We read in St. Luke’s gospel when Jesus began his ministry he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea. Not exactly. Luke was not a Jew and apparently was not that totally familiar with Jewish history and geography. After the death of King Herod the Roman province of Judaea was divided in 6AD among his sons with Herod Antipas being given the northern part of the province, Galilee. He ruled that as a separate kingdom until 44AD. So Jesus was actually preaching in the synagogues of Galilee. By the time Luke was writing those distinctions seem to have been lost since the whole of the Holy Land was the Province of Judaea again. While the details get lost over time the big picture remains the same — Jesus was preaching a message of God’s love and mercy for everyone. That is a good reminder for us to focus on what really is important — the gospel — and not to get too lost in the incidentals.
