Israel - Day 4. Speechless

I don't even know where to begin this blog.  Today was beyond words, I think perhaps the best day that we will have all trip.  I know that seems presumptuous when we're not even halfway through our trip, but I think you may agree shortly.  For you see, today we LITERALLY walked where Jesus walked.  We travelled all around the Sea of Galilee, exactly where Jesus ministered.

We started on the Mount of Beatitudes.  A church has been built on the mountain and the area has been 'beautified', so it's almost a bit difficult to get the picture of how it was.  That being said, there are spots, such as the picture below.  It was amazing to stand at the Mount of Beatitudes and see this view of the Sea of Galilee - the same view that Jesus had 2,000 years ago.

Our guide told us that Jesus was able to preach to the large crowd without going hoarse because of two reasons.  One is that it was a miracle.  The second reason is because of the way the mountain is built - it's a bit of a valley that's built up on three sides, so the acoustics in the area are good.  I think though, that no matter how good the acoustics are, it was not good enough to hit thousands of people without losing his voice.

 After preaching to the 5,000 men (not including women and children), they had to eat somewhere.  There were no fast food places around, and no cars to drive to them if they did exist.  So Jesus decided to feed them.  That happened at Tabgha, which is where we went next, a 2-minute drive.  Here, on the shores of the Galilee with our feet in the water, we read the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000 with 5 loaves and 2 fish.

Then it was off to Caperaum, the centre of Jesus Galilee ministry.  It's almost impossible to pick a highlight of today, but I think this was it for me.  Of the 3 years Jesus ministered, over 2 of those were in Capernaum.  We walked exactly where he walked.  We saw the house of Peter where Jesus stayed, slept, visited, and preached.  30 seconds from that was the shore of the Sea of Galilee.  30 seconds the other way was the synagogue.  It was incredible see all these sites we read about in the bible, and realize how close they are to each other.  I think this video sums it up.

That synagogue rock I was talking about can be seen in this picture.  The white rock is the synagogue built 500AD, and below it is the grey rock from the synagogue of the time of Jesus.  I had to touch it.

After we literally tore ourselves away from Capernaum, we headed down the road for a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee.  Coming into the trip I was most excited for this, and it did not disappoint.  Being on the boat, on the same sea where Jesus preformed so many miracles, and seeing the same view that he was seeing (the hills have not changed) was surreal.  I shared two bible stories - Jesus calming the storm, and Jesus and Peter walking on the water.  For the first story, I asked the captain of the ship about what storms were like on the Sea of Galilee.  The storms in the summer he said, brought 5 foot waves and very strong winds.  The storms in the winter brought 15 foot waves!  Captain Daniel said you don't want to be on the sea when a storm hits.  It was the perfect setting to read the story of Jesus calming the storm (Matthew 8).  Then it was on to Jesus walking on water, my favourite bible story (Matthew 14).  I've preached on that passage so many times, but preaching on it this time while actually being at the spot where it happened...it was beyond words.  There were so many tears from nearly everyone on our boat throughout the whole ride.  Captain Daniel showed us how they fished back in Jesus time.  And then, he surprised us with a time of worship (he runs the only Christian boat tour company on the Sea of Galilee).  This was a very powerful moment.

After disembarking, we went into the nearby building and had a look at a boat from Jesus time that was found in the mud about 20 years ago.  It was a very intricate process to bring it out of the mud in one piece, and then it had to be sealed for 10 years to dry up the wood.  It was put on display 10 years ago.  Our guide Raffi says we don't know who used the boat exactly, but he said he wouldn't be surprised if Jesus himself rode in it.  It's called 'The Jesus Boat'.

After the boat ride, we went to a nearby restaurant and ate "St. Peter's Fish", named of course after Peter the fisherman (and shortly thereafter, the fisher of men).

And as if this day wasn't mind-blowing and emotional enough, we had one more stop to make - the Jordan River, where anyone could get baptized or re-baptized.  Several members of our group decided to do so, and myself and Glen (also from the radio station) had the honour of baptizing.  My wife and I also got re-baptized.  We couldn't pass up the opportunity to be baptized in the same spot where Jesus was baptized.

This day was literally awe-inspiring.  I will never forget it for the rest of my life.  I am still in awe.  One more thing.  I started the day by sharing a devotional.  It centred around what today is - the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church.  I shared that thousands of Christians around the world lose their lives every year for their faith.  I asked our group to keep that in mind as we toured these sites, realizing that this is why those Christians are so passionate.  I asked them to take it to heart, so that we would get just as excited and passionate as those who stand strong in the face of persecution and death.  After today, it's hard not to be that passionate.