Sea of Galilee

Our waitress, at our favorite breakfast spot in Jerusalem, told us of a Christian Guest House, called Beit Bracha, with beautiful views of the Sea of Galilee. Her mother volunteers and helps run the place. She hooked us up with a day-of reservation. We arrived from Nazareth the night before and were greeted by a tremendous sense of peace. It was a little haven from the conflict and tension we had felt most everywhere else. (Despite a bomb siren going off during Geoff's call to reserve the place and the ladies pausing to see if they needed to head to a bomb shelter or not. Can you believe people live like that?!) There was only one other guest there, and the volunteers who ran the place spoiled us with breakfast and overwhelming kindness and love. Truly, these were the women of Jesus' day right there before us.

The sunrise over the Sea of Galilee was spectacular, and we were sort of regretting that we had used up our extra day in Galilee. We had one day to see two days worth of things. What would we cut out? A few BYU students, who had just returned from a field trip to this area, talked about their favorite place being Magdala (near present day Migdal, and where Mary Magdalene was from). Our guide book barely mentioned it, but we decided to go check it out. It ended up being one of the top, if not the top, favorite places we visited in the Holy Land.

Several years ago a Catholic Father wanted to build a guesthouse where pilgrims could enjoy a peaceful retreat on the shores of Galilee. In 2009 they began construction and were amazed to discover a 1st century synagogue, as well as an entire Jewish town just below the surface. Only 10% is currently uncovered. Ruins don't usually help me envision a time in history, but there was a strong spirit about this place. We all felt it, strongly.

Magdala was a prosperous fishing and boat-making village at the time of Christ. Mary Magdalene herself was quite affluent, as she associated with the wives of city officials and other high-ranking men. Christ came here often. He would have walked these streets and taught in this very synagogue.

We had a female guide who walked us around the synagogue where there is The Magdala Stone, as well as beautiful mosaics.

Our guide's approach was quite different. She asked us to close our eyes and imagine ourselves inside the synagogue. Imagine Jesus, this teacher and healer you have heard about, walk up to you and look you in the eye. How would you feel? What would he say? What would you say to him? Etc. She brought a very personal application to what we were seeing and feeling.

Near the archeological site is a Women's Atrium. It is painted inside with the exact, matched color found on the stones in the synagogue. Imagine how beautiful it must have been! This atrium is to honor all of the faithful women in the New Testament. Each pillar has a biblical woman's name on it. One pillar is left blank, so that we can put our name on it. It was so stunning and reverent. We wished we could stay longer, but we had an appointment for a boat ride. Next time we'll allow more time for this site!

We rushed to Tiberias where we met up with our private boat tour with Galilee Sailing, Ltd. The boat is a replica of a 1st century fishing boat. It was a 45 minutes ride, warm and sunny, and quiet (once the tourist boat with bagpipes moved on out of earshot!) We read some of the events that took place on the Sea of Galilee (there are many!) and then enjoyed the rocking and swaying of the water.

Geoff and Ceci had swimsuits and decided to cool off.

And again!

It was perfect.

We made our way to Capernaum where Jesus lived after withdrawing from Nazareth. It became the center of his activity for 18-20 months. More of Christ's miracles were performed here than in any other city. Capernaum possibly had a population of 10,000 people, was near the international highway, a customs station, and the residence of the high Roman officer. The commander of some Roman soldiers built a synagogue for the Jews here. Excavations have uncovered a beautiful synagogue, although it was built sometime between the 2nd and 4th centuries.

Between the synagogue and the sea is the town of Capernaum, and apparently in 70AD someone pointed out the location of Peter's home. Several churches have been built over the home site over the millennia, and a bit of each church still stands.

We sat on the sea shore for a long time. Some of us sketched, some of us explored, and, of course, Geoff read us relevant scriptures.

Modern day fisherman!

Our last stop of the day was the Mount of Beatitudes. We could have picked any ol' hill near Capernaum, but we drove to the church site and designated location for ease, as the sun was going down quickly. We watched the sunset from the hill and contemplated Jesus' teachings.

We found a restaurant serving "Peter's fish" and Geoff and I ordered some. The girls played it safe and ordered something familiar. At this point in our trip we ate two meals a day and were pretty darn hungry by dinnertime!

The next day was a travel day. We said goodbye to our beloved hostesses and took a parting picture.

Our time in the Holy Land had come to an end. It will take a long time to process all that we saw, heard, learned and felt. My testimony that Jesus lives has been strengthened, and my appreciation for his teachings and life has grown. It was a gift to be there as a family. We've reflected on our experiences as we've sung Christmas carols read the nativity this Christmas season.

Come let us adore Him!

Mt. of Transfiguration and Nazareth

Geoff's family has family friends who ran the BYU Jerusalem Center long ago. They told us of a good book every BYU student would have during their semester in the Holy Land way back when. It provides locations, explanations, and scripture references for all Bible sites throughout Israel and is from an LDS perspective. While it is outdated in the sense of designating current Palestinian areas and routes, it was amazingly helpful and added so much information we would not have known otherwise. The book is called Discovering the World of the Bible, by Lamar C. Berrett. It was a valuable resource in planning our time in Israel, and it was a great guide during our trip. 

We wanted to go directly north from Jerusalem to the Sea of Galilee. There were so many significant biblical places to see, such as Jacob's well, but our navigating devise would reroute us around this area, and even gave us an alarming notification that it was dangerous. (We would be driving through Palestinian territory.) This uncertainty about the safety in a Palestinian territory was always present. We received warnings about all Palestinian territories from some, and others would say tourist areas were safe. Would this route be safe? We didn't know, and since rental cars have Israeli plates, and insurance doesn't cover a rental in Palestinian areas, we went around.

As we drove north we entered beautiful, green valleys. The Mount of Transfiguration was the tallest "mount" (really a hill) around. The only other taller mount is Mt. Herman far north of the Sea of Galilee. This area is where Jesus spent most of his time, so this is likely the spot. 

Here is the mount from a distance.

And here is a view from the top.

There were wild lilies growing everywhere.

We explored an old fort on top.

Tennie found the perfect reading spot.

Geoff and Ceci built their own three tabernacles.

The church was closed, so there were no buses or cars. Just us. It was delightfully peaceful.

We made it to Nazareth just in time to get the last tour of the day at Nazareth Village. I'm so glad we made time for this! We learned so much about life in Nazareth at the time of Jesus. It is a little slice of history in the middle of, what is now, a biggish city.

Nazareth Village is approximately .3 miles from where the ancient city of Nazareth stood and belonged to a nearby hospital. As digging began for hospital expansion, terraces and walls were discovered. After years of excavations a full olive grove/shared garden from the 1st century was uncovered. Given the small size of Nazareth at the time, this would have been the town plot, and Jesus would have been very familiar with it. It is now a functioning farm with period-dressed volunteers keeping it going, as well as a small village with structures that would have existed at the time of Christ. It was very authentic and enlightening.

I'm relying on my memory here, so hopefully I get these facts right. Nazareth means a shoot (as in the growth of a new branch), like in the olive tree below. "And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots." (2 Nephi 21:1; Isaiah 11:1)

Our guide explained that the terrain in Israel is very rocky, so big rocks were collected for homes and small rocks for walls and terraces. It might take a few generations to clear and prepare a quarter acre. Because the landscape is hilly, a town would work together to create terraces, and a family, or group of families, would share one level. They created a path between the terraces for easy access. Everyone used the paths to get to their own area of the shared grove/garden, and the paths were solid from years of foot and cart traffic. Christ used everyday life examples in his teaching, things that anyone would be familiar with. In the parable of the sower, the sower may throw seed into his plowed plot, and some may accidentally fall on one of the beaten paths (or the wayside). In this case, these seeds were quickly picked up by a fowl, without any opportunity to take root.      

Some seed fell on stony ground. This is not a ground full of stones, as the farmer would have removed those, but instead, it means bedrock that exists in the landscape. On the bedrock there may be a little soil, and in the winter, when the sower sows, the seed might sprout into a little seedling, but when the spring comes and the sun gets hot the little plant is quickly scorched because it has no root. And some seed may land in thorns, and is quickly choked as the thorns grow up around it. (See stony ground and thorns below.)

But the seed that lands in good soil springs up and brings forth fruit, sometimes a hundred fold. This parable had so much more meaning after seeing this!

Our guide showed us how a real olive press works. First a donkey pulls a large stone over the olives and crushes them.

The crushed olives are gathered in a round, flat basket and placed over a hole where the olive oil will drain. (You can see the round basket and hole below.)

Somehow the pressure of the following heavy weights was increased THREE times, until every last bit of oil was pressed out of the olives.

Christ's suffering in Gethsemane was likened to an olive press as he bled from every pore. The three, intense presses help us understand why he prayed three times to the Father until he was done. Very cool.

We moved along, taking a quick picture with some of the actors.

We stopped in a carpenter's shop and learned that the translation for carpenter into Greek meant something to do with wood, so "carpenter" stuck, but the real Hebrew word is "builder". Joseph and Jesus, his son, were builders. There isn't a lot of wood to work with in the Holy Land, so most homes are made from stone. Builders shaped the stone and necessary wood (for roofing, ladders or shelving) to create homes, then the builders would go and build the structures. A fitting occupation!

A typical kitchen...

We walked through the home of a weaver who would spin wool and weave clothing.

Last stop, the synagogue, in the likeness of the one where Jesus announced to the people of his hometown that he was the Messiah and they rejected them.

We originally planned to be based in Nazareth as we explored the Galilee region, but I am grateful we changed our plans (that morning) to stay on the lake. Nazareth Village is all we saw in Nazareth, and that was ok by us.