Well, by God’s grace we landed in Tel Aviv at little before 7am, meaning it was midnight as far as our bodies were concerned. When we touched down everyone on the plane broke into applause. One of the attendants told us over the intercom, “We thank you for flying El Al, we thank our brave military for their work in keeping us safe, and we pray for the swift return of all of the hostages.”

I thought that it was going to be a difficult interrogation getting through customs after what had happed in Miami. When I was here a few years ago with a large tour group from the seminary they asked a lot of questions. But this time but no one seemed concerned about us as they took a quick look at our passports and waved us through. Soon after that we were standing in baggage claim with all of our luggage, ready and eager to visit the first important site in Israel. We went there right away. From Hebrew the name of this place translates: “Aroma Espresso Bar.” And they make an excellent latte.

Judah met us there and it was a great reunion as we sat and planned out our day. We decided that due to Iran’s recent threats against Israel it would be best if we took the day to trek around the Sea of Galilee. If Iran is going to try to attack right away it would more likely be on tomorrow’s Sabbath Day, and the Galilee region is not the safest in an attack. In fact, toward the end of our day, standing up on a high ridge on the Golan Heights, we could easily see the mountainous horizon to our north and the areas that are targeted with missiles or drone strikes nearly every day. So with great excitement we got ourselves cleaned up and changed as best we could in the airport bathroom and headed north along the Mediterranean Sea toward the region of Galilee.

In the Gospels, Jesus makes great use of the Sea of Galilee in his ministry of preaching and healing and doing other miracles. Not only does he preach from a boat at times, pushed a little away from the shoreline so that people can see him and so his voice carries, but he also uses the sea to go back and forth between the towns: from Capernaum, where Jesus lived with Peter, to Magdala, the largest town at the time, Gennesaret, and Bethsaida. Jesus also landed at a place called Gadara, where he cast the demon called Legion from the possessed man. He also taught at random, unspecified locations on the high hills surrounding Galilee. There was also a city that would eventually become very large. In fact, it is today the largest city on the Sea of Galilee and the only one with tall buildings, the city of Tiberias, founded about 20 AD and still under construction during Jesus’s preaching ministry.

Normally when you visit the sites in Israel you are doing so with many other people from all over the world, especially with large tour groups and church groups. But because of the current situation, we found that all of the sites were eerily empty, save for a few random travelers. Also, we were disappointed to find that some of the northernmost sites are closed right now.

The Sea of Galilee is a truly a beautiful site all on its own. We drove through part of Tiberias as we began to look down on the shoreline. Then we made our way to Magdala. The most famous person in the Bible we know from Magdala is, of course, Mary Magdalene, or “Mary from Magdala.” What is unique about this town is not just its size, but the fact that the Jewish synagogue there is fully excavated at the first-century level. We can safely assume that Jesus visited all of these cities several times during the two- to three-year period he lived around Galilee. But this city is mentioned specifically in Matthew 15:39, where, after feeding the 4000 on one shore, Jesus got into a boat and wend to the “region of Magadan,” or the part of the shore that contained this city, Magdala. We can also assume that Jesus attended the synagogue meetings in each of these towns, sat to listen to the reading of the Scriptures, and was also asked to read the Scriptures on occasion, as most educated Jewish men were. So, you can look at this entire synagogue structure, with its teaching rooms, the room that housed the scrolls, and the large area surrounded by tiered seating with a reading altar in the middle from where the reader would roll out the scroll of the Torah or other parts of the Scriptures and read. Jesus would have sat right here, surrounded by the people he came to save, listening to the Scriptures and perhaps sometimes reading them himself.

At Magdala we also walked along the shoreline of Galilee and noticed how suddenly the wind had picked up. When I visited Galilee in the past, it was very calm and you could hear conversation easily as you stood near the water. But today was very different. It ended up being very windy all day and the waves became large and choppy. It reminded us in the NT that storms would come up suddenly from time to time, because the weather on Galilee changes very quickly.

Our next stop was Capernaum, where Peter lived. There is much I could say about each of these places we saw today, but I’ll highlight two special things we saw. Over what archaeologists believe was the house of Peter, a very unique church has been built with a glass window in the floor, surrounded by the seating area. They built the window so that people would have the same perspective of the men with great faith who let down the paralyzed man to be healed by Jesus. When you look down into this window, you see the room in the house where Jesus was likely teaching, and you can imagine looking down upon him as he said, “Son, your sins are forgiven!” and “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” We stood there looking down while Bryan read the passage from Mark 2.

INSERT PICTURE: Looking into Peter’s House

The other unique thing to see in Capernaum is, once again, the Jewish synagogue. Only, we are much more certain, since Jesus lived here, that he often participated in the synagogue services in this very place. But unlike the synagogue at Magdala, this synagogue is fourth-century. The synagogue where Jesus would have sat and sometimes read the Scriptures was destroyed and was rebuilt later on in the fourth century with imported, marble stones. When you visit Capernaum today you can walk all through the synagogue but you are on the fourth-century level made of marble. However, underneath this synagogue is a fully visible layer of local, black, basalt stones. Basalt is a stone made from lava when it cools quickly. This basalt stone from the first-century layer are indigenous to the region. In fact, all of the first-century excavations in Capernaum are black stones. So when Jesus and Peter lived in Capernaum, we have to imagine all of the houses and the synagogue composed of black, basalt stone. And we can stand in the synagogue today and once again know that Jesus sat here and stood in the middle of the seating area and read the Scripture. But he did so about two feet lower than the place where we are standing.

INSERT PICTURE: Synagogue at Capernaum

The next site we were able to visit was the traditional place where it is believed Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount. I was really looking forward to this site in particular because of our recent journey as a church going through the preaching of Jesus. It felt a little forlorn, however. It was because Judah, Bryan and I were the only visitors the whole time we were there, at what is a normally packed-out site. You can imagine everyone who visits Israel wanting to see this famous place. But the only other person was an old nun speaking broken English, to whom we paid the 30 shekel entrance fee for the visit. However, being the only visitors on this windy afternoon allowed us to be able to image the scene more easily.

We realize, of course, that the actual site where Jesus preached this sermon may not have been in this particular location. But it was somewhere in this area, and it had to be in a location where Jesus could go “up on the mountain” and sit down and where many people could gather around him to hear. But at the least, you can imagine Jesus preaching at that location and look out to see the beautiful landscape of the hills and the sea that would have been so familiar to Jesus and the crowds. We stood there on a grassy place and Bryan read the Beatitude portion of the sermon.

After visiting the shoreline again at another location where I was able to wade into the sea and we all were feeling very sleepy still but reflective, we drove up to a place I had seen from a distance but had never visited before. The Golan Heights. At the Golan heights you are able to stand 2500 feet above sea level and look down to behold the entire sea of Galilee in a single view. From there you can realize why it is called “Galilee,” from the Hebrew galal, which means to turn or to be in a circle. Galilee, of course, looks like a little circular sea. You can see where the Jordan flows into it and out of it, and more importantly, you can see all of the locations that we had visited that day (or tried to visit), the places where Jesus visited multiple times on a mission, walking around the seashore or zig-zagging across the sea from town to town. There on that shore we looked down on, Jesus called Peter and James and John to leave their nets and follow him. There on that shore Jesus stood and preached or pushed out a little in a boat. There on that sea that we looked down on, Jesus calmed the storm and walked on the water. There he also was on the shore broiling fish after his resurrection, and there he questioned Peter three times, “Do you love me?” Taking all of this in gives you a remarkable appreciation for the ministry and love of Jesus, spending so much time during the years leading up to his crucifixion traversing these waters and using both shore and sea to bring the truth to thirsty souls.

I need to wrap this up very quickly, but I have to say how wonderful it was to reach the house where we are staying tonight and meet our new friends, Sarah and Bashara, who minister as missionaries to the Bedouin people south of here. I will not jeopardize their work of sharing the gospel with these very strict, Muslim people, but Bryan and I can share some stories of how God is using them to share the truth with this most unreached people group in Israel, where the fathers already have the authority to execute any wives or children who would dare to embrace Christ and accept the gospel. Speaking with them and sharing a meal together in their home has truly been one of the highlights of this trip. And can I also say that Sarah is an amazing cook. In fact, I feel that I could start a separate food blog already with the cuisine experiences we have already had in her house. But that would be so American.