We headed off to Galilee, which is in Israeli territory north of Jerusalem, on the morning of 19 April. Our first stop was Caesarea Maritima - another city built by Herod the Great, in the years 25-13 BC. It is a gorgeous site, right by the sea, and was built as an up-to-date Roman city, with theatre, hippodrome, harbour, and a lengthy aqueduct that brought water from springs at the foot of Mt Carmel.
Of course, Herod had a prime site for his palace.
From 13 BC Caesarea was the capital of the Roman province of Judaea, and the official residence of the Roman procurators and governors. An inscription found there mentions the name of Pontius Pilate.
It was at Caesarea that St Peter visited and baptised a Gentile - the Roman centurion Cornelius (Acts 10, 11). St Paul often spent time there (Acts 9:30, 18:22, 21:8), and he was imprisoned at Caesarea for two years before being taken to Rome (Acts 23:23; 25:1-13).
This site was perhaps the most beautiful one we had visited to this time. It is no wonder that Caesarea was a favourite city of the Romans.
The next stop we made was at Sepphoris (the Greek name), a town that was also known as Diocaesarea by the Romans and Zippori in Hebrew. Sepphoris is situated near to Nazareth in the central Galilee area. In the New Testament period, Sepphoris was a major town, and the capital of Galilee. It would very probably have been visited by Jesus. In fact, if Jesus and his father Joseph were carpenters/artisans, it is likely that they would both have done business in this town. Strangely, however, the town is not mentioned at all in the New Testament.
Sepphoris also has an interesting later Jewish and Roman history. In the 2nd century Ad it was a centre of Jewish religious and spiritual life, and for some time the seat of the Sanhedrin. It continued to be inhabited by a wide variety of races. The photo below is from a Roman house built in the 3rd century AD.
Following this visit, we went to our accommodation at the beautiful Benedictine Pilgerhaus (Pilgrim's House) in Tabgha on the Sea of Galilee.
The rooms and meals were lovely, and we enjoyed the beautiful outlook and situation as well.
A number of us went to Evening Prayer in the nearby Church of Heptapegon (meaning 'seven springs' in Greek). The area is now known as Tabgha. The church is believed to be the site of Jesus' multiplication of the loaves and fishes. The chanting by the Benedictine monks was beautiful and there was a great sense of peace there. The special readings for the Easter season focused on the Christian hope of resurrection, and I felt a strong sense of connection with those gathering for Joan's funeral in Whanganui.
The next morning we set out for Capernaum (or Capharnaum - in Hebrew Kfar Nahum, 'Nahum's Village.) Jesus came to Capernaum after he had a confrontation in his synagogue in Nazareth, his boyhood home. Since he was rejected in Nazareth, he decided to relocate his ministry to Capernaum. It was an ideal spot for him to carry out his ministry. It was a larger town than Nazareth and was on the main Damascus Highway. As a result, Jesus was able to reach out to more people. Soon after Jesus settled there, he began to preach in the synagogue (Mark 2:1). Matthew calls Capernaum "Jesus' own town" (Matt 9:1).
We saw the ruins of the house that is thought to have belonged to Simon Peter's mother-in-law, which Jesus also visited, when he healed her of a fever. It is thought that this was also the home of Simon Peter. Various churches have been built on this holy site, but the most recent church was raised up and built above it, so that the archaeological remains are left visible.
Just a few steps away was the synagogue - although the synagogue ruins we could see came from the fourth century AD, they appear to have been built on the black basalt ruins of the first century synagogue.
The site was impressive and there was a strong sense of connection with the life of Jesus. But the thing that struck me most of all was the beauty of the location. It was an incredibly beautiful spot, and that was not something that I ever really grasped through reading the Gospels.
I walked around with a deep sense of gratitude, marvelling at the fact that I was there.
Our next stop was at the Church of Peter's Primacy, also in the Tabgha area. This church focuses on three important gospel events - the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5, 6), the multiplication of the bread and fish (Matthew 14:13-21), and the third apparition of the risen Jesus where there was a miraculous haul of fish, breakfast for the disciples by the lake, and Jesus commissioned Peter, "Feed my lambs..., look after my sheep" (John 21:1-19). Inside the Church a rock is featured as the rock on which Jesus served breakfast to the disciples. The sign in Latin calls it 'the table of Christ'.
We had some quiet time for meditation and then we shared a Eucharist, at which Bob Osborne, a recently retired Dean from Winnipeg in Canada presided. He had seemed a bit tired out on our travels up till that point, but suddenly came alive as he presided at the Eucharist. It was a lovely thing to see. He talked about having presided at Eucharists by lakes in Canada and having said to people, "imagine you are by the Sea of Galilee". And now we really were. Bob spoke of the privilege of presiding at that Eucharist and he did it beautifully. For me, this was one of the highlights of our trip to Galilee. (I did not want to take photos during the service. This was taken just before it.)
Our next stop was a fish restaurant by the Sea of Galilee, and then we were off to the northernmost point we reached during our travels - Caesarea Philippi on the Golan heights. (This site is also called Bani Yas as a corruption of Paneas, because Pan was worshipped there at a gushing spring that flowed out of a cave. Following a major earthquake the spring now seeps through the rock outside the cave. It is the source for a river that provides 25% of Israel's water.)
In the year 3BC the tetrarch, Philip II, founded a city at this site, and the ruins are still evident today. The city itself was mentioned twice in the Gospels, in equivalent passages: Mark 8:27-30 and Matthew 16:13-20. These passages tell of Jesus' question to his disciples, "Who do you say that I am?" and Peter's response, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matt. 16:16). Connecting with this affirmation of Peter, we had a service at the site to renew our own baptismal vows.
On the way back to our accommodation we visited the tell that is has been identified as ancient Bethsaida. Bethsaida used to be on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, but this site is actually 1.5 kms away nowadays. This distance raises some uncertainties, but the change may have come partly through earthquake activity, and partly because the Sea of Galilee was more extensive in Jesus' time than it is now. The tell of Bethsaida has been excavated fairly recently, and a house there was found to have many fishing implements. Because of this it is known as the Fisherman's House.
Bethsaida is known as the birthplace of three of the Apostles – Peter, Andrew and Philip. Jesus himself visited Bethsaida and performed several miracles there (Mark 8:22-26; Luke 9:10).
By the time we left this site I was looking forward to a swim in the Sea of Galilee to cool down, and when we got back to the Pilgerhaus at Tabgha, I had a long and refreshing swim. It was a great end to a memorable day.
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