An incredible part of the world

Today we toured all around the Sea of Galilee. We are in the north of Israel, the Sea of Galilee is fed by the north Jordan River and then the Jordan River picks up again at the south end of the sea and flows directly to the Dead Sea. But it is important to know that the sea is not incredibly wide, so although it is very large, you can pretty much always see the land on the other side of the water. As you stand on the edge of the sea, it is easy to see the nearby villages.

We started our morning with a devotional by the sea. Terry picked up the story of the ancient city of Dan that we had missed due to the rain the day before. Somehow, in just a few minutes, Terry was able to articulate the history of the tribe of Dan from the time of Samson and the Judges all the way to the Assyrian empire. The people had moved north to develop a city, they had displaced the people who were there originally, they played a part in the split of the two Kingdoms, they built the Temple in the north that we visited, but we also see evidence that they also worshipped other Gods. Based on the archaeological evidence, it was clear that the people of Dan followed the rules of the Temple very closely. On the exterior, it would have appeared they were following God completely, but when you also see the evidence of the idol worship, you can better understand the text from the Old Testament prophet Amos in relation to the people of Dan where God declares judgment on them for their superficial worship. These people were in fact judged and were conquered by the Assyrians, one of the reasons was due to their unfaithfulness. So often we go to Church to make it about us, to get something out of it. We should worship God the way He tells us we should worship Him, in spirit and in truth. We can't go to Church and worship God on Sunday and then worship the idols of our life the rest of the week.

We left there and drove up to the top of a mountain called Mt. Arbel. This mountain was 1,200 feet above the Sea of Galilee, and it is widely assumed that this is a place that Jesus would draw away to in order to pray. This passage from Mark chapter 1 most likely refers to this mountain:

"And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed."

The view was incredible. I could picture Christ sitting on the rocks we were sitting on, looking down at the sea and all of the villages surrounding it, and being pleased with the beauty of creation. As Terry taught us, on this trip we are going to walk where Jesus walked, but we also are called to live like he lived. And Jesus makes the importance of prayer in our lives well know in the Bible. So we took time, each found a spot on the edge of the cliff, looked out upon the beautiful Sea of Galilee, and prayed to our God. We also got to interact with a group of Methodist tourists from Korea who were experts with their selfie sticks, but that is beside the point.

As we came down the mountain and worked around the Sea, just a short distance away was where Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount. This may be the most well known sermon in the Bible and it provides a message that turns the world upside down. This sermon is found in Matthew chapters 5-7 and the opening 12 verses run contrary to the nature of the world. Just look at chapter 5 verse 5 for example:

"Blessed are the meek (humble) for they shall inherit the earth."

As Terry explained, Jesus was illustrating for the people what His kingdom looked like, and He made it clear it looks nothing like this world.

So many people had gathered to hear Jesus speak and when you look at the shape of the land, you understand why it was the perfect spot for this sermon. Jesus would have been standing on the top of a large slope with the people gathered below Him. The land makes a bit of a bowl shape and with no obstructions, His voice would have carried clearly a very long way.

From there we continued our journey along the sea and came to an excavated village known as Chorazin. This was a normal sized village at the time, probably a few hundred people inhabiting it. The synagogue that was excavated was in incredible condition. Because of the condition of the synagogue, we took a moment to sit around the walls on the old seats (long rows of rock) and understand from our tour guide how children were educated at that time. It was clear that the education of the children centered on scripture. The most important thing the children should be able to read when they were adults was the Word of God, so they learned to read with that very same subject matter. The children would weekly learn to read the text that would be read aloud to the entire village on Saturday. We talked about the story where Jesus goes into the synagogue in Nazareth, he is handed a scroll of Isaiah to read (which was considered an honor to be asked to read from the scrolls), and he reads from it. The text from the prophet Isaiah, which had been written 700 years before the time of Jesus, says:

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

Jesus then rolls up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and told all of the people who were there:

"Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."

Jesus was making it clear to the people, right there, that He was the fulfillment of the Messianic prophecy.

We moved over to the other side of the village and got introduced to how the people would live. A family would have a section of the village and would build rooms into that area. There was a large open air space in the middle of the rooms that people would gather to. Think about having your whole extended family in a small area, you go sleep in your own rooms, but you gather outside to eat, socialize, let the kids play, and tell stories. When a man and woman were to be married, the groom and the groom's father would have to add on a room to their area of the village. The groom's father, who was more experienced in construction, would advise the groom when he thought the room was finally done. Once the room was done, the groom and his family would go to the bride's family, let them know the room was ready, and then they would be married.

It was beautiful to see how that village community worked. The open space for community, the fact that all the extended family dwelling spaces were centered around the synagogue, the fact that the houses were not nearly as nice as the place of worship, were all intriguing and refreshing. It seems like it is the way things should be, a better way than how we have progressed in the modern day. But maybe most importantly, it gave us all an image in our minds as to what Jesus was talking about when he described heaven and His relationship with the Church. Take John 14:1, where Jesus tells his disciples:

"Let not your heart be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house there are many room. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going."

There is a reason that this extended family dwelling area in the village seemed so beautiful to me. Jesus was using this same imagery, the preparation of a room for his bride (the Church) to explain heaven to his disciples. There are so many words from Jesus that make so much more sense now that we have seen the example He was referring to.

In the example of the bride and groom and the groom going away to prepare a room for them, the bride would not know when the construction would be done. So, she had to stay ready for when the groom would return. We are the bride of Christ, we must be ready for His return as well, we can't be complacent in our faith. In the scroll that Jesus read in the synagogue where He was claiming to be the Messiah, he stops in the passage in the book of Isaiah at the words "to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." This is indeed a prophecy that Jesus fulfills to come and to offer the good news of the gospel to the world, to save the world. But the passage in Isaiah doesn't stop there. If you continue to read in Isaiah chapter 61, you will see the prophecy also says that, "He will come to proclaim the vengeance of our God." If we read in Revelations, we see that the second coming of Christ is not to save the world, but to judge the world. Just like Jesus fulfilled the first portion of the prophecy in Isaiah with His death and resurrection, He will also fulfill the second portion.

We then moved on to a place called Tabgha, which meant the place of seven springs. The springs produced plankton in the Sea of Galilee, which then attracted small fish, when then attracted big fish. So, at this location, within 100 yards of the shore, you normally had great commercial fishing opportunities. This was the place that we read about in Matthew chapter 4 when Jesus calls Peter and his brother Andrew, who were fishermen, to follow Him so He could make them fishers of men. After Jesus' death and resurrection, this is also the place that Jesus found Peter and the other disciples and revealed himself to them. This second time, Jesus was on the shore as they were out fishing. He called out to them and told them to cast their net over the right side of the boat, they did, and they caught a whole net of fish. They then knew that it was Jesus who was on the shore. For us today, it was a bit hazy between the shore and the Sea, you can understand how they might not have recognized Him from 100 yards away.

Terry taught us an incredible lesson with this. He pointed out that the first time Jesus met them at this location, they were fishing. He had called them to be fishers of men and they had followed. Then the second time He met them there they were fishing again. You can imagine Jesus almost saying, "Didn't I tell you that you have a job to do? I told you to become fishers of men, why are you here fishing in this boat?" As Jesus takes them back to the shore and talks to them, he recommissions them for their mission, and it is the faithful action of these men that we then read about in so much of the New Testament after Jesus recommissions them at the spot we stood today. Terry challenged us to think about whether or not we have gone back to fishing, have we gone back to our old ways of what we used to know, or are we carrying out the new life that a life in Christ calls for.

We then moved to the city of Capernaum. In contrast to the village we had seen earlier, Capernaum was a large city on the Sea of Galilee. The city was on the west side of the Jordan River, which was the borderline of the authority structure of the day. This meant it was a place where taxes were collected and a lot of commerce was conducted. The city was larger, probably had a few thousand people living there. Capernaum was a bit of a home base for Jesus' ministry, a large percentage of the miracles He performed were done in this city. We got to see the original foundation of the synagogue, and the new synagogue that was built on the foundation in the 4th century, that was paid for by the Roman Centurion referenced in Luke chapter 7.

To end the day, we stopped at a place on the side of the sea that would have been the setting for the story in Luke 8:26 where the demon possessed man is healed and the demons run into the pigs, which proceed to run off the side of the mountain slope and drown in the sea. The man who was healed begged that he may follow Jesus, but Jesus told him:

"Return to your home and declare how much God has done for you."

Now, this man was the only man that Jesus really interacted with on this trip to the far side of the Sea. He performed the miracle, the people got mad because He had caused their livestock to drown, and Jesus withdrew back to the boat. We never hear anything else in the Bible about this man that Jesus healed, but remember, Jesus gave him a mission. "Return home, declare how much God has done for you." Now, when you look at the geography of this area of the Sea of Galilee, you will see the Jesus performed this miracle on the northeast side of the sea, which is a predominantly non-Jewish area. These people didn't know God, didn't know who Jesus was, didn't know the prophecies, etc. The next time that Jesus comes to this same area, is the story in Matthew chapter 15 where Jesus feeds the 4,000. We can only assume that the man that Jesus had healed had gone into his town and he did exactly what Jesus told him to do, he declared to everyone how much God had done for him. So when the people heard Jesus was there, they came and brought so many along, so that they too may be healed.

Terry made the lesson clear. Just like this man who was healed, we may want to stay near to what is comfortable and safe, for that man, right after he was healed, safety and comfort would have been to follow each step Jesus made. But a life in Christ will take us out of our comfort zones. We are called to be obedient. We have no idea what God will do through our simple acts of faithful obedience. God used the faith of this man to bring so many more people to Him.

The day concluded with the sun going down over the mountains on the west side of the sea. God chose an incredible part of the world to reveal His story.