Weekend in Israel

We  had an amazing and life changing weekend traveling through the land of Israel this weekend. On Saturday we traveled from Jerusalem over to Tel Aviv and up the Mediteranian coast before heading north east toward Nazareth. Along the way we passed Megido and the large valley famous to the world as the prophesied location of Armageddon. What I did not realize is that while in this valley you can see Mount Tabor pictured below and Nazareth which is also located up on a mountain.   

When we climbed up out of the valley the road has switch backs and a tunnel through a mountain that leads up to Nazareth. Of course it is a modern city today of about 60,000 people. The Muslim population tends to live at the lower elevations of town and the Jews and Christian live higher up in this hilly city. Our first stop was at the Nazareth Church of the Nazarene, a church bursting at the seems from what we are told. We walked from the church to the Cathedral that houses the cave home where Mary lived when she recieved the news from God that she was going to be the mother of Jesus.

The cathedral is massive and probably the most impressive man made structure of all the holy sites we saw this weekend. I cannot begin to show enough pictures to do it justice here but I will try to post more on this and other amazing places after I'm home and back on high speed internet.

The cathedral has three levels that are open from the cave level all the way up to the massive dome above the sanctuary. Imagine a nun singing a beautiful angelic tune down by the cave but her voice is swelling to fill the massive sanctuary two levels above. She filled the church with music just singing naturally. I don't knwo what language she was singing in but I can imagine the song is telling the story of the night the angel came to tell Mary to "be not afraid". 

Down at the bottom of the cathedral directly under the massive dome that reaches way up into the skyline is what remains of the cave home where Mary lived. You can still find caves today in this region, up around Bethlehem, and elsewhere in Israel.  

Below is a wider view of the remains of the cave home. You can just make out the nun singing behind a roped off area to the right of the cave.

After this we headed back to the Nazarene church to have lunch before heading to the site where Joseph lived and had his carpenter shop. It also is a cave dwelling carved into stone. I took pictures here but they don't do any justice to this site since what little can be seen is under grates and glass. Then we traveled on to site of the wedding where Jesus turned water into wine, marking his first public miracle. Below is a couple shots from the outside of the church erected over this location.

Here is a large stone vessel, probably 3 feet tall, used to store water. Presumably it was a vessel like this where Jesus turned a large volume of water into the best wine of the wedding party.

 

We left Nazareth and headed east the short distance to Tiberius on the Sea of Galilee. In the free time between hotel check in and dinner many of us walked down to the water to see what we could see. Many vessels like these below were coming too and fro by the promenade. The Sea of Galilee is about 700 feet below sea level and the Jordon flows out of it down to the Dead Sea which is 1300 feet below sea level (lowest point on the surface of the earth). We watched a few people fishing but we were told it is about 2 months away from prime fishing time. We were told perch and talapia are the dominant fish caught here. I assume that is what the disciples where catching when Jesus called them to be fishers of men.

Ken brought the awesome devotions in the hotel lobby after dinner before we all retired for the night.

Sunday

Due to time constraints and slow wifi at the hotel, the rest of the weekend post will be in paragraph form with the pictures to follow. When I am back home I will try to edit this so the dialog matches up with the corresponding pictures.

Sunday morning began with a breakfast almost as amazing as the banquet spread the hotel put out for dinner the night before. Then we headed off to see the places where so many important events took place in the life of Jesus around the Sea of Galilee. 

We visited the site where Jesus gave the beatitudes, where he multiplied the loaves and fishes, where he appeared to the disciples after the resurrection, where he drove demons out of a man and into the pigs that ran into the sea. We visited the ruins of Capernaum and Peter's house where Jesus lived for some time. We passed Magdela where Mary Magdalene lived. One of the highlights of the day was a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee and an excellent devotional from Pastor Shahade while we were out in the middle of the sea. We have benefited immensely from the experience and insights of Pastor Shahade who grew up not far from this region. His kind and gentle spirit and excellent sense of humor have made him a joy to work with and a lot of fun to be around. His attributes along with the amazing knowledge and experience of our tour guide Nabil, have made these tour days amazing learning experiences for all of us.  

We had lunch in Ein Gev a holiday resort on the east side of the sea (opposite side from Tiberius). Most of us dined on tilapia. In the afternoon we drove to the south end of the sea where the Jordan River begins its journey to the Dead Sea and 9 of our team members took the opportunity to be re-baptized in the Jordan River. I have a picture of the location below but not the baptisms since I was one of the people being baptized. Kendra and I'm sure others, have some excellent shots of this event. Coincidentally the Nazarene pastor and wife from Montana that worshiped with us in Jerusalem Friday night where their getting baptized at the exact same time. What are the odds? 

We then drove on south into the West Bank territory along the Jordan River and the Jordanian border. At one time we were just 45 minutes from Damascus (capital of Syria), and we were close enough to actually see Amman (capital of Jordon) high above the rift valley  to our east. We witnessed the fertile green land of Galilee give way to rock and dessert as we approached Jericho. We stopped briefly at the oasis of Jericho, and then saw the cliffside Temptations Monastery just west of there, where two of temptations of Jesus by Satan took place. We had a traffic jam created by sheep and witnessed Pastor Russ taking a camel ride on Jackie (I'm sure I'm not spelling it right but it sounded like Jackie)

Just before sundown we reached the Dead Sea. We were too late to get into the park to go down to the water but we saw the sea from a distance. And beyond the sea we could see Mount Nebo,  where Moses was able to see the Promised Land but not allowed to enter and from where Joshua took charge of the Israelites. Pastor Shahade grew up in Jordan not far from Mount Nebo and he tells us from that vantage point one can see Jericho, Bethlehem and all the way to Jerusalem. Mount Nebo is about 2400 ft above sea level, Jerusalem is about 2500 feet above sea level and the rift valley in between bottoms out at 1300 feet below sea level. So the effect is that of viewing the land in between from nearly 4000 feet of contrasting elevation. No wonder God told Moses to go there to survey the Promised Land.

We then made that climb from the Dead Sea 4000 feet up to Jerusalem, passing the place where Jesus was most likely envisioning when he told the parable of the good Samaritan. We arrived back in the city and our hotel just after dark. We checked back into our familiar rooms from the previous week, and walked to a nice restaurant and enjoyed wood fire baked bread and pizza for supper. 

I gave our devotion in our hotel lobby about the Battle of Jericho and everyone went to get settled back into their rooms and get ready for the week ahead. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers!