Our first full day in Israel was a whirlwind of activity. Tzippi, our tour guide, is a middle aged woman with striking dark hair that she wears tightly swept up in a knot on top of her head and it falls in a long heavy braid to her shoulders. She is a fount of knowledge about this country that she so clearly loves.
I could tell her heart and passion for what she does by the fact that she began this day not in a busy tourist laden location but in a quiet peaceful spot beneath the hills of this land she loves. We stood beneath a towering tree looking up at rocky cliffs with deep caves pockmarked across their face listening to her explanation of not only the history of this ancient land but also about it’s geology. She has taken us to the Valley of the Wind outside of Tiberias before we start a day long tour of upper Galilee. Her instructions are to just experience the land with all our senses. Feel the wind, smell the flowers that are blooming vibrantly around us, and soak in the experience of simply being here in this holy land.
She reminds us that The Land is referred to as the fifth Gospel and I agree completely. The land itself seems to tell stories and speaks to my heart. The rolling hills surrounding the Sea of Galilee are just as I imagine they were in the time when Jesus walked here. Early in the morning the air is actually cool and I find myself wishing I brought a sweater. She tells us that the weather can quickly change beside this inland “sea” which is actually a fresh water lake fed by the Jordan river. At times her voice and eyes fill with emotion as she passionately describes the details of this place.
As I gaze off in the distance at the Sea of Galilee I can’t imagine the 10 foot waves she is describing. It is slick as glass this morning and I am happy to see that since we plan to ride a boat on it later today. I don’t have a strong stomach and avoid choppy waters so I’m greatly relieved to see it calm today. Tzippi is glad too because she says the weather is due to change later in the day and is pleased that we will get our ride in before that happens. Again, it’s hard to imagine but I think of the story where the disciples were being tossed in rough waters on this very sea and I try picture it as she is describing.
Having started our day connecting to the land we now venture forth to see the sights in this area. We pass the town of Magda and the on going excavations of Mary Magdalene’s home town. We then climb the winding hairpin turns to the church at the Mount of Beatitudes. It is nestled among large shady trees at the top of a low lying hill on the north end of the Sea. The church itself is striking as it sits perched at the top of this holy spot where Jesus preached the Beatitudes.
The thing that strikes me most is the international presence here. There are groups of people from multiple nations each dressed in their own garb and speaking their own language. We pass groups worshipping under massive shady trees until we find a quiet place of our own. There, a member of our group reads the famous blessings and we share communion together. Singing, praying, and soaking in the presence of God in this place fills my heart with indescribable emotion and I often find my eyes well with tears.
As I sit on a wooden pew inside the simple yet beautiful church I pray silently breathing in the holy essence. Opening my eyes I see men and women kneeling beside and behind me. I don’t know them. In fact they are dressed quite differently and I can only guess at their nationality, yet, we kneel together in prayer in a common language of love for our Lord. There is a unique and beautiful connection as I look into the eyes of a stranger in this holy place.
It’s crowded everywhere we go today. Bruce, our spiritual leader on this trip along with his wife Susan, reminds us that it was crowded when Jesus was here too. He had to deal with the inconveniences and frustrations that come with large groups of people. What will we eat? Where will we sit? Where’s the bathroom? We all laugh and agree that our crowd challenges are not new.
We take a short bus ride to the dock where we board a wooden boat which is a replica of the fishing boats used in Jesus’s times. The captain and his first mate are friendly and good-naturedly raise the US flag, playing our national anthem as they do so. Collectively we rise and sing to our homeland from this fishing vessel far from home. Looking across the waters I see other similar boats doing the same thing but from different nations. Again I am struck by the commonality of our interest and experience here. We motor out onto the Sea of Galilee and look back on the land we have just traveled through, appreciating it from this vantage point. It’s not that big and I am struck by how close everything is to one another.
Another scripture reading and singing extends our worship on the sea and leaves me silently gazing outward picturing Jesus walking and talking right where my eyes fall. The magnitude of that reality is sobering and joy-filled at the same time.
The day is a mixture of emotions as I thoughtfully try to take in the details of the time period that Tzippi is sharing. At the same time trying to comprehend the juxtaposition of stories I have heard for years with the strange reality that I am in the place where they happened so long ago. I sometimes needed to just pinch my arm to be sure it was all really happening!
Back on land we visited the church of multiplication where Jesus took 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread and fed 5,000. Tzippi pointed out that there are only 4 loaves depicted in the mosaic below the altar which holds the rock where Jesus laid the fish and loaves. The reason, she explained, is because we are the fifth loaf. All of us who share the stories and love of Jesus are feeding the world. He fed the disciples, who fed others, who fed others, who fed others and so on to this day. I had never heard it described so beautifully. As I looked at the people from all the nations around me I saw that it was true. Jesus’s ministry has spread across the world and today Indian, Philippine, Mexican and more gathered with us to walk this holy land.
A visit to the next church of Peter the Primacy where we heard Jesus’ prediction that the church would be built on him. The sea waters lapped ashore here and some of us shed our shoes to wade in the waters and cool our hot feet. The water was refreshing and we scooped up handfuls of rocks and tiny conch shells. Splashing in the water with people from all over the world touched my heart as we laughed and played in the waters.
After a filling lunch of local fish from the Sea of Galilee we stopped at Kursi to see excellent excavations of a Byzantine church and gazed on the hills where the swine fled into the sea after Jesus sent legions of demons into them freeing the poor soul they tormented.
Our last stop of the day was at Bethsaida where we walked among excavations that dated back to the time of King David. My head was spinning as we leapt from stories about Jesus to stories of David. Strangely enough, these ruins were just discovered in recent years and the work was still ongoing.
The skies had clouded over as the afternoon wore on and the wind whipped to a feverish pitch as we headed to our bus. Sure enough, Tzippi had been right. The sea waters were choppy as the wind blew across them and we were so grateful we weren’t on the boat now. With hot and tired feet and faces we headed back along our route to rest for the night.
And this was just day one!
