Sea of Galilee

Holy Land Tour: Day Two

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Holy Land Tour: Day Two

This is the scene that greeted us early on day two.  We left our hotel and drove to where a boat met us to take us across the sea of Galilee.  It was beautiful and, surprisingly, moving.  The stories began to come to live in my mind and my eyes were transfixed upon the water.

I am also lucky enough to be experiencing this with my best friend and the love of my life, which makes the scenery all-the-better 🙂

We got off the boat and went to a site that was my favorite church, so far: the Church of the Beatitudes.  This is thought to be the site of the sermon on the mount where Jesus proclaimed the beatitudes.  It is celebrated that, on this hill, Jesus fed the multitudes.

Not too far away was a beautiful greek orthodox church: The church of the Seven Apostles.  Though I don’t have great photos, we also stopped at Tabgha and the Chapel of the Primacy.

The highlight of the day, though was Capernaum.  Something happened to me as a stood over this ancient town.  I think I felt closer to God in that moment as I considered a God that would choose a home and live among his friends.

“When he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front of the door; and he was speaking the word to them”. -Mark 2:1-2 (nrsv)

Jesus was born in Bethlehem & his family was from Nazareth but capernaum was the place he chose as home…the place at the center of his ministry.

After Capernaum, we went to the River Jordan and had a renewal of our baptismal vows where we could touch the water.

And our day ended with trip up to the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights where one can see minefields.

blessings,

 

Holy Land Tour: Day One

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Holy Land Tour: Day One
The view from our hotel room as we woke up!

Yesterday we arrived in Tel Aviv and traveled to Tiberius a city along the Sea of Galilee/ Lake Galilee / Sea of Tiberius.  It was startling to think that we are in Galilee where Jesus lived and did most of his ministry!

We loaded up on the bus and headed out.  Our first stop was Caesarea.  It was fascinating to see the ruins, especially of Herod’s palace, but I’ll be honest I’m really excited about some other stops and this just didn’t hold much appeal to me.

This aqueduct, though, was impressive.  They built this city, here, to be a port on the Mediterranean Sea.  It connected Judah with the rest of the Roman Empire, but there was no water source, so water was brought to the city with massive aqueducts.  This one survives, in part.

After the ruins at Caesarea we headed for Armageddon.  Yup, that’s right.  I stood on armageddon: the ancient site of Megiddo.  It was interesting to see the ruins and learn about the history.  It is the prophetic end of the world according to Revelations, but something else which our guide pointed out caught my attention:

Judges 7 says, “Then Jerubbaal, that is, Gideon, and all of the people with him rose early and set up camp beside the Harod spring; Midian’s camp was north of theirs, in the valley by the Moreh hill.”

In this photo the site of  Judges 7 can be seen:

We went to Nazareth and toured the Basilica of the Annunciation.  The site celebrated as the site of Joseph’s home.

The last stop on the tour was Cana.

The church which sits on the supposed site of the wedding feast at Cana of Galilee where Jesus turned water into wine.