Walking with Jesus

2/27/11

We began our day in Tiberius. We woke up to the sun rising over the Sea of Galilee.

  

Being Sunday morning, our group was disappointed to not have had a church worship service on our itinerary, but since 12 out of our group of 15 were clergy, we thought we might be able to figure something out. Our guide, Rev. Peter Miano suggested a stop in the valley of Wadi Hammam—what would have been the primary (and possibly only) path between Nazareth and Capernaum. 

This was likely the very place where Jesus walked; he often traveled between these two places of his ministry. 

So it was there, in that sacred place, by a hilly mountainside and babbling creek, we stopped to celebrate worship and communion.

On our ride back down the hill of Wadi Hammam, we passed through Magdala, the hometown of Mary Magdalene…but we still need to figure out the translation for the second part of her village…

After worship, we boarded a boat on the Sea of Galilee, from where we could see the locations where much of Jesus’ ministry took place. 

Seeing the landscape and coves, we could now envision Jesus standing on the boat as he preached to the people on shore (the geography made the acoustics like a theater!). 

Our captain even gave us a lesson on fishing…casting his net first on the left AND then on the right side of the boat.

  

Unfortunately, no fresh catch—so I had chicken for lunch. 

Another meaningful and powerful part of our day was taking the path from the Shrine of the Beatitudes and making our way down to the venerated spot where it is believed that Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount.

Our group paused to collectively read the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew 5-7 (Blessed are the...) amidst the mustard flowers and olive trees.

The path led us down to the seashore in Tabgha to the Church of Peter’s Primacy on the Sea of Galilee. This church is at the location believed to be where Jesus asked Peter to feed his sheep (John 21:15). 

For Catholics, this was the beginning of Apostolic Succession. And it was on the shore of Galilee, that many from our group were blessed by the waters of the Galilean Sea and were asked to, “Remember our baptism and be thankful.”

In Capernaum, we made a stop at Peter’s House—although, scholars debate whether this was Peter’s House or really Jesus’ house. On the grounds is also a first century synagogue and Roman centurion outpost which give archaeological support for this being the place of Jesus and his disciples’ stomping grounds.

Back on the road again, we headed across the Armistice Line to Amman, Jordan. It was on this long bus ride that the terrain started looking like what we as children (and even as adults) imagined in our minds what the Holy Land would look like; Tatouin. Sorry... no pictures, it was forbidden to take them while crossing the armistice line! But you've seen Star Wars, right?