Overload!

March 9, 2008 - 21:00

Today was packed! (I'm actually plowing through my pictures just to try to remember it all.) Eight stops, which means I'm going to be a bit succinct in places, or this would be a REALLY long post.

Mount of the Beatitudes. This is obviously where Jesus delivered His most famous sermon. When we drove along in the region, our guide pointed out that the way the hills and valleys are situated, it is possible for a speaker, without the aid of any technology whatever, to speak loudly enough for thousands to hear him. There's a church now on the top of the mountain, of course, but we had time to go off by ourselves to read Matthew 5... in the same place where it was originally spoken. Wow.

Capernaum. I didn't realize it, but one could very logically call Capernaum Jesus' home town. How? you may ask... He was born in Bethlehem, raised in Nazareth (you'll recall Nathaniel's disparaging comment), yes. But Jesus also did some 70% of His ministry in and around Capernaum. He called all of His disciples from this area. The synagogue in Capernaum in which Jesus taught no longer exists, but a synagogue built in the 4th Century over the site of the old one is still partially standing. The most remarkable feature of Capernaum... the remains of St. Peter's house. An octagonal church was built over the site to help preserve it from any further decay, though it is not completely sealed off. But the plaster with which it was covered is still visible in places.

Sea of Galilee. We went out on a boat, had a short service, and watched one of the boat operators demonstrate how they fished in Jesus' day (he didn't catch anything... I wondered, actually, what he would do if he had since it was mostly a tour boat). Rick and one other guy and I were able to sit on the edge of the prow until Giselle got up there. I think her flailing for the camera freaked out the boat operators enough to where they made us all get down. I'm happy to report that no biblical-sized storms came upon us on the lake! One odd element of that trip... they hoisted the American flag since we were from America, and played The Star Spangled Banner. Great song, but not exactly the first one I thought our group would sing this trip!

Jesus Boat. The Jesus boat is not necessarily a boat Jesus was in (though it's possible), but it was found in the Sea of Galilee far beneath the mud. It has been dated to about 2,000 years ago. The wood would apparently turn to dust as soon as it dried out, so they had to wet it constantly on the way out. It was sealed in foam until it could be preserved later.

Church of the Primacy of St. Peter. Though Scripture doesn't say exactly where that took place, this church commemorates Jesus' conversation with Peter in John 21.

Golan Heights. I really had no idea we were going to the Golan Heights, but it was interesting. We drove by fields cordoned off with signs saying "DANGER: MINES", tanks actually on the move, abandoned villages (from the 6-Day War), and pulverized bunkers. So we stopped in a Druze village in the Golan Heights for lunch. :) But seriously... it was interesting. I am as interested in current events and conflicts there as I am in the near and ancient history of the place. Our guide, a Palestinian Christian, is very (and I suppose, appropriately) circumspect about anything remotely political, but every now and then you can get out of him what was going on in some of these places.

Ceasarea Philippi - Temple of Pan. I actually didn't know until this trip that Caesarea and Caesarea Philippi were two different places, but they are indeed. Ceasarea Philippi is situated at one of the three sources of the Jordan River, and the ancient Temple of Pan (a pagan temple) was situated here as well. The spring used to come from the mouth of a cave there, but when Herod the Great built a temple to Caesar Augustus, the construction rerouted the flow to where the water comes out from a different location. Very little of the Temple of Pan remains, but it is still possible to see where the different statues were placed in the side of the cliff.

Jordan River. Our last stop in a very full day was the Jordan River. Several hardy souls from our group decided to get baptized in what was apparently both very murky AND very cold water, much to the amusement of those of us who remained on shore to take pictures (and video!) and to cheer them on. (I think more than one was wishing they were Methodist, not Baptist.) I thought they were going to share the water with some large catfish and one REALLY large rat (someone said it was a muskrat) that was swimming around where the catfish were to munch on the bread people were throwing for them, but they wound up going down the opposite side of the stairs. I think that was probably just fine for the women who were being baptized, but one of them said she forgot all about the rat once she hit the water. Then her only thought was how fast could she come back up, and how fast could she get out of there! The video of Mark and Med is great... one never quite knows what's going to happen with a former youth pastor and a current associate pastor in the water at the same time, intent on baptizing each other. Both said later that they thought about holding the other one down, but both thought the other was liable to come up swinging. So in the end, they were nice to each other.

We're heading to the Dead Sea tomorrow; it requires an early start, so I'm going to have to just content myself with summary of what we did today, and save the introspection and pontification for another time. I don't know if I'm going to be able to manage with the connection speeds here, but if I can get some pictures posted, I'll include a link in a future post.