In the footsteps of Jesus Christ

This blog post will document the two days following our departure from Akko.  What follows will be our route and stops to visit the key events in the life of Jesus Christ during his childhood, adulthood and ministry in the Galilee area of Israel. Our base during these two days is Zafed, in the mountains about 10 miles north of the Sea of Galilee...a beautiful part of Israel. All of the places and events occurred in an area probably no more than thirty square miles!

Nazareth

The childhood home of Jesus of Nazareth has been mostly undocumented and unknown. Today, It is a modern mountainous city, mostly Arabic and pretty chaotic. Our destination here is the Church of the Annunciation, a beautiful structure that was built over the grotto of Jesus's mother Mary. On this spot, the angel Gabriel appeared to her to announce that she would bear a son, Jesus Christ. Grotto is putting it gently, because it really was nothing more than a cave in which Mary resided. Nevertheless, the church is beautiful and on the exterior, there are mosaics from literally a hundred countries commemorating this event.

 

Mary's Grotto

It seems that the Greek Orthodox folks have a different take on exactly where Gabrielle appeared to Mary. Their spot is at Mary’s well, just down the road from Mary’s grotto and so there is memorial there that we went to, just in case the Greeks got it right! As the name implies, it is the water well that the villagers, including Mary, got their water.

 

 

Mary's Well

Gennesaret

 

A short drive east over the mountain and the beautiful and iconic Sea of Gallilee came into view below us. This body of water is more like a lake as we Americans know it…being only about 25 long and 10 miles wide. The Jordan river feeds it from the north, and then empties out at the bottom and continues southwards being the border with Jordan until it empties into the Red Sea. The sea is a beautiful tourquiose.  Fortunately, development is sparse around the lake, probably because of all the historical sites that receive protection.

Sea of Galilee

First stop here is to view “Jesus’s boat”. This boat, about 40 feet in length, was discovered in the 1980’s buried in mud by a couple of local fishermen. When they realized the potential significance of what they had stumbled upon, archeological experts and scholars from around the world were called in. It was determined that the boat, in remarkable condition after 2000 years, was a fishing boat from the time period of Jesus. Obviously, there was no way to determine who the boat belonged to, or if it was involved in any of the biblical events, but if not, then a boat just like it was. It was easy to fanticize about those possibilities while looking at it.

 

The bible mentions in Mark 6:53-56 Jesus coming ashore at Gennesaret and being recognized by the crowds who all wanted to just touch his robe. Wow!

 

  

Tabgha

 

Here, Jesus fed 5,000 followers by multiplying one bread loaf and a fish to feed them all. A mosaic was discovered that marks the spot and a church was subsequently built over it. Unfortunately, the church was closed (at 2:45 pm??) so we could not go inside to see the mosaic, but we enjoyed the view of the church and visualizing this event which was described in Matthew 14: 15-21.

 

Nearby was another site, The Primacy of Peter, that was open and it was a beautiful small church and serene grounds that marked the spot described in John 21:1-19. Peter was having no luck catching fish when Jesus called out to him from the shore and commanded that he throw his net once more. Peter’s net was then filled with fish. By the way, many local seafood places in the Galilee have “Peter’s fish” on the menu, which is tilapia caught right there.

 

Capernaum

 

Among the many facts we did not know was this one. When Jesus left his boyhood home of Nazareth and began his ministry, he lived in Capernaum according to Matthew 4:14. This was a large, thriving fishing village on the north side of the Sea of Galillee. Here, there are stone ruins of the village where he lived and the synagogue where he taught. Neither the bible nor any other historical record pinpoints exactly where in the village he lived, but we were able to gaze out over these ruins and know that Jesus walked and taught here.

                                                               

                                                          Mount of Beatitudes

 

Perhaps the most beautiful and tranquil of all the sites we saw was the Mount of Beatitudes where Jesus preached the “sermon on the mount” and revealed the eight beatitudes emphasizing the humble state of humans and the righteousness of God. Matthew 5-7 (think "blessed are the weak"....). Just stunning and very moving here. Inside the small chapel there was a service of sorts being held for a group of South Korean pilgrams. Most of them were crying and wailing, some even on their hands and knees. Hard to describe how moving this was.

               

Kursi

Midway down the eastern shore and on the Golan Heights, Matthew 8:28-34 documented the next stop. While preaching on the slope, a demented, naked man approached Jesus and pleaded that he be healed. Jesus healed him, and cast his demons on to a herd of 5,000 swine, who then raced down the hill and into the sea where they all drown. The ancient ruins of a church built near this event were there, and Andrea walked up the slope to the very spot where this was said to have occurred. Another tranquil spot.

Mosaic of Jesus healing the man from demons

Location where the healing occurred 

  

The Jordan River

At the south end of the sea, it empties out and the Jordan River continues. There, a baptism site operates. But, the generally accepted actual location where Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist is further on down river and on the Jordanian side, so we hope to be re-baptized there next week ... so stay tuned. This site carefully avoids advertising that it is the actual site but nevertheless receives tons of tour buses and visitors. It is a pretty site though, only about 30 feet across and lined with palm trees as the river gently flows south.

Mount Tabor

The last stop on this incredible journey was Mount Tabor, about 10 miles south of the sea.  Known as the Transfiguration, Mark 9:2-8 described Jesus taking three disciples to the top of this mountain where they had a vision of him radiantly white and flanked by Moses and Elijah. Once again, the church over the site was closed. But, we were struck by the steepness of the mountain, giant boulders from bottom to top and how long it must have taken these men to climb it, much less to walk to it from Capernaum. We estimate Mount Tabor to be at least twice the height of Chattanooga's Lookout Mountain.

               

So, with this last stop we have seen and felt most of the major sites in the 33 year life of Jesus from his birth, to his ministry, to his death and resurrection, and to his ascension into heaven. How blessed we are to have seen these sites.

We have met some very interesting people along the way. This Jewish man was from Miami and came here at age 17 and never left. He works at the local winery in the old town of Safed, a very  religious city, we sat and talked for about an hour while we did a wine tasting. We’re learning so much about the Jewish faith, things we never understood. 

Sunset from our hotel 

A very hearty and healthy breakfast to start our day.