by Dr. Lani Wilson

Good morning, loyal prayer and fasting troopers. We are always mid-journey with the LORD, aren’t we? We see where we have been, focus on our charge at hand, and anticipate where we might be led. But, only God sees the full journey. And so we pray and fast on for our church and God’s planet, no matter what, no matter when, and no matter who….

The word for us this week is promontory. I must admit that this one was a true curiosity to me. It isn’t mentioned in the English translation of the Bible, and it was just a mystery. We know what it means but it wasn’t spoken of directly by Jesus as far as the translated Scriptures report. A promontory is a crag of rock that juts out over a body of water. One of the most famous is the Rock of Gibraltar in the Straits of Gibraltar; note how Gibraltar extrudes into the Mediterranean Sea.

Promontories were important geographical locales because of their usual proximity to bodies of water, an important fact in the development of commercial trade and civil and military defense. In the ancient world one of most important Roman promontories was in Caesarea Maritima or Palestinae, to distinguish it from Caesarea Philippi, a town presumably near the location of Jesus’ transfiguration.

Six days later Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John the brother of James, and led them privately up a high mountain. And he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.
Mathew 17:1-2 (NET)

The city Caesarea Maritima was built by King Herod the Great on the former sleepy Hellenistic town of Stratos, renamed, and dedicated to his Roman patron, Caesar Augustus. The great Promontory Palace became the capitol of the Roman province of Judea after Herod the Great died in 4 BCE, some think in the same year that Jesus was born.

The great port city of Caesarea was born out of the genius of one man: Herod the Great (c. 73–4 B.C.E.). This Idumean politician, with the support of the rulers at Rome, rose to become king of Judea. On the site of a dilapidated town, he built a glorious new city, splendid in every detail—from its chief temple down to its sewer system. The effort took over a decade (from 22 to 10/9 B.C.E.), but Herod spared no expense in materials or in construction. He named the new city Caesarea as a politic compliment to the emperor under whose aegis he rose, Caesar Augustus.
Biblical Archaeological Society
Uncovering Herod’s Seaside Palace
Barbara Burrell, Kathryn Gleason and Ehud Netzer

The following photo shows a closer view of the ruins of the palace.
In the background: the Crusader's city, Ottoman mosque and buildings, and the ancient port just behind them.
Biblewalks.com/Sites/Caesarea.html

Ibid.

Today it is hard to visualize these sparse ruins on the promontory as a splendid palace. It is just as hard to visualize Caesarea as a whole,
a grid-planned city that extended far beyond the well-restored walls of the Crusader fortress that now dominate the site. Most of the ancient streets and monuments lie unnoticed beneath sand and green fields.
Ibid.

• It was to this palace that King Herod Agrippa fled after he imprisoned Peter who was subsequently freed by angels.

Suddenly there was an angel at his side and light flooding the room. The angel shook Peter and got him up: "Hurry!" The handcuffs fell off his wrists. The angel said, "Get dressed. Put on your shoes." Peter did it. Then, "Grab your coat and let’s get out of here." Peter followed him, but didn’t believe it was really an angel-he thought he was dreaming.
Acts 12:7-9 (TMB)

At daybreak there was great consternation among the soldiers over what had become of Peter. When Herod had searched for him and did not find him, he questioned the guards and commanded that they be led away to execution. Then Herod went down from Judea to
Caesarea and stayed there.
Acts 12:18-19(NET)

• This famous palace that King Herod the Great built around a promontory on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea was one of the greatest Roman cities for hundreds or years.
• It was where Paul was imprisoned for two years before he was allowed to sail for Rome to be judged by Caesar.

After several days had passed, King Agrippa and Bernice arrived at Caesarea to pay their respects to Festus.

Now three days after Festus arrived in the province, he went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea. So the chief priests and the most prominent men of the Jews brought formal charges against Paul to him. Requesting him to do them a favor against Paul, they urged Festus to summon him to Jerusalem, planning an ambush to kill him along the way. Then Festus replied that Paul was being kept at Caesarea, and he himself intended to go there shortly. “So,” he said, “let your leaders go down there with me, and if this man has done anything wrong, they may bring charges against him.” After Festus had stayed not more than eight or ten days among them, he went down to Caesarea, and the next day he sat on the judgment seat and ordered Paul to be brought.
Acts 25:1-6, 13 (NET)

• Caesarea was where Paul was taken for safety soon after his Damascus Road conversion and sent back to Tarsus.

Back in Jerusalem he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him. They didn’t trust him one bit. Then Barnabas took him under his wing. He introduced him to the apostles and stood up for him, told them how Saul had seen and spoken to the Master on the Damascus Road and how in Damascus itself he had laid his life on the line with his bold preaching in Jesus’ name. After that he was accepted as one of them, going in and out of Jerusalem with no questions asked, uninhibited as he preached in the Master’s name. But then he ran afoul of a group called Hellenists-he had been engaged in a running argument with them-who plotted his murder. When his friends learned of the plot, they got him out of town, took him to Caesarea, and then shipped him off to Tarsus.
Acts 9:26-30 (TMB)

• Caesarea was the site of the first conversion of a Gentile, the Roman Centurion Cornelius, by Peter.

They said, "Captain Cornelius, a God-fearing man well-known for his fair play-ask any Jew in this part of the country-was commanded by a holy angel to get you and bring you to his house so he could hear what you had to say." Peter invited them in and made them feel at home. A day later they entered Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had his relatives and close friends waiting with him.
Acts 10:22-24 (TMB)

• Caesarea is where Philip lived with his four daughters, all of whom were prophetesses.

A short run from Tyre to Ptolemais completed the voyage. We greeted our Christian friends there and stayed with them a day. In the morning we went on to Caesarea and stayed with Philip the Evangelist, one of "the Seven." Philip had four virgin daughters who prophesied.
Acts 21:7-9 (TMB)

• Often because of its seaport location and importance as the Roman capitol of Judea, Caesarea was a waypoint in the travels of the the apostles.

But after saying good-bye, he promised, "I’ll be back, God willing." He sailed to Caesarea. He greeted the assembly of Christians there, and then went on to Antioch, completing the journey.
Acts 18:21-22 (TMB)

Because Jesus spent so much time on and near the Sea of Galilee where Caesarea Philippi is located, it is not surprising that Christians think of that Caesarea rather than Caesarea Maritima. But, it is speculated that Jesus was born just around the same time of Herod the Great’s death in 4 BCE, the king who built the city of Caesarea into a majestic Roman seaport, possibly the greatest of its time, rivaling only the great seaport at Alexandria.

[Herod was a client king of Rome, who ruled his province with Rome’s approval and authority and with the consent o his friend and patron, the Emperor Augustus.] Caesarea’s strategic location place it at the juncture of important trade routes. But the harbor itself offered no natural advantages; the currents were dangerous and there were problems with silting. Using ingenious technical advances, Herod’s engineers constructed two huge breakwaters, lined with warehouses. At the end of the southern breakwater stood the lighthouse, whose fires burned 24 hours a day. Six enormous bronze statues marked treacherous sandbars. TO ships coming in for sea, the sight must have been truly impressive. Caesarea was built like a model Greco-Roman city and laid out on a grid. There was a forum, theatre, temples, public baths, paved streets, and an elaborate villa that probably belonged to Herod himself. Giant twin aqueducts brought fresh water from Mt. Carmel, and formed part of an elaborate water and sewer system. But the focal point was a temple dedicated to Augustus. After his death, Herod’s city became the new capital of the Roman province of Judea. When Jesus went to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover, the prefect of the province also traveled there to ensure that order was kept. His name was Pontius Pilate. Until recently Pilate’s existence was known only through literary sources, but a recently discovered stone bears the inscription “Pontius Pilatus, of Judea,” clearly demonstrating Pilate’s position and administrative authority.
Caesarea Maritima, Frontline, pbs.org

Of what significance is a promontory, we might ask, and what does it have to do with us now? Caesarea was built upon a naturally occurring, rocky crag, a promontory, that had dangerous currents that swirled around it. There is always water near, the fluid beauty of life that gives or takes. Men and women who belonged to The Christ lived there, offering their lives as the gospel itself. The 20 April 2016 Forward Day by Day Prayer Meditation says in part,

What is the gospel, though, unless it seeps from the cracked places of our own lives? Unless we reveal the wounds that the good news has healed. It is from these wounded places that the gospel is actually revealed. It is not our talk about gospel but the experience of the gospel.

There were disciples, prophets and prophetess, evangelists and priests, rich and poor, workers, servants, slaves, prisoners, foreigners, sailors, visitors, stonemasons, carpenters, jewelers, traders, residents, refugees, artists, Gentiles and Jews, engineers, soldiers and civilians, Roman citizens and Roman subjects from all around the empire, all living in and around this one promontory, just trying to stay out of harm’s way. Is it coincidental that The Christ was probably born within a couple of years of the completion of Caesarea Maritima or Palestinae (Caesarea of Palestine)? We Christians tend to focus on Caesarea Philippi because Jesus is associated with it, but it was this other Caesarea on the coast, open to the world, in the far off, backwater Judean province that birthed the first Gentile conversion and fulfilled the promise of The Christ: That He came for the entire world.

The above map shows the Roman Empire after Jesus’ birth and Caesarea Palestinae is a mere dot in this vast subjugated landscape. But the power of this particular promontory cannot be underestimated. It was a respite, a resource, defense, offense, a layover, a hiding place, a launching pad, a safe haven, and most importantly, a harbor in a foreign, forgotten land. Sound familiar?

So, Allen Temple, who and what are we going to be and for whom? Can any one of us answer that fully? Is it our task to answer that question? And if we dare, for whom are we speaking? Can we be all these things to people and if so, do we dare? Oswald Chambers puts it like this.

We must not measure our spiritual capacity by education or intellect; our capacity in spiritual things is measured by the promises of God...When it is the question of God’s Almighty Spirit, never say “I can’t”. Never let the limitation of natural ability come in. If we have received The Holy Spirit, God expects the work of the Holy Spirit to be manifested in us.
My Utmost for His Highest, pgs. 79-80

Can we break out of fear, consternation, inertia, opaque concrete thinking and move forward to the ether world of The Christ Who is constantly calling us to ascend? Does this mean we are concerned with the loftier (and perhaps bourgeois) goals of a high-cotton, socially aware, commuter community of “the haves?” Have we built a bastion for the beloveds of The Nazarene who, after all, is God? Or have we built a bulwark against our past, keeping those reminders of who we (or previous generations) were at bay…just on the outskirts of this God-given harbor? Is Allen Temple a promontory for people to see their future in Christ or a citadel surrounded by a moat of secular deliverance? Exactly, what are our values? And where did they come from? From Whom did they come? How are we operationalizing those values? Can you really keep the Holy Spirit contained and packaged and safely wrapped in respectability when Jesus the Christ just might want us to glove-up, boots-on, tie-down, and be ready to do battle with those forces that are eating us alive? Right inside the harbor? In view of the promontory?

Heads’ up: We are going to have to get dirty.

Sweet Jesus, thank You so much for getting dirty when You reached down and pulled us out of the muck. Maybe some of us think we’ve never been dirty because we grew up in our churches, but that is the catch: They might have been our churches but not Yours. It’s ridiculous for us to welcome You into Your own Home every Sunday; to thank You for coming to visit us. It’s nonsensical to welcome the homeowner into Her own House when we are the visitors. So thank You for letting us come to Your House every day of the week. Thank You for giving us a place to call on You, to knock on Your door, to praise Your name, to seek Your peace, to await Your Spirit. Help us to not get any more of this backwards anymore.

YOU set the agenda.
YOU descend and bless us.
YOU are the Spirit.
YOU give us the road map.
YOU grant us grace.
YOU lift us up or set us down.
YOU take us Home or leave us here.
YOU…YOU…YOU.

Remind us that we fear no man, no woman, only You leaving us. And Jesus, you promised never to leave us. Never. What a gift. What a gift. What a gift.

And You never have.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Hallelujah!

Amen.

University of Pennsylvania/Cornell University
student [interpretive] drawing, Caesarea Maritima
project of the University of Pennsylvania Museum