Israel Study Tour with The Forge, Pine Cove

March 12-24, 2016

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The (Pita) Bread of Life

Shalom family and friends!
It’s been a very BIG day as we continue our tour of Israel. We have definitely seen the Lord’s goodness and faithfulness in the form of waking up to the Sea of Galilee another day, pita bread and hummus, and a Shabbat (Sabbath) dinner where we enjoyed lots of food and fellowship, which coincidently happens to be the theme of our day! So what better way to talk about community than co-writing a blog?

Our first stop was at Capernaum also known as “The Town of Jesus.” There are numerous different mentions in scripture of this crossroads and fishing city. The setting of our first teaching took place at a synagogue that was built on top of a first century one, we discussed Jesus being the bread of life (John 6), the faith of the a Roman centurion (Matthew 8), Jesus’ healing of a man with an unclean spirit (Mark 1), and the provision of the temple tax from the mouth of a fish (Matthew 17). It’s not everyday that you get to wakeup and SIT in the text- what a morning!

Capernaum

Jesus made Capernaum his home during the years of his ministry: “Leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum” (Matt 4:13).

Peter, Andrew, James and John were fishermen living in the village. Matthew the tax collector also dwelt here.

Capernaum is one of the three cities cursed by Jesus for its lack of faith.

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Our next stop was at Qatzrin where we walked through a replica of a house from the first century, which helped us better understand the story of a paralytic man being lowered through the roof found in Mark 2. Our third stop of the day was to Bethsaida where a blind man was brought to Jesus to be healed (Mark 8) and we discussed how blindness is a metaphor for lostness or neediness and how our faith helps us to see what our eyes can only perceive. Our final stop of the day was to the Jordan River where we discussed how baptism is a name ceremony in which one gets rid of the name of Adam and gains the name of Christ (Romans 6). We also celebrated with four of our brothers who were baptized in the Jordan right in front of us! We discussed the Jordan River being a place of declaration. We each had the opportunity to get our feet wet (Joshua 3) in the Jordan River and make a declaration of our own.

Katzrin

The ancient Jewish farming village of Katzrin was built around a spring, which still flows. Although there were standing ruins on the site, archaeological excavations have increased the number of accessible ancient buildings. An ancient synagogue was discovered in 1967 and excavated between 1971 and 1984. Other parts of the village were excavated beginning in 1983. Some of the buildings have been reconstructed on their ancient foundations and furnished with replicas of household goods and tools

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Overall, today’s theme was an opportunity for faith together. We focused on how community plays a vital role in our individual relationship with the Lord because as Dietrich Bonheoffer says it best, “the Jesus in your brother is stronger than in yourself.” At all three sites the scriptures we reflected on all exemplify how a community of faith should function- the glue of the relationship being the continual bringing the message of salvation to one another. In talking about community we have realized that our strength is not our own and we have been introduced to the Hebrew phrase, Hazak Hazak Venit Hezek, meaning strong, stronger we all grow stronger. This is something that the Forge has been teaching us since August! In talking about community, we discussed Jesus being “The Bread of Life.” This is a phrase that I’ve known most of my life growing up, but never truly knowing what it meant. One of the Hebrew words for Life is “Zoe” which essentially means “this is the way life should be/ought to look all the time.” Jesus being the bread of life means that He is life the way that God intended for it to be lived. We then discussed the question “What are you eating everyday” and “What are you giving your friends to eat.” If we are not feeding ourselves (or others) THE BREAD OF LIFE then we are feeding/being fed something that will not sustain us and will continue to fail us and spoil. If we are not feeding one another the Bread of Life, we cannot make one another stronger (as Mackenzie discussed).

We really appreciate all the prayers you all have prayed for us throughout our travels. We would really appreciate if you could continue to pray that all 59 of us would be of optimal health to be able to enjoy all that the Lord has for us the next five days that we are here!

By Sam Victor and Mackenzie Herring

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