Beatitudes

What a day this turned out to be! We are really segregated out into groups here and so one day my NT class does and the next day the other class goes on the same field trip. This is so that we only have one bus here helping to reduce costs. So today we got the field trip and tomorrow we get to have class. I am glad that I got to have the field trip today though. It was tons of fun, even if t is really hot and humid in he valley here. That’s what you get I guess for being below sea level and on a lake!
Our first journey started with a tripacross the Sea of Galilee in a boat. Of course you can’t do this without stopping in the middle and learning a litte about the things that went on actually on the sea, and of course you have to sing the famous “Master the Tempest is Raging.” So we did all that. It was actually interesting for me because I am actually trying to make things work here in my favor, wanting to make sure that I get the full experience while I’m here, and so I was a little concerned about a few things going on in my life. Well, before we stopped for the activities in the middle of the lake, I was staring out the boat on my own and just had a little moment when I realized that I was singing that Tempest song in my head. I didn’t even realize what I had been doing, but it really struck me because now I had a new application for the song which is calming the tempests that were going on in my life. That song is never going to be the same for me again. It was neat to be on the Sea though, and even though we wont get storms here in the summer, it was neat to see the places that Christ would have gone to. You can see most of them from the lake, so that was really neat as well.

We stopped at a place that had an actual boat hat had been excavated that was from the time of Christ. It was cool to see the boat itself, the engineering techniques of the day and to wonder, could this actually be a boat the Jesus touched? It was from the right time, and you just never know! From that little museum we traveled to the Mount of Beatitudes. On the mountain there is an 8-sided church that was built by Mussolini (WWII guy) to commemorate this area. This as most likely the spot that the great sermon took place on, and it was really neat to be taught there by Bro. Emmitt and think about all those great teachings being there just 2 millennia ago. We got a lot of free time here to think and to ponder. The park around the church was beautiful, and as I sad under the shade of a great tree on the hill, from inside the church there came singing. There was a group of oriental tourists that were Catholic and had come to sing in the church. The place was very special before, but as I heard the singing travel through the church and out to me, it really added to the sacredness of the place. Song is defiantly a prayer and can help a person to feel the Spirit.
We then wne tot two smaller churches, the first one being St. Peter’s Primacy where they have put a church to commemorate the place where Jesus ate fish with his disciples after his resurrection, and where Peter got asked the 3 times whether he loved the Savior and what he should do about that love and apply it after his departure. It is a very small church built around the rock that they think was used to eat the fish on, also known as the area of the “last breakfast.” The other little church was the Church of the Loaves and Fishes, and I bet you can guess what this is there to commemorate! This is a church that had been built 3 times now, although the mosaics on the floor are still original. There is a cool little outer courtyard with goldfish and carp swimming around, which just make me think of the gifilte fish that I ate at the rabbi’s house that one day… gross! The church here was places because it is over a spring, and since the people wanted for food and not for water, they figure that this would have been a good place for the sermon to take place on. They also wanted to protect the spring for pilgrims back in crusaders times, there is always more than one motivation for the place to be built!

Next stop we went to the cursed city of Capernaum. It is interesting because so much did happen in this place, but all of the cities that Jesus cursed don’t exist anymore, while many of the other ancient cities are still there is modern ways. This place does give us some of the best views of what an old city would have looked like and the ruins here are simple amazing. The Catholics have built a church above the place where Peter’s house was, and we are pretty darn sure that it’s the real site. The church is built of a raised platform above the site and inside the church there is a big section of glass in the floor so that you can look down and see the place where Peter lived. It was later turned into different church’s that date to the 4th and 6th centuries respectively, and those are octagonal as well. The other really cool thing about this place is the synagogue because even though the original foundations are covered by some later Roman type architecture, we know that this is the place that Jesus would have gone each time to go to church. This is the place where he would have gotten to declare himself as Messiah and also teach the people. It is too bad that we didn’t have more time to read all the things that Jesus did in this town, but we had to move on. We did get to also see the Greek Orthodox church of Capernaum and it was really neat with it’s red domes as well as the ornate paintings on the walls depicting the final judgment of the world with Jesus, his Apostles, and the Devil all present and accounted for.

Our last archeological stop was at Bethesda, the home place of a few of the apostles. There is not much left here nd it’s only a 20 year old find, but you could see the place where a fisherman lived and worked and so that was a neat experience to have as well. The rest of the day was back at the kibbutz getting to swim in the Sea of Galilee which is amazing by the way. I can’t believe that I get to do this every day! We also had a nice bonfire tonight to relive some of the memories that we have had at the JC so far, and also to just have fun singing around a campfire as a group. I tell you what, so many things have happened here with this group together. I can’t believe that I have just over a month left and that’s all! But I am going to try and make the most of what I have been given, that’s for sure! Love you all!