Editorial July 13, 1998 Issue

Spiritual hunger will be satisfied

William E. Moody

BETHSAIDA, Israel—(Sometime around 28 A.D., along the north coast of the Sea of Galilee) Local fishermen have today reported that they are leaving their nets and boats for a new occupation. The four men, Simon, Andrew, James, and John, have decided to follow an itinerant teacher, Jesus of Nazareth, who has told them that he will make them "fishers of men." Great interest has been shown by local villagers in Jesus' teachings, and he is also known as an inspired healer. Some are even claiming that he is the Son of God.

BETHSAIDA, Israel—(1998, along the north coast of the Sea of Galilee) Archaeologists have recently completed eleven years of field work at this ancient site, which presently covers some 22 acres. A fishing village that figured prominently in the New Testament accounts of Christ Jesus' ministry, Bethsaida was a middle-class Jewish community whose inhabitants were no longer "happy with their spiritual lives," according to Richard A. Freund of the University of Nebraska. Dr. Freund, director of the archaeological investigations, has concluded that it was the people's dissatisfaction (what might be called their spiritual hunger) that created a willingness to hear and respond to the teachings of Jesus.^{"Ancient site of Christian miracles is excavated" (AP), The Boston Globe, March 26, 1998, p. A18 .} (It was also to Bethsaida that Jesus and his disciples traveled by boat after feeding thousands of people with just five loaves and two fish, having multiplied the food so that there was an abundant twelve baskets full remaining when everyone had eaten.)