GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 7:31
The Long Walk
The Boy Scout troop I was in went on a camping trip in the early ’50s. Several of the boys in my neighborhood belonged to the same troop, so we decided to walk home at the end of the campout. The scoutmaster agreed to our plan, and we set out on the walk. The distance didn’t seem like much when we hatched the plan; after all, what’s ten miles? We walked down a road, down a railroad track, and down the streets to our homes. It took almost all day. We dragged ourselves home before dark.
To this day, I remember that trek. We had to encourage one another on the long walk to keep up our spirits, as if there were an alternative. It’s unimaginable that an adult would allow a group of five 10- to 12-year-old boys to do that today, but this was the ’50s. We didn’t do a good job of planning for the walk either, since we had no food or water.
To this day, I remember that trek. We had to encourage one another on the long walk to keep up our spirits, as if there were an alternative. It’s unimaginable that an adult would allow a group of five 10- to 12-year-old boys to do that today, but this was the ’50s. We didn’t do a good job of planning for the walk either, since we had no food or water.
St. Mark described a walk Jesus and his disciples took. “And again, leaving from the region of Tyre, he came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee in the midst of the region of Decapolis.” (7:31) St. Peter, who likely related this story to Mark, would have been on the walk with Jesus and the eleven other disciples, so he would have remembered this long trip. The distance from Gennesaret to the region of Tyre is about 70 miles. The region of Sidon is about 10 miles farther north along the seacoast. Then this band went through the region of the Decapolis, which is east of the Sea of Galilee. Conservatively, this trip would cover about 150 to 200 miles—walking. Mark described the journey in 20 words—in one short sentence. Matthew, who was also on this journey, was even more brief: “Jesus left there and went along the Sea of Galilee.” (Matthew 15:29) This trip would have taken more than a month. One writer suggests that it took as many as eight months. Yeah, Peter remembered this trip, as I remember that long walk at the end of the campout.
To this day, I remember that trek. We had to encourage one another on the long walk to keep up our spirits, as if there were an alternative. It’s unimaginable that an adult would allow a group of five 10- to 12-year-old boys to do that today, but this was the ’50s. We didn’t do a good job of planning for the walk either, since we had no food or water.
It would have been grand if the writers had described some of the events of this walk, of spending several weeks alone with Jesus. Where did they lodge? What did they talk about? In this time alone, they undoubtedly came to understand and know Jesus more deeply. It was shortly after this that Peter made his declaration that Jesus is the Christ.
Previous
Next
Directory