Sea of Galilee, baptisms at the Jordan River, and Bethsaida - Day 3

We began today with a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee. It was very moving to be on the same body of water where so many of the stories from the life and ministry of Jesus happened. Peter and his companions had been fishing all night without catching thing. They were the experts...they knew what they were doing. In the morning as they were cleaning their nets, Jesus shows up and tells them they are going to fish for people.  Then he tells Peter to take his boat out again and he puts his nets out and catches more than his boat can hold.  James' boat is called out and his also is filled. The disciples understand that Jesus is extraordinary and give up everything to follow him. We docked at a place where an ancient boat was unearthed and preserved in a museum. This boat is very similar to the kind of boat on which Jesus and his disciples would have used for fishing and a "pulpit" when Jesus spoke to crowds. From there, we traveled to Bethsaida, where Jesus performed the miracle of the feeding of the 5000. Bethsaida has a three thosand year history. In Old Testament times, it was called "Geshur.".  This is the place where David hid from Saul.  In Jesus' day, it was called "Bethsaida" and was one of three main cities in which Jesus taught. It was the hometown of Peter, James, John, Phillip and Andrew. It is where the river empties into the Sea of Galilee, so it was a major place of commerce and travel. From there, our gasoline-powered camel took us the the Jordan River, where we were able to get into the water for baptisms. We baptized several children from a family traveling from Sheboygan, Wisconsin (not far from where we served from 1987-1992, Saukville).  This location is where tradition says Jesus was baptized by John.  From there we traveled to Bet Shean, a Gentile city that is very well preserved. With its Roman baths and red light district, it is the kind of place the prodigal son would have visited when he squandered his father's wealth.  In fact, Jesus told the disciples this story as they were traveling from Galilee in the north to Jerusalem in the south.  They would have passed through this city and perhaps Jesus, being a teacher who liked to use examples for illustrations, was pointing to this place as a place of loose living. As we traveled south along the Jordan River to the Dead Sea, we passed Mt. Nebo. This was the place where Moses saw the Promised Land that he would never enter. After 40 years of wandering in the desert, the Israelites crossed the Jordan and took Jericho. Very little remains of historic ancient Jericho....no tall walls like we will see in Masada tomorrow!  We are ending the day in a hotel near the Dead Sea. It is the lowest place on the earth and is six times larger than the Sea of Galilee.

Tel Dan, battlefields and more

Before lunch we visited Tel Dan. The word "tel" simply means an ancient site where archeologists have uncovered several levels of civilization.This is an Old Testament site that dates back 3000 years to the time of Chronicles and Kings. It is in the very northern portion of Israel, where the tribe of Dan settled after the conquest of the promised land. It is at the very headwaters of the river of Jordan and we saw amazing amounts of water gushing forth from deep mountain springs flowing out of Mount Hebron. This is the place where King Jeroboam built a temple to rival what was going on in Jerusalem. Archeologists have uncovered the temple where sacrifices were made and upon which they had also placed a golden calf. Obviously this angered God, who claimed total allegiance, no idols, and Jerusalem as the place for his temple. King Jeroboam's reign ended badly, which you can read about in the Old Testament.

We have been at three different Caesareas, all named after Caesar Augustus. The first was Caeserea by the sea, which is where Herod had his palace. The second is Caesarea Tiberias, which is where our hotel is located on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. The third is a place we visited this afternoon called Caeserea Phillippi. This is the place Jesus visited with his disciples...at that time it was the Capitol of the furthest kingdom north in Israel. It had a Temple to Pan, the pagan God that was half human and half goat, a temple to Zeus, and a temple to Caesar, all next to each other in a grotto against a mountainside with a natural spring of rushing water flowing out of the mountain. This is where Jesus asked his disciples the all important question, "but who do YOU say that I am?" Can you imagine them looking at these shrines and answering the question? Peter's confession takes on deeper meaning..."you are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

From there we drove to the sight of the latest war with Syria when the Golan Heights was recaptured. The land is desolate, yet land that has been fought over for thousands of years. From the hill we could see a Syrian city where yesterday there was serious fighting between the present regime and the people. Both Syria and Lebanon don't acknowledge the right of Israel to exist. What is clear when you are here is the physical closeness of all these places. In fact, in Israel itself, the distinction between Jewish and Arab neighborhoods is very fluid and circuitous. It's a wonder that the Israelis can keep the peace at all. Every Israeli must serve in the military for at least two years...and both our guide and our driver are parents of children serving presently. At this battle site, there were still fields mined with bombs and several destroyed tanks. On the way back to the hotel in Tiberius we passed at least five Israeli military bases within about a twenty mile spread, all in a position to defend Israel from Syria and Lebanon. 

Dinner was in the hotel in Tiberius. When we arrived, the waiter tried to direct us to the side where our tour group and Christians were dining. We chose to go sit among the Arab and Jewish families. It was fun watching families of different cultures. Kids are the same no matter their culture of origin. We watched one Muslim woman trying to coax her youngest son to eat with the fork delivered to his clamped shut mouth and recalled similar trials with our children when they were young. The Moslems have just concluded Ramadan, a time of fasting. So a number of Moslem families were there to truly feast.

Capernaum and the Mount of Beatitudes - Day 2 morning

After spending a night in Tiberius, which is on the Sea of Galilee, we travelled about three miles to Capernaum. This first century seaside fishing village is where Peter's in laws lived and it became the home base for Jesus and his disciples for the three years of his public ministry. A Catholic Church is built over Peter's home which can be seen through a glass floor.  There is a synagogue that dates back to the time when Jesus taught and a couple of his miracles were done there.  The home looks very small and one wonders where Jesus and all of his disciples would have bed down.  Recall that Jesus healed Peters' mother-in-law and that she then rose and fed them.  It is a fascinating feeling to walk where Jesus walked some 2000 years ago.  From there we traveled a short distance up the hill behind Capernaum where tradition says Jesus preached his sermon on the mount.  There is a beautiful Catholic Church built on the spot, which overlooks the Sea of Galilee.

Megiddo and Nazareth - Day 1 afternoon

After visiting Caesarea, we traveled inland to Megiddo. This ancient city has been in the crossroads of battle after battle through the centuries. Because of its location on the major route between Egypt, Africa, the Middle East and the Far East, it has been coveted by major Empires forever. Megiddo sits on a major hill in the middle of the Jazreel Valley. From it, you can see Nazareth, hometown of Jesus, and the site where the Israeli Judge Deborah and Barak, her military leader, defeated an army. Joshua and the children of Israel defeated the Canaanites to take Megiddo. And King Solomon ordered the entrance gates to the city to be reinforced. Archeologists have discovered 12 levels of civilization in the excavation of the city. King Ahab designed a canal and tunnel underground to access the spring that provided water for the whole city--- hiding the entrance outside the city walls from conquering armies.Something cataclysmic happened around 400 BC that caused the spring to stop flowing, so the city was abandoned and it has been so ever since. For my Book of Revelation students, just a note that Rev. 16:6 mentions this area as the site of Armageddon and a final battle between good and evil.  Fundamentalist Christians get worked up about this and focus a lot of time and energy on a theological system called "dispensationalism."  This system was created about 120 years ago by a British preacher who imported it to America.  Dispensationalism spins  a grand design  about the end times from this single reference in Revelation along with three verses from the Book of Daniel. As you know,  noteworthy Bible scholars debunk this relatively recent interpretation about the Book of Revelation...instead focusing on the message of hope in the midst of trials that was John of Patmos' intent when he wrote Revelation to the seven churches in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey).

From Megiddo, we traveled to Nazareth. It is no longer the sleepy town of 500 people that it was in Jesus' day! It is currently populated by a primarily Muslim population though it is in the nation of Israel. We visited a reconstructed first century village and walked through a builder's shop, a shop where wool was being spun into yarn, an olive oil making room, and a first century synagogue. The village was hosted by Arab Christians who've worked with the YMCA to create this experience for pilgrims like us! All in all, it has been a wonderful day of site-seeing and putting places to the names of biblical sites we have referenced for years in our preaching and teaching!

Caesarea - Day 1 AM

Our tour bus has wi fi so we can update as we go. This morning, we began our trip with devotions on the bus...this tour company is strongly Christian in its orientation. Our tour Guide is a Russian Jew who became a Christian in his early adulthood. There are about 40 people on the tour, mostlyfrom the US.

Today we began our adventure in Caesarea, which is north of Tel Aviv (Joppa) on the Mediterranean. We saw the ruins of Herod the Great's palace. This is the Herod who ordered the slaughter of the babies at the time of Jesus' birth.  His sons also reigned there after he died.  Pilates home is also there. He was the governor of Judea and was in Jerusalem at the time Jesus' crucifixion.  There is a huge ampitheater and a hippodrome (race track for chariots, etc.)

Two significant Bible stories happened here...this is where Cornelius, a Roman centurion, who was also a "God-fearer"- a believer in Jahweh, had his vision to summon Peter from Joppa. He sent three of his men and as they were arriving the next day, Peter had his own vision on a roof that he was to eat unclean animals. He resisted, being a good Jew, but after the third time, the door knock came with the three soldiers asking Peter to come with them to Caesarea.  He did and Cornelius and his whole family were baptized...marking one of the first times the early church crossed the boundaries to reach the Gentiles. (See Acts 10). The second story concerns Paul and is documented in the last chapters of Acts.  The Jews of Jerusalem were out to convict and kill Paul for his preaching. Being a Roman citizen, he appealed to Caesar. Under guard he was taken to Caesarea and then to Rome.

Caesarea was a port city with aqueducts built just before Jesus' birth by Herod the Great.  It had a long and important history.  It is where Eusebius was bishop in the second century (one of the drafters of our first creed). It also featured big in the Crusades of 1100.  The place of worship began as a Roman temple. On its ruins, a Christian church was built, and then a mosque...none of which stand today.

Wednesday in Israel

Shalom! We are the Tel Aviv airport for the second times in two days. We arrived yesterday on an El Al flight from Rome and stayed the night at a hotel near the airport. Our flight was high adventure as we went through four layers of security starting with a thorough check of our luggage at the Rome Airport. The first security person was an Israeli Army Reservist who frequently spends his reserve time in Las Vegas at Nellis training military personnel from all over the world. He was a nice guy with a relentless security wand that probed every inch of our luggage. That was only "round one." It is great fun to see the variety of families arriving at the airport...the ultra-orthodox families arriving from NewYork and other places with MANY children in tow, etc. We took a few pictures of a bomb-sniffing dog walking forward through the luggage from our flight as it circled around in the luggage carousel. For their safety, we weren't allowed to take pictures of the soldiers. There are many of them! The woman who sat next to us on the flight told us about the two to three years of volunteer service required of all young women and men after high school. Later that day, we saw some of them on break....the Israeli men were all eating McDonald's hamburgers with huge piles of fries and the women were eating pizza and Japanese food. We were enjoying Israeli food....chicken, couscous, cucumbers, tomatoes, and hummas. The Israeli woman who sat next to me  (Pr. M.) on the flight and I had a wonderful conversation! Our first-born children are the same age. Her mother was a Holocaust survivor who was transferred around Europe for three years during the time she was thirteen to sixteen years old along with about 100 Jewish girls. They were from a variety of European nations and were protected by a careful cadre of people who wanted to make sure they survived the war. When the war ended, her mother discovered that none of the other members of her family had survived. She said that her mother was "a shadow of a person for the rest of her life." Such evil..what we as humans do to one another.

We returned to the airport today to meet the rest of our tour group...English-speaking tourists  arriving from a variety of departure points. Many of them will likely feel like we did a week ago! This is the part of the trip for which we are the most excited! For us, it is more than a trip. It is a pilgrimage into the roots of our faith. For pastors, we can't begin to find the words to describe the depth of joy and privilege we feel to finally be in the places that have been the source of our preaching, teaching, and faith for years. It feels like a journey into our very souls!

Catacombs...the first churches

In ancient Roman times, no one was allowed to be buried within the walls of the city. While pagan Romans were into cremation, Christians preferred to be buried (so they could be resurrected when the time came). But land was expensive, and most Christians were poor. A few wealthy, landowning Christians allowed their land to be used as burial places. The approximately 70  known catacombs are scattered outside the ancient walls of Rome. From the first through the fifth centuries, Christians dug an estimated 375 miles of tomb-lined tunnels, with networks of galleries as many as five stories deep. The volcanic tuff that Rome sits atop — soft and easy to cut, but hardens when exposed to air — was perfect for the job. The Christians burrowed many layers deep for two reasons: to get more mileage out of the donated land, and to be near martyrs and saints already buried there. Bodies were wrapped in linen (like Christ's). Since they figured the Second Coming was imminent, there was no interest in embalming the body.The underground tunnels, while empty of bones, are rich in early Christian symbolism, which functioned as a secret language. The dove represented the soul. You'll see it quenching its thirst (worshipping), with an olive branch (at rest), or happily perched (representing paradise). The shepherd with a lamb on his shoulders was the "good shepherd," the first portrayal of Christ as a kindly leader of his flock. The fish was used because the first letters of these words — "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior" — spelled "fish" in Greek. And the anchor is a cross in disguise. A second-century bishop had written on his tomb, "All who understand these things, pray for me." You'll see pictures of people praying with their hands raised up — the custom at the time. In the tombs we visited it is estimated half a million Christians were buried.  These were also the first churches where Christians worshipped to avoid persecution. In fact, a service was going on while we were there some 60 feet under ground. Roman law forbade groups to gather in public, so at great risk, the early Christians went instead down into the catacombs. When Christianity became "legal" with Constantine in 300, churches began to be built above ground.  Some of the earliest Christian symbols are found in the catacombs. Interesting to learn the "cross" went into vogue later. The first symbols were the fish, pictures of Jonah being spit by the whale (a sign of resurrection) and the anchor, which was the precursor to the cross.