SERMON ON THE MOUNT – Hills South of Capernaum

Cornelius did not want to take the same road that the crowd was on. He led them cross country heading west, north of the city. Then they swung south always keeping the lake road and the people in sight but yet far away enough not to be seen. About a mile to where the crowd seems to gather, Cornelius found a gully where he left the horses and the three soldiers to guard them. Cestus, Jacob and he climbed a high grassy hill. When they reached the top, they beheld a shallow valley surrounded by three hills including the one they were on. There was a running stream snaking its way through the valley on its way to the lake. Here and there were a few copses of short trees and shrubs. They were standing on the highest hill. They saw that the largest concentration of people was on the hill adjacent to theirs and more were pouring in. Cornelius could not make out any details from their high vantage point but when they went down the hill about three quarters of the way, he noticed that people were looking toward at the base of the adjacent hill near the stream. Jesus was there standing in the center of an open circle of people. Also in the circle was a cluster of eight men. Simon Peter and his brother, Andrew, were among them. Cornelius also recognized two other fishermen who were their partners. “What were their names?” He tried to recall. “Oh, yes… James and John.”

Jesus then beckoned to another man to join him at the center and it was another face that he recognized. He also noticed the angry murmuring of the crowd.

“That is Levi, the tax collector,” exclaimed Jacob. “I heard a rumor in the city that he just up and left his collecting table and I even heard that there was still money on it.”

For some reason Cornelius was pleased that Levi got out of that hateful work. Then Jesus beckoned to another which did not please Cornelius at all. It was Simon the Zealot. Simon seemed surprised himself to be chosen as he hesitantly approached Jesus. But Jesus embraced him in a bear hug showing him that it was no mistake. Two other men were also chosen. Cornelius made a mental note to later acquire their names.

“He chose twelve men,” whispered Jacob.

“Why is that important?” asked Cestus.

“Twelve is a number that is very prominent in the Scriptures.” Jacob quickly mentioned that through out Scripture, God had chosen the twelve sons of Jacob to become the twelve tribes of Israel. It seems to represent, in most cases, the number for perfection and authority.

Cornelius noticed that Jesus and his followers were heading to a bunch of rocky outcrops half way up the hill. It seemed to him that if Jesus was going to address the people, that rocky outcrop would make the perfect platform. At first, he hesitated to be in the midst of the crowd lest he and Cestus be identified as foreigners until he noticed that, though the crowd was made up mostly of Jews, there were a fair number of Greeks, Syrians, Arabs and other nationalities mingled in.

“He is moving up that other hill. Come let us go closer so I can hear what he has to say.”

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The story continues on in my next post a week from now.

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