Jordan River serves as a natural border between Israel and Jordan. Upon crossing the Jordan River, we traveled another 40 km to reach Tiberius, a resort town at the Sea of Galilee. Tiberius has 7 hot springs and people come here to bathe in the hot springs. According to legend, Job came here to seek relieve from his painful sores. The springs flow into Sea of Galilee. The combination of cold water of the lake and the hot waters from the hot springs provide ideal conditions for the spawning of fish. Thus the Sea of Galilee teems with fish. (Below top left is the city of Tiberia. Top right - Locals love to stay in houses built high up on hill. Bottom left: the beautiful city of Tiberius, and bottom right - a settlement by the lake).
I've used sea and lake of Galilee interchangeably as the Sea of Galilee is actually a fresh water lake. It is also known as Lake Gennesarat or Kinneret or even Sea of Tiberias. The Jordan River (which originates from the Golan Heights) feeds the lake. This is the ONLY lake in Israel. Jesus performed 36 miracles in and around Galilee. No wonder He is also known as 'Man of Galilee'.
We sailed on the sea on a replica of the 1st century boat. We sang and danced.
In the distance, on the opposite side of the sea was the village of Magdala - where Mary Magdalene came from. The village had kept the name for thousands of years.
We arrived at Tagbha (or Ein Sheva) and climbed a hill where Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount (also known as The Beatitudes). After the sermon, Jesus performed the miracle of Multiplication of Loaves and Fishes (Matt 5: 1-12).
The hill overlooking the sea of Galilee from where Jesus preached his sermon.
The Church Mount Of The Beatitudes. This Church was built with help from Italian ruler Mussolini. It was designed and built by famous Italian architect, Antonio Barluzzi. He used black stones from Golan Heights and white stones from the hills of Gilead.
(Below) We meditated on John 21. After Jesus' death, the disciples were dispirited. They went back to Galilee and resumed their lives as fishermen. They fished all night but caught nothing (this was unusual as the sea is teeming with fish). It was here that Jesus again met with them. (Read John 21: 5-8). He asked them to cast their nets one more time and they did. "When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish". Jesus cooked some fish for the disciple on a large stone. (We touched a huge stone, which according to our guide, could be the stone Jesus used).
The disciples dragged the net ashore and when they counted the fish, there were all together 153 pieces of fish. Why did the bible specifically mention the number 153? According to our Jewish guide, numbers have a great significance for the Jews. In Hebrew alphabets, the letters served both as letters and numbers. He noted that 153 is the numeric value of the expressions: "The Passover" (Ha Pesach) and also the words "Sons of God" (Bene Ha Elohim). Well! Well!
We dipped our feet in the waters of the Sea of Galilee and cast pebbles into the sea. This is a traditional Jewish practice when they go to a nearby body of water, preferably free-flowing, and symbolically cast away their sins by either throwing bread crumbs or pebbles into the water while reciting biblical verses. Water has continually served as a significant symbol in Jewish life and practice.
No comments:
Post a Comment