Day 09 - Mount Arbel, Magdala, Jordan River

We started day nine with a devotional at Wadi Hamam. We learned about how Jesus traveled from the quiet town of Nazareth to the bustling city of Capernaum, in order to bring light to the darkness. 

The whole world is changed because Jesus chose the harder path, which led us to wonder what God might be asking of us in our own lives. While discussing this together, a small herd of cows wandered into our group from beyond the hillside. The cows were welcomed with lots of mooing, photo-taking, and some minor consideration of a wrestling match from Cam. (There was ultimately no cow wrestling, don’t worry). 

Next, we made the climb up Mount Arbel. This is one of several mountains that overlooks the Sea of Galilee. Since Jesus often went up to the mountain to pray and seek God, we wondered together if he ever chose Mount Arbel to do exactly that. Either way, this was yet another lesson on perspective. When you’re at the top of the mountain, you can get a better perspective. 

We then went to Magdala and sat in front of the remains of a synogogue found in 2009, which was found only a foot underground. The  stoned are traced back to the time of Jesus’ life. While we cannot be certain that he taught in this specific synagogue, he taught and was involved in synagogues as was custom. We learned about Mary Magdalene here, who was from Magdala. She was a leader in the Bible and was the first person to see and talk to Jesus after his resurrection. 

We ended the day at the Jordan River. The Jordan River is mentioned over 200 times in the Bible. We talked about “wet feet faith”. Sometimes, we need to get our feet wet before the miracle occurs. Over and over in the bible, God uses water to cleanse and prepare His people before they are transformed. An example of this is when Moses parted the Red Sea and the Israelites were freed from their time in the desert and entered a new part of their life.