A Journey to Israel – Day 3 – Galilee

By Grace Valley Christian Center on Jan 23rd, 2015 06:40 PM

This post was contributed by Rachel Perez:

My favorite memory from Israel was watching the sunrise over the Sea of Galilee. On that quiet morning I could almost hear the surrounding hills whispering quietly, calling forth memories from Scripture. I scanned the shoreline expecting to see Jesus speaking to tan, leathery fishermen as they washed their nets. Squinting across the lake I imagined two demon-possessed men emerging in the bluffs, calling for Jesus. Galilee was the land of Jesus’ ministry and I enjoyed seeing the landscape of the gospel narrative, imagining his audience of fishermen and townsfolk, and witnessing the sobering remains of cities that rejected his message of salvation.

On day three we began our Galilee explorations at the Yigal Alon Museum that holds a 2,000 year-old fishing boat, much like the ones in Jesus’ time, but only recently unearthed from the seabed in 1986.

Our group then took a boat ride onto the Sea of Galilee where Pastor Mathew led a worship service. While gently rocking on the placid sea, Pastor read from Matthew 8 about Jesus calming the storm. “The reality of life is both trouble and happiness, storms and stillness,” Pastor explained. “God will not put us in a boat and let us sink. He produces the storms to help us grow in faith. He spares us because we have more work to do. Pray and tell God about all the storms and he will take care of it. Praise God when we pray and he answers!”

Disembarking the boat, we traveled along the northwest shore up to the Mount of Beatitudes. There on the hill we found a church and manicured gardens marking the site where Jesus preached his Sermon on the Mount. Gazing at the volcanic rocks littering the hillsides, suddenly Jesus’ parable of the good and rocky soils became clear.

We made a quick stop for St. Peter’s Fish Lunch. Usually my appetite for lunch was squelched due to the heat, however nothing could keep me from this flapper!

From there we headed northeast to the unrepentant cities of Chorazin and Bethsaida. In fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy of judgment we found exposed hillsides of stone rubble, remnant pillars from synagogues, and intact ritual baths.

The last stop of the day was Capernaum, a town on the northwest shore that served as the center of Jesus’ public ministry in Galilee as well as the home of many of his apostles. We stood in the remains of a 4th century synagogue where we pictured Jesus teaching on the Sabbath. Walking to the shore, we remembered that this was the place Jesus healed many, including the paralyzed man let down through the roof, the centurion’s servant, and Peter’s mother-in-law.

Sunrise on the Sea of Galilee: Day3SeaofGalilee (640x197)