So much agriculture! We’ve driven by LOTS of farms. There are so many orange and citrus groves and mango trees. We’ve also seen lots of covered banana trees and a huge avocado farm. Miles and miles of groves and tree farms! We also drive by lots of palm trees and of course olive trees. It’s amazing how much of what we see is like home, except there’s all these mountains and hills.
Church of the Beatitudes
Here we were up on the mountain with a beautiful view of the Sea of Galilee. Pastor Tim read us Matthew 5-7 “One day as he saw the crowds gathering, Jesus went up on the mountainside and sat down. His disciples gathered around him, and he began to teach them. God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted....” and so it goes. So there we stood with a lush view of this natural amphitheater on the mountainside below. Although it is no longer accessible from where we walked, you could see how it really was an amphitheater. The church there had done such a nice job creating beautiful gardens with paths throughout. It’s weird to be in such a foreign place, but see so many familiar plants and trees... bougainvillea, roses, palm tress, etc. I think I snapped some pics for my dad.
We hopped on the bus and started our long drive toward the Sanctuary of Pan.
We drove by a big hot air balloon... it was cool cause I’ve never actually seen one close up. They do a fair amount of bird watching in this area. Over 800 million birds migrate through this area every year!
Driving towards the North border we’ve got mountains immediately on our left hiding Lebanon and off in the distance to our right is another mountain range that disappears into the rain clouds which hide Golan Heights... where the snow ski slopes live.
They don’t call Jordan a river here because it’s hardly a river... it’s more like a stream. But it’s such an important stream of water it has become known as a “river.”
We’ve had so much rain to this point that there has been major flooding going on around the country. We haven’t seen anything too crazy, but today we’re driving into Banias at the foot of Mount Hermon. We go over a bridge that crosses the Banias River, which is one of three major waters that feed the Jordan River. They had so much water that the park sidewalk paths along the river are FAR under water and the river is flowing much wider than usual!!
We arrive at Hermon River Springs and get to explore many dimensions of history here.
Archaeologists uncovered a shrine dedicated to Pan and related deities, and the remains of an ancient city founded sometime after the conquest by Alexander the Great and inhabited until 1967; the ancient city was mentioned in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark by the name of Caesarea Philippi. So as you can see, it gets a little confusing because the names of places and people change over time. So although we are in one place, everything has different names depending on who was inhabiting it at any given time in history. It’s a lot to keep straight! So much so I had to google random facts from my notes just so I can get my story straight for my journal. Ha!
Temple of Augustus was built at the mouth of a cave that was considered to be the gateway to hell. The pagans would throw sacrifices into the natural abyss of the cave that reached to the underground waters. If the victims disappeared in the water, then the god had accepted their offering. If signs of blood appeared in the nearby springs, then the sacrifice had been rejected. Lovely, isn’t it! Lol.
Although we can’t see much of these original structures, we can see the grounds they were built on and remnants of the structures - an occasional pillar or wall, some niches carved into the mountainside rock where statues were once displayed. The detail carved on all these things is incredible when you realize that all of this was built more than 2,000 years ago! So fascinating!
Here we read about Jesus time with Simon Peter... where he referred to the gates of hell (the cave that we are standing at as we read this) and references to the pagan worship (they worshipped Pan) Matthew 16:13-20 - When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
This is where we were!!
Capernaum
This small fishing town is the home of Peter, James, John, Andrew and Matthew. Capernaum is the home base of Jesus and where He performed many miracles!
We get to see what’s left of Peter’s house. We imagine Jesus coming over to Peter’s house because his mother-in-law is sick and he asks Jesus to heal her.
We also know that Jesus stayed with Peter at his house, which means we’re looking at what’s left of rooms... one of which Jesus stayed in. Crazy!
There are so many ruins here. The coolest to me, is that we are looking at the homes of Peter’s neighbors! This is THE neighborhood where Jesus does so much teaching. And it’s hard to imagine what life was like back then, so to see an actual neighborhood, or at least he foundations of it, you really start to get a sense of the community that was there.
So many of these amazing places in history are buried under history, which is buried under history, and so on. So, over top of what may have been the church of this neighborhood stands a synagogue from a much later period. It is also impressive and rich in history, but history tells us this is not what the church of that time would have looked like. For starters, this is far too big. You can also see how it has been built over top of other homes in the neighborhood. The number of artifacts surrounding this site is amazing. So much of it we get to see in place and the entire perimeter of the site is covered in random pieces that have been discovered all over the property.
Amazing to think this is where Jesus’ ministry begins and goes out to the world. We are right on the shore of the Sea of Galilee... so literally the word goes out across the Sea and continues out into the world. Pastor Tim did such a great job creating this mental picture as he shared this story and scripture with us. Acts 1:8 - But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Tabgha
Next stop is the Church of the Fish and the Loaves at Tabgha, the traditional site of the feeding of the 5,000 (Luke 9:10-17) and where Jesus is thought to have come down from the mountain and walked on water. Again, we read these scriptures together and imagine these things taking place right before your eyes. Sometimes these moments are very moving and sometimes it’s just surreal... could this really have happened right here?!?
Sea of Galilee
It’s pretty much been raining on us all day, but we’ve been making the best of it. We all got pretty soaked at Tabgha and now we’re supposed to go for a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee. Doesn’t seem like the most ideal situation, but hey, how often do you get to cruise the Sea of Galilee?!
Before our boat cruise we stop for lunch. Most of our lunches seem to be at “restaurants” that aren’t really restaurants at all. They are more like buffets. However, there is no buffet line. We walk in the door and there are several rows of LONG tables with places settings for 20+ people at each. The table is covered in food. There’s hummus (which everybody says is way better than American hummus, but I still think it tastes bad), “salsa,” “coleslaw,” cream sauce, “salad,” other sides, and lastly... pita bread! You’re supposed to take all these goodies and dress your pita however you like. I really like the salsa because it almost tasted like salsa... so I basically ate that with pita as if it were chips and salsa. Everybody devoured all the other things, most of which didn’t float my boat. Lots of things were similar to American food in the way it looked, but typically tasted nothing like we expected, BUT everyone seemed to enjoy.
This particular place is famous for serving a fish filet with the eyeballs still in the fish. I think everyone was afraid of so only a few people ordered the fish. Turns out, they only served us fried fish (no eyeballs), chicken, and lamb kabob (which really turned out to be lamb burger sliders with no patty). My chicken was pretty good. The boys were pretty disappointed when their kabob didn’t come on a skewer and was slightly over cooked and well, just not that impressive. It was a feast nonetheless!
Soon after we were off to the boat, which was at the end of the driveway for the restaurant basically. A few people stayed behind, after all we have no idea how wet we’ll be getting.
Turned out we cruised on the biggest boat out there. We saw all these amazing boats that were basically replicas of the boat they may have sailed on in Jesus time, however, out boat was nothing like the cool wooden ones. It was rather ugly, BUT it was 2 story and gave us a great view of the Sea and surrounding areas... AND we got to look at all the other cool wooden boats out on the water. I’m pretty sure our boat was much dryer and had far more space, so I’d say we lucked out.
When we first “set sail” they played our national anthem and had Ethan raise the American flag on the upper deck, alongside the Israeli flag. That was kind of cool... and also a little strange (like so many of our experiences on this trip).
One of the crew members on the boat was telling us that this was the most rain they’ve seen since 1999. Aren’t we so lucky?!
On the walk back to the bus we walk through a really cool part of the property there. So many Florida plants and trees again. You might have thought your were on the shore of the Indian River. This was the first time I saw a Pony Tail Palm here.
Magdala
Magdala was once home to Mary Magdalene. This site has such a cool story. A new hotel starts breaking ground when they found a some ruins. The whole project comes to a halt. They have to find the funding to excavate the site and come up with a new plan for the hotel.
In 2006 they uncover the Magdala stone and eventually reveal a 1st century synagogue. They’ve even found the original tile floors. Amazing! It’s really impressive how they’ve preserved the area and made it nice to enjoy (which isn’t always the case since so many of the churches built on top of these sites). Once the site was preserved, they made a new plan to build the hotel just beside it. Construction picked back up in 2013 with the new plan and the hotel just finally opened in October or November of last year.
Walking trail to church. We’re in front of a 300 year old Olive Tree.
Also on site is... you guessed it, another church. The entry room is dedicated to the women of the Bible, who’s names are written on the pillars. One pillar is blank to signify women of today and the future. There are several small meeting rooms off the main entry. Each with a dedicated mosaic from a story in the Bible. They’re amazing! The main part of the church has giant windows at the front overlooking the Sea of Galilee. Certainly one of the nicer churches we went in.
We ventured downstairs into a replica of what the 1st century synagogue would have been like. It’s a small round room. The early church was more like a small group. Someone would teach, but there would be discussion. The room obviously is designed for such teaching and dialogue. One of the most impressive pieces of art was in this room. A very large rounded mural on the wall. The artist intended for you hand to be in line with Jesus hand. This was a theme throughout several pieces in this church. The artists wanted us to become a part of the art and extend it into “real life.” Cool idea and seemingly effective. Our guide Mark encouraged pictures to demonstrate this concept.
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