perea
Perea was the term used by the historian Flavius Josephus, and others, for a section of the territory east of The Jordan River, opposite Judea and Samaria. Although the word Perea is not found in the Scriptures, the area was mentioned frequently in the Gospels as the “land beyond the Jordan”. John the Baptist baptized in Perea, and was also martyred there at Herod’s fortress of Machaerus. Jesus Christ often visited Perea during His ministry, and had many followers from there, which at the time had a large Jewish population.
Jesus spent most of his final 3 months before Passion Week traveling around Perea, teaching in its towns and villages. Jesus had been in Jerusalem for the Feast of Dedication (John 10:22-39), and the Jews tried to stone him again. He escaped their grasp and went back across the Jordan into Perea for the final months before his crucifixion. During these months he taught his disciples about the cost of following him and he tried to prepare them for his coming death.
Today, most of Perea is in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.