Today was SO BUSY. We started out in Capernaum on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee, the home of Peter, Andrew, and possibly Matthew. Jesus moved to Capernaum at the beginning of His ministry and performed many miracles there. We first went into the remains of an ancient synagogue (white limestone pillars) and talked about how there are basalt (black volcanic stone) remains of an even older synagogue from the time of Christ. The synagogue at Capernaum is mentioned in Luke 4:31-36 when Jesus cast out an unclean spirit, and in John 6:48-59 where Jesus preached the famous Bread of Life sermon. We talked about four verses mentioning "raising him up" - verses 39, 40, 44, and 54. Chadwick kept saying that we are "in the same airspace" that Christ would have been in 2000 years ago.
view of the Mt. of Beatitudes from the parking lot
neighborhoods next to the synagogue - possible area of Jarius whose daughter was healed
This octagonal church is built above ruins of a house that is thought to be Peter's house. The reasoning is that this house from the first century AD was turned into several different churches over the years, which Peter's house would have been. This house was close to the shore (Peter was a fisherman for his living), and close to the market street (where he could sell his fish).
We had some lecture/study time looking out at the sea. We could see the "camel hump" shadow of a mountain of Gamla - we will go there in a couple of days.
Next stop!
The MOUNT OF BEATITUDES!! I have been SO excited to see this place for so long!! This building is built at the top of the hill where Christ taught multiple times. A little lady, Mary Anne, taught us a short lesson about new birth and perfection. The stages of progression are linear. She told us to think about these Beatitudes and try and strengthen one of them in our lives at a time over a week or a month. We are not perfect but we need to be trying our best!!
Matt 7:22-24 mentions "those who never knew him". We need to make sure that we KNOW HIM!!! Don't be casual with your discipleship!!!
This really happened!! Christ really taught here. We are so lucky to be able to STILL be able to learn from his words and follow him. He will still speak and communicated with us today!
We walked from the top of that hill to the Tabgha churches. As we walked down the hill we pictured the multitudes of people being fed by the miracle of Christ - the bread loaves and fishes. It just so happened that while we were walking down this hill, I found myself pulling out my sandwich for lunch. The sandwich was a tuna sandwich. FISH AND BREAD. I ran into the field and had Sarah take this picture. I was so proud.
NEXT. Magdala. We looked in another synagogue here and talked about Mary Magdalene, and how Christ would have visited this city and likely taught in this synagogue as well (Matthew 17). The mosaic floors were wrinkled by an earthquake. There is a beautiful modern church built. The image of Judas has no halo, and his name isn't written in gold like the others. In the basement was that beautiful (huge) mural of the woman touching the hem of Christ's robe.
We saw this famous BOAT called the Ginosar fishing boat - it dates back to the first century!! They found it one year when the sea was super low. The wood was super soggy and hard to recover from the mud. When it dried out it would fall apart. They had to cover it with fiberglass and carry it out (the photo is of a remake of the fiberglass, with an actual photo of them floating the fiberglass-encased boat). It is now in this museum, and they have found a way to preserve the wood with some sort of wax! SO COOL.
After we saw that, we hopped out on the dock and got in a big wooden boat and sailed out into the middle of the Sea of Galilee!! HOW COOL!!!! We stopped in the middle and sang "Master the Tempest is Raging" (and according to Dr. Chadwick the lyrics were wrongly changed....more on that later). It was so beautiful out there. I love big, wide open peaceful spaces to think. It is hard to be in all of these cool places with so many other people...but it was still a great experience to think about the Savior and to picture Peter walking on the water towards him, as we should all be doing.
What a great day. And we get to have this amazing view every night!!!
The MOUNT OF BEATITUDES!! I have been SO excited to see this place for so long!! This building is built at the top of the hill where Christ taught multiple times. A little lady, Mary Anne, taught us a short lesson about new birth and perfection. The stages of progression are linear. She told us to think about these Beatitudes and try and strengthen one of them in our lives at a time over a week or a month. We are not perfect but we need to be trying our best!!
Matt 7:22-24 mentions "those who never knew him". We need to make sure that we KNOW HIM!!! Don't be casual with your discipleship!!!
This really happened!! Christ really taught here. We are so lucky to be able to STILL be able to learn from his words and follow him. He will still speak and communicated with us today!
We walked from the top of that hill to the Tabgha churches. As we walked down the hill we pictured the multitudes of people being fed by the miracle of Christ - the bread loaves and fishes. It just so happened that while we were walking down this hill, I found myself pulling out my sandwich for lunch. The sandwich was a tuna sandwich. FISH AND BREAD. I ran into the field and had Sarah take this picture. I was so proud.
we looked at this walkway and noted the thorns by the side of the path, the stony sections, and good earth (parable of the sower)
At this church, we talked about Christ meeting the apostles in the morning when they came in from their night of fishing and he had made breakfast for them (reference?). BROILED FISH.
famous mosaic of the basked of bread and two fishes
NEXT. Magdala. We looked in another synagogue here and talked about Mary Magdalene, and how Christ would have visited this city and likely taught in this synagogue as well (Matthew 17). The mosaic floors were wrinkled by an earthquake. There is a beautiful modern church built. The image of Judas has no halo, and his name isn't written in gold like the others. In the basement was that beautiful (huge) mural of the woman touching the hem of Christ's robe.
We saw this famous BOAT called the Ginosar fishing boat - it dates back to the first century!! They found it one year when the sea was super low. The wood was super soggy and hard to recover from the mud. When it dried out it would fall apart. They had to cover it with fiberglass and carry it out (the photo is of a remake of the fiberglass, with an actual photo of them floating the fiberglass-encased boat). It is now in this museum, and they have found a way to preserve the wood with some sort of wax! SO COOL.
After we saw that, we hopped out on the dock and got in a big wooden boat and sailed out into the middle of the Sea of Galilee!! HOW COOL!!!! We stopped in the middle and sang "Master the Tempest is Raging" (and according to Dr. Chadwick the lyrics were wrongly changed....more on that later). It was so beautiful out there. I love big, wide open peaceful spaces to think. It is hard to be in all of these cool places with so many other people...but it was still a great experience to think about the Savior and to picture Peter walking on the water towards him, as we should all be doing.
What a great day. And we get to have this amazing view every night!!!
This is more important than our emails.
ReplyDelete