Part Two
Full Day 1
I wake up and walk around my room. I’m still trying to absorb that I’m here in the Holy Land, so far from home. I take a look out of our hotel room window and I see a beautiful lake. I’m thinking to myself, “That’s the Sea of Galilee. I can clearly see over to the other side.” In my mind’s ear I tell myself, “Well this must just be a big bay or in inlet of some sort, but I imagine the actual full body of the Sea of Galilee is on the other side of that hilly area.” I then pull out my devices (i.e., my MacBook Air and my iPhone) and start looking up some maps.
Turns out I am looking at the actual entire Sea of Galilee.
This was probably the first of my many many amazing moments related to geography in this part the world.
From the Bible stories, I always pictured the Sea of Galilee to be a much larger body of water but hey, seeing is believing.
(Sea-ing is believing? Sorry about that one, readers, I couldn’t resist.)
I head on down to the breakfast buffet and oh, what a spread! I’m not ever going to go hungry on this trip and I’m definitely not lacking for much this morning. Lots and lots and lots of choices. Pastries, various bread products, eggs, different varieties of fish and a lot of things I cannot identify. It turned out it to be a really good mixture of Middle Eastern, European, and American breakfast choices.
Full disclosure time: I did have extremely brief thoughts of, “Where are the bacon and sausage products?”
Oh! (Slap my head.)
I am in Israel. This is a country that follows largely kosher rules and other Jewish dietary restrictions. Obviously that includes no pork products.
Breakfast is outstanding and I have great conversation with some fellow pilgrims. Soon it’s time for us to get ready for the day. We all congregate down in the lobby and get on the bus. Given that we’re not far from the Sea of Galilee our ride to the dock was a pretty short one. We arrive at our launch and pretty soon we’re being escorted down the dock and onto the boat. There is a boat tied right next to ours and it contained a lot of people who were singing. (We think they were Koreans.) Very quickly our guide, Lino Rulli, now lets us know that some religious groups on these pilgrimages engage in singing or other mirth. He does not encourage this and not because he has any difficulty with singing or with music. Rather he simply wants us to enjoy the experience, each in our own way. When we were all quiet or having subdued conversations among ourselves it’s so much easier for all of us to just take in the experience however we wish.
Off we go! The winds are pretty calm and we don’t really even go that far out into the sea of Galilee.
Immersed in my own experience of the moment, I notice something that’s very meaningful for me.
I am well aware the shoreline of the Sea of Galilee has changed a lot over 2000 years. As already noted, the towns and villages are all modern. But as I look out off in the distance I see cliffs, rock outcroppings, gentle hills, and other features of geology. Although these might change just slightly over the course of two millennia, when I look at those I’m thought to myself: “These features of nature, these hills, valleys, and cliffs are very similar to what Jesus and the disciples themselves saw!”
At that moment I experience a sense of emotion that is really hard to put into words. (It won’t be the first time this trip I feel such a way.)
The boat ride as I said was gentle and we hear Lino give a talk about the Sea of Galilee and some of what occurred here. After a while it’s time to motor on back to the dock and as we are heading toward shore we catch up with a couple of acquaintances we first chatted with during supper the previous evening. One of them appeared to be wiping her mouth. I didn’t think anything of it until she went up to the front area where are the operator of the boat was selling T-shirts. Some of the shirts had the phrase: “I sailed on the Sea of Galilee.” Our newfound friend said to the vendor, “Too bad you don’t have one that says ‘I puked in the Sea of Galilee.’” To be sure, I don’t know if she is prone to seasickness but I guess even the gentle rocking of the boat got a little bit too much for her at one point.
After that we get back on the bus for another very short ride. Our next stop is Capernaum. This was an area described in the Gospels as the place where Jesus began his public ministry. It was interesting to see the ruins including those of what archaeologists believe was Peter’s house, where Jesus healed Saint Peter’s mother-in-law.
Time for Mass! Today it is in a church that is built right above Saint Peter’s home. I will give the architect credit, given this is one interesting structure. Some people even say it looks like a UFO landed. To be fair, I will let a picture provide a thousand words:
Following Mass we are checking out the synagogue ruins. The gray skies begin providing a light drizzle. (This would not be the only time the skies would open up on our gang, more on that later.)
Soon it’s time for lunch and in this area why not enjoy what’s called St. Peter’s fish? This is where they take fish freshly caught from the Sea of Galilee, dip it in batter, and fry it. I even heard some people say, “Like oh yeah, you really got to eat the fish eyes.”
(In case you’re curious, yes I did eat the fish eyes or at least I tried to. A bit crunchy. It was similar to putting pebbles in your mouth.)
With lunch over, it’s back on the bus (green bus!!) and again we’re skirting the north side of the Sea of Galilee. This is the area where historians believe Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount. Then, as the afternoon gets later, we go to another area on the shore called the spot of Peter’s primacy. This is the area where Jesus appeared to Peter and the disciples following His resurrection. In contrast to the horror of Jesus’ trial, torture, and crucifixion, this Biblical story portrays a time of peace and restoration.
Despite the crowd, I still take my own time to reflect and visualize the scene. Jesus having prepared the fire and the fish, ready for Him and the disciples to enjoy. Jesus, no doubt showing the wounds from his crucifiction, yet He is with the men today, resurrected. Never to die again.
While today’s setting is unquestionably different than it was two millennia ago, it still is very special to realize what happened right near here one peaceful spring morning, circa 33 AD. I even think about the work involved just to start the fire (no butane lighters in those days!) and it becomes apparent how Jesus wanted this time to be special and memorable.
Time to return to the hotel and get ready for the evening meal. This was the first of several specifically-hosted suppers for our group. Then it’s back to the hotel and restful sleep.