Day 93 ~ Nazareth and Galilee

 April 12, 2022

65 degrees ~ A clear, crisp day, the air sweetened with the scent of a grain crop being harvested and a fresh breeze from the sea Jesus walked on...

Nathanael said, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?”
Philip said to him, “Come and see.” ~ John 1:46

This is our guide, Moshe (Moses). He loves America and says without the USA, there would be no Israel. He fought in the Yom Kippur War in October 1973 and he blesses America for sending ammunition for his tank and cold weather gear. He'd been pulled into service without a coat and it gets chilly in the Golan Heights. He wore an American jacket as he defended his country and he still has the coat.

We had a physically challenging excursion in Jerusalem and Bethlehem yesterday. My step counter pegged out at over 10K steps, but today our pace to the boyhood home of Jesus was much gentler, even though I still managed over 8500 steps. It was lovely to see how verdant, how fruitful the northern part of Israel is. Moshe pointed out all the crops being sown--barley, mangos, bananas, olives, dates, grapes, figs--along with milk cows, goats and sheep. After visiting the arid Arabian peninsula, Israel truly is a land flowing with milk and honey. The Arab countries have been blessed with oil, but I think they'd trade it for abundant water in a heartbeat.  

Nazareth is a teeming city now of about 200,000 souls. In Jesus day, it may have been home to around 350. This grotto in the Church of the Annunciation commemorates the angelic visit to Mary, telling her she is going to give birth to the Savior of the World. 

I was glad to see there is a church nearby that celebrates the life of Joseph. He's kind of an unsung hero to me. He'd have been well within his rights to denounce Mary when she told him she was pregnant and she'd likely have been stoned. But God and Joseph were on more than speaking terms, and when Joseph had a vivid dream about the baby's true parentage, he recognized Who was sending it to him. Imagine the responsibility of caring for such a child. 

Evidently a few people have rubbed Joseph's knees for good luck! 

Beautiful Sea of Galilee is more like a large lake, but it serves as a major source of drinking and irrigation water for the whole country. It's also 400 feet below sea level, so I was very comfortable there. I was even able to leave my portable Oxygen Concentrator on the bus during some of our stops here. The air was very kind to my lungs.  

Jesus spent a lot of time in the town of Capernaum on the shores of Galilee. It's where he recruited Peter, Andrew, James and John. There is a church built over the ruins of a bible era home believed to be the home of Peter where Jesus healed his mother-in-law. The ruins of a nearby synagogue are pictured below, though this structure is from 1300, it was built on the foundations of one Jesus may have preached in.

Neo-classical style with columns overlooking the Sea of Galilee

The Jordan River 

We visited a place on the Jordan River where we could be baptized if we chose. Moshe was careful not to say this is where Jesus was baptized by John. That had to have been much farther south, near Jerusalem since people were coming from the city to hear the Baptist preach. I'm reminded of a funny little bit from The Fighting Temptations (a terrific movie with Cuba Gooding Junior and Beyonce). A group of new converts are being baptized in the river that runs through Monte Carlo, Georgia while a droll radio announcer is saying, "There goes these souls into the river...looking for Jesus. Though personally, I don't think this is where He fell in!"

But it was still the Jordan River. The DH and I sat on a bench and watched the smooth water drift southward and marveled that we were there.   

The DH at the Church of the Beatitudes

Jesus preached from the hillside, or from a swaying fishing boat sometimes. Before we went into this church, one of the men from our group, Dan (he and his lovely wife Candyce are our neighbors down the hall!) read the Beatitudes from Matthew 5 aloud. It was a very moving moment. 

The entire cruise has been a string of amazing moments, but these days in Israel are the high point for me. To be in the Holy Land during Holy Week has been such an incredible blessing. I have walked the ground where Jesus walked. I've seen things He saw, felt the breeze, smelled the fresh cut barley, heard the songbirds. I've wept in Gethsemane and struggled up the Via Dolorosa. I've imagined Him in Nazareth. in Joseph's shop. I've sat by the Sea of Galilee and imagined Him cooking breakfast for His disciples on the shore.

We have been touched this week. And I don't think I'll read the Bible the same way again.