June 3rd (part 1): Put your hand in the hand . . .

I was in Israel for three weeks, and without exception, every day was amazing, awe-inspiring, awesome, plus many other superlatives. It’s hard for me to say that any one day was better or more fascinating than any other. But if I did speculate in such matters, June 3rd might jump out as special. This is the day that our class toured the towns bordering the Sea of Galilee, so we saw many places where Jesus taught, healed, and performed miracles—including the Sea itself! Because we saw so much this day, I have decided to split it into two entries. As you can see by this first photo, our day began with a boat ride across the Sea of Galilee.


The resort where we stayed was on the southeast shore of the Sea, so our early morning ride took us across to the north/northwest shore, where Jesus performed much of His earthly ministry. This picture was taken from the back of the boat. At the front, on the right side, you can see our professor, with a microphone, teaching us. This reminds me of just how jam-packed our teaching was. The professor rarely wasted time; she spent a ton of time lecturing, answering questions, and providing various wise tidbits on bus rides (and boat rides) all over the country. I can't say enough about what an excellent scholar and teacher she is. We never stopped learning.


This is a picture of the Sea of Galilee from the boat. Two things. First, in the distance you can see the Arbel Pass, the narrow ravine that leads into the Sea of Galilee region. You might recall that we previously were on top of that dangerously steep mountain. Second, amidst all the excitement of taking the boat ride, I remember taking a minute to just silently gaze out on the water. We were crossing over the water where Jesus walked! This was the sea that Jesus calmed! It was almost too much to take in. It’s one of those experiences that is so incredible that I sometimes think it must have been a dream.


When we got to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, we went to a museum to see a significant archaeological find. This photo is of a first-century boat discovered under the Sea of Galilee in the 1980s. The story of how this boat was recovered is an amazing one in and of itself, because it took quite an effort (hundreds of volunteers from all over the world) to keep the 2000-year old boat intact and preserved. There are various clues that pinpoint the age of this boat to the time of Jesus. Unfortunately, there are no initials carved into the boat, so there is no way of knowing whether Jesus or His disciples (some of whom were fishermen) owned or operated this boat.


On the north shore of the Sea of Galilee, we visited the three towns known as the “Evangelical Triangle”—Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum. These are the three towns where Jesus did most of His teaching and preaching. The picture you see here is of a synagogue in Chorazin. Specifically, this is a prominent chair found in many ancient synagogues known as the “chair of Moses.” It was the place where the teacher would sit while teaching. You might recall that Jesus once harshly criticized the Jewish leaders when He taught, “The scribes and the Pharisees are seated in the chair of Moses. Therefore do whatever they tell you and observe it. But don’t do what they do, because they don’t practice what they teach.” (Matthew 23:2-3) Some of the students got their picture taken sitting in this chair, but after the professor had read those verses, I felt a little funny about it.


This synagogue also had stone remains with various decorations on them. The stone pictured here has an imprint of helios, the Roman sun god. This prompted an obvious, and very good, question: What is a decoration of the Roman sun god doing in a Jewish synagogue? The professor proceeded to explain that it is common in many cultures to have decorations that come from their society, and therefore some are of pagan, or at least unbiblical, origin. It seems kind of inconsistent with their sacredly-held religious beliefs, but it happens. It was at this point that I, ever the smart aleck, chimed in, rather loudly, “Hey, my church back home had six Christmas trees in the sanctuary last December.” Nobody laughed.


To round out part one of our June 3rd travels, I show a picture of the Mount of Beatitudes, named obviously for the location of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. I’m afraid the photo does not do it justice, for the Mount of Beatitudes juts out of the Sea of Galilee, forming almost a natural bowl-shaped mountain. This makes for excellent acoustics. In fact, I noticed that from several hundred yards up the mountain, I could hear music and laughter from one of the boats that was near the shore. Being there made it a lot easier to comprehend how Jesus could have addressed thousands of people without the need of a microphone. And, as was so often the case in Israel, being there made me ponder many of the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount. When you think about it, that sermon has a very radical message.