Inheritance

St. Peter (1740-1743) by Pompeo Girolamo Batoni, National Trust (Accession No. NT266905), Iliffe Collection, Basildon Park © National Trust Images/John Hammond, Source https://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk (PD-Art, PD-Old)

Archaeologists led by Prof. Mordechai Aviam of the Kinneret Institute on the Sea of Galilee and Prof. Steven Notley of New York’s Nyack College have uncovered what they believe to be the home of the Apostle Peter and his brother, Andrew, in Bethsaida [1].

An inscription at the excavation indicates there was a church dedicated to St. Peter on the site.

Byzantine Christian tradition identified the home of St. Peter as located in Bethsaida.  The discovery, also, coincides with a description provided by Willibald, the 8th Century bishop of Eichstadt in Bavaria, who made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 724 AD [2].

A Pagan World

St. Peter worked to spread the “good news” of the Gospel in a pagan world not so different from our own.

There were yawning disparities between the rich and poor in the Roman world.  Slavery was widespread, and considered vital to the empire [3A].  There were a vast number of gods worshipped.  Christianity though was viewed as a dangerous cult – hostile to the culture at large.

Against this backdrop, St. Peter did not lose heart.  Rather, he emphasized that the Christian inheritance is a heavenly one, and the trials of this world but temporary.

Today’s World

Experts estimate that there are 40.3 million men, women, and children living under some form of slavery today (compared with an approximate 4.8 – 8.4 million at the height of the Roman Empire) [3B][4][5].  According to the International Monetary Fund, 1% of today’s population owns 38% of the world’s wealth [6].

There are a vast number of gods worshipped or none at all [7].  And Christianity is again viewed with suspicion, if not persecuted outright [8].

Despite this, Christians are encouraged by Scripture to rejoice for suffering produces endurance; endurance produces character; and character produces hope – a hope not dependent on circumstances or the world’s opinion, but grounded in Christ (Rom. 5: 3-4).

“In this greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love” (1 Peter 1: 6-8).

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[1]  C4i America, October 2022 Edition, p. 11, “Inscription points to Sea of Galilee site as St. Peter’s home, say researchers” (Source Times of Israel https://www.timesofisrael.com).

[2]  Wikipedia, “Willibald”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willibald.

[3A and 3B]  Wikipedia, “Slavery in ancient Rome”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_ancient_Rome.

[4]  BraydenG, “Are There Really More Slaves Now Than Anytime In History?” by Brayden Gerrard, 10/31/20, https://braydeng.medium.com/are-there-more-slaves-now-than-anytime-in-history-38420e0542e5.

[5]  The Guardian, “One in 200 people is a slave.  Why?” by Kate Hodal, 2/25/19, https://www.theguardian.com/news/2019/feb/25/modern-slavery-trafficking-persons-one-in-200.

[6]  International Monetary Fund, “Global Inequalities” by Andrew Stanley, March 2022, https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/fandd/issues/2022/03/Global-inequalities-Stanley.

[7]  Wikipedia, “List of religions and spiritual traditions”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_religions_and_spiritual_traditions.

[8]  Cato Institute, “Christianity Is the World’s Most Persecuted Religion” by Doug Bandow, 3/7/22, https://www.cato.org/commentary/christianity-worlds-most-persecuted-religion-confirms-new-report#.

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