First Preaching Tour of Galilee

146:0.1The first pub­lic preach­ing tour of Gal­i­lee be­gan on Sun­day, Jan­uary 18, A.D. 28, and con­tin­ued for about two months, end­ing with the re­turn to Ca­per­naum on March 17. On this tour Je­sus and the twelve apos­tles, as­sisted by the for­mer apos­tles of John, preached the gospel and bap­tized be­liev­ers in Rim­mon, Jo­ta­p­ata, Ramah, Ze­bu­lun, Iron, Gis­chala, Cho­ra­zin, Madon, Cana, Nain, and En­dor. In these cities they tar­ried and taught, while in many other smaller towns they pro­claimed the gospel of the king­dom as they passed through.

146:0.2This was the first time Je­sus per­mit­ted his as­so­ciates to preach with­out re­straint. On this tour he cau­tioned them on only three oc­ca­sions; he ad­mon­ished them to re­main away from Naz­a­reth and to be dis­creet when pass­ing through Ca­per­naum and Tiberias. It was a source of great sat­is­fac­tion to the apos­tles at last to feel they were at lib­erty to preach and teach with­out re­stric­tion, and they threw them­selves into the work of preach­ing the gospel, min­is­ter­ing to the sick, and bap­tiz­ing be­liev­ers, with great earnest­ness and joy.