Sight Seeing Day 1 (March 6, 2008)

Waking Up:
The day opened with a fortunate mistake.  Being totally confused by the time change, I managed to set my alarm incorrectly, so when we got up to go for breakfast at 6:30, we found that it was actually 5:30.  It was fortunate because I was able to put the extra time to good use.  I sat on the balcony of the hotel’s cafe and watched the sun rise over the sea of Galilee .  It was beautiful, as any sunrise is want to be, but this sunrise, over the Sea where Jesus lived out most of his earthly ministry, was different.  Here is what I wrote after my prayers…
” What peaceful water, yet upon this sea a man once walked who’s power to still the storms set loose a gale that would shake the very foundations of our world.  This Prince of Peace who would set mother against son, and brother against brother spoke profound truth on these shores, using the reverberating power of its rolling waves to magnify his voice across two millennia.  Here my King walked and taught and gathered a movement that would change my life, and the lives of all who would come and follow him. “

Where We Went
Mount of Beatitudes,  Loves and Fishes Location, Peters Primacy – reinstatement spot, Capernam – Jesus’ town, Boat Ride, Ancient Boat Exhibit, The Other Side – St. Peter’s Fish, Jordan Baptism Site.

Mount of Beatitudes:

As you can tell from the above Itinerary, we were very busy.  A whirlwind is appropriate to describe the pace of the trip.  We began with a trip to the area from which Jesus delivered his sermon on the mount.  On the way we passed the little town of Magdalin, home of one of the famous Mary’s, we looked west through the mountain passages towards Nazareth, and were surrounded by olive and banana trees.  We climbed up the “Mount” on a winding road and the natural amphitheater of the rolling countryside became apparent.  This was the perfect physical space to give a sermon to large crowds.  The hill slopes gently to the sea and provides an excellent stage for movement prophets like Jesus.  In fact this was the most profound thought I had in this place, the notion that what Jesus was doing – not unlike today’s political campaigns, was giving a regular stump speech meant to create a movement, while expositing the virtues of the “Kingdom of Heaven”.  Once we reached the top of the mount, the 8 sided church made of basalt and marble to remind us of our call to be salt and light, became our first gathering point.  Here I jumped at the chance to read – Heck I might have even preached – the sermon on the mount, on the mount itself.  We looked out over the lilies of the field, and the green grass, all imagery Jesus calls upon in this great sermon.  It was truly hard to wrap my mind around the reality that this is where it really happened.  Later as we were on the boat we could look at the Mount from the Sea of Galilee, from that vantage point you could tell why it was chosen.  It was the perfect unique place to hold an outdoor gathering so that everyone could see and hear.  We all could have stayed there all day but there were places to go, and things to see….

Traditional Area of the Loaves and Fishes:

Not much to see here, mostly just a church with some cool mosaics on the spot thought to be where the loaves and fishes were distributed to the 5,000.  its only a stones throw from the Mount of Beatitudes so it would make sense geographically.

Peter’s Primacy

This was a really cool place that is likely the spot where Jesus appeared to the Disciples after the Resurrection.  It is the spot where Peter was “reinstated” as the leader of the church, Jesus asking him three times whether he loved him, and commanding him to feed his sheep.  What is cool is that it is on these shores that Jesus first called Peter and other disciples to come and follow him, and it is on these shores he once again calls Peter, and by implication the others, to follow him.  I love the bookends of the Bible.  I grabbed a rock from the shore, thinking that it makes sense to have a  “Rock” from the place that Peter (The Rock) became the leader of the emerging Ancient Church.  It strikes me as I am writing this that Jesus once again is in the Resurrection business, bringing Peter back from the “dead” after he failed to Acknowledge Jesus before Men.  I imagine that even Judas, had he not taken his own life, could have found forgiveness and redemption from Jesus – what good news that is for us sinners.

On the Boat:

Being out on the Sea of Galilee was quite an experience.  From just a ways out  you can quickly see most of the “Scenic Places” of the Synoptic Gospels.  It is profound how close all of these areas are to one another.  We know Jesus as an Itinerant teacher/preacher, what struck me is the relatively small area most of his ministry encompassed.  From the Arbell pass to Nazareth, to the plains of Genessaret, to Capernaum, and the “Other Side” where the demoniac hung out, they could all be seen from the lake.    It is also interesting for todays situation, just how close Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon are from this area.  Damascus is only 50 miles from Capernaum, for example.

The Ancient Boat:

We were able to see this amazing boat which is at least 2000 years old.  It was found in the mud abut 10 years Ago and preserved through a painstaking process.  This boat is exactly the kind of boat if not the actual boat that Jesus would have used when he crossed over to the “Other Side”, when he stilled the waters, when he walked on the water to the disciples, and so on.

Capernaum

These ruins were perhaps the most impressive sight of the day.  Two features stand out in the city.  First is the modern building built over top of “St Peter’s House”  This ancient structure is pretty conclusively the sight of an early 8 sided church building, that was converted from a home thought to have ben Peter’s.  This would have been the place that Jesus healed Peter’s mother in law just moments after teaching “With Authority” in the synagog (Mark 1).  What struck me is that the distance between the Synagog and the Church/Peters home was maybe 40 yards.  In between the two were the ruines of very small homes.  I was also struck by the fact that the whole population couldn’t have been very large at all.  This was an ongoing reminder to me of just how few people were in this region, and the “Small Nature” of Jesus’ ministry.  Clearly there were the times when he preached to the multitudes, but often he was preaching and teaching in the synagogs of very small towns.  Capernaum was essentially Jesus’ base of operations.  It was from here that he wandered the countryside spreading the good news of the Kingdom.

The Other Side

We went over to the other side to get some grub.  We had the option of eating the St Peter’s fish, which is the type of fish the disciples would have been casting their nets to pull in, and the type of fish they would have been roasting when Jesus appeared to them at the area of St. Peters Primacy after the resurrection.  Since the fish meal was 16 dollars, i opted out, and was glad I did when i saw that the fish were brought out whole.  Id rather fish for men any day!!  On our way to the fish place, we passed by the traditional location of the Demoniac and the Pigs.  It kind of looked like a slope down to the sea which makes sense since the pigs ran into the sea.

Jordan River Baptism Site

This site was built to facilitate the multiplicity of baptism that were happening in the Jordan, its not the site where Jesus was baptized – that was likely further south, but it was a great place to watch people being initiated into the faith, renewing their baptism, and to just go and stand in the Jordan River.  I recalled the Old Testament passage in Joshua where he commanded the Priests to go stand in the water, and when they do, the waters will part.  Its such small river, im not sure why they needed to pull out the theological big guns here, but I guess it was powerful and symbolic.  One thing that was a little frustrating for some was the fact that Methodism doesn’t allow “re-baptism”  as a result a lot of folks who wanted to be baptized didn’t really get to.  I have changed my mind on this pretty sharply in the last few years, I’m growing to think our theology of Baptism is particularly unhelpful in our current cultural context.  But don’t tell Cliff Guy I said that!!

Recap:

While it was a wild and furious day of sight seeing, the world of the ancient texts is beginning to come alive.  I am profoundly aware of how ignorant I have been to the importance of geography to the scriptures.  Seeing the places come together, seeing their proximity, and their variety is helping me piece together the biblical narrative in a whole new way.  Tomorrow we continue our Journeys – with stops in Megiddo, Nazareth, Caesarea, and Beit Shean.  Adventures await!