The Galilee is gorgeous. I completely understand why Jesus spent most of ministry in the Galilee and only a little bit in Jerusalem. John the Baptist had it rough preaching in the Judaean Wilderness which is barren desert.
The Mount of Beatitudes is where Christians commemorate the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). The location is on a hill/mount north of the Sea of Galilee. The view is inspiring. Interestingly Benito Mussolini (the Italian dictator and ally of Hitler) built the Church of the Beatitudes. I loved this site because our professor gave us an hour in the morning for us to read the Sermon on the Mount. I read through it twice and had a very revelatory experience. The beatitude that stuck out to me the most was "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled." I feel that I can do better to actively pursue becoming a disciple of Christ.
Not far from the Church of the Beatitudes and near the shore of the Galilee are two churches. The first we visited was The Church of Saint Peters Primacy. This church commemorates the dialogue when Jesus asked Peter three times, "Lovest thou me?" and then exhorted him to feed His sheep. Close by was the other church which is called The Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes. As you can guess this church was originally built in honor of Jesus' miraculous feeding of the 5,000. The interior of this church had remains of an ancient mosaic with two fish at the center that Jesus multiplied.
Capernaum was my favorite site of the day. For my Ancient Near East history class we have an assignment to pick one site we are going to do a field trip to and then do an in depth report on it before we go there. I'm really glad I chose to do my report on Capernaum because the site has a lot of religious significance. Peter was from Capernaum, and many miracles occurred at his house such as the healing of his mother-in-law and the healing of the paralytic man who was lowered through the roof. Early Christians turned his house into a church, and the remains of later church built around the original house are now visible. They have now built a church that is suspended over the ruins. I really enjoyed reading the scriptural accounts of the miracles that took place where I was reading them. In the same small town there was a synagogue. The remains of this synagogue have also been uncovered. This where Jesus healed a man on the sabbath and delivered the Bread of Life Sermon. In the Bread of Life Sermon I noticed a connection to the beatitude I mentioned earlier. Jesus said "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never thirst."
Every field trip one of the students usually gives a devotional on the bus while we are traveling. Today I got to share a spiritual thought, but I got to do it in one of the coolest places in the world - on a boat in the middle of the Sea od Galilee. As part of our day long field trip we went on a boat ride from one side of the Sea of Galilee to the other. My devotional was about the tender mercies of the Lord. This body of water is where Jesus traveled, walked on water, and performed other miracles. Jesus loved to frequent the Sea of Galilee and the surrounding hill country. When we approached the middle of the lake we had them turn the engines off. In a peaceful and very calm environment we sang hymns (including Master the Tempest is Raging), prayed, and pondered. It was a beautiful experience.
We ended the day by going to a fish restaurant and then getting ice cream in Tiberias. At the restaurant I ordered St Peter's Fish. They fried the entire fish and brought it out on a plate complete with the head, fins, bones and all.
No comments:
Post a Comment