Jesus' Home

Mount Tabor (transfiguration)

Mount Tabor Valley - ripened fields

Oh Galilee!  Jesus wept over Jerusalem, where I live, but you made me weep as I walked among your long, lush fields of grain, viewed the mountains where He wandered and preached, waded in the water of your sea and ate the fish from it – just like He cooked on those beaches. I gave my own confession to Him where Peter cried “You know I love You!” And where He was transfigured, I glimpsed His glory still illuminated – tears rolling down my cheeks as I knelt on a wooden prayer bench.

In Galilee I sat in the bow of a "Jesus boat", just large enough for a Master and twelve disciples and a great catch of fish. On it I laughed and talked with friends, and we gazed over the smooth surface of the waveless sea. It hadn’t always been that way; sometimes storms lashed and crashed; sometimes the disciples were terrified, especially when a ghostly figure came walking across the water towards them there!! Did He know they’d be scared? He didn’t laugh unkindly, even when Peter attempted to walk on the water too.  I watched a sailor actor throw a net over one side of the bow and then the other.  Needless to say, he caught nothing!

"St. Peter's fish!" Complete with coin!

By an open window in a simple beachside restaurant we ate delicious, white “Peter’s fish”, served on large, shiny plates, head and tail included! Oliver's had a 10 agorot coin in its mouth!!! Good thing he didn't need it to pay taxes – it wouldn’t go far! (There are 100 agorot in a shekel and 4 shekels in a dollar! So his fish had about 4 cents in it! … Still, it was an amazing feast!)

All over Israel you see a mosaic picture of two fish flanking a basket holding four loaves of bread, but only when you get to Galilee do you see the original. It comes from a 4^th century church floor, celebrating Jesus feeding over 5000 people. The observant ask “Why only four loaves, when the Bible mentions five?” The answer given is: Jesus Himself is the final bread of life, broken and multiplied for all who are hungry.   Icons are like that - drawing you further into the story without telling it directly. Elliot and Oliver glimpsed the mosaic and then fed and petted the living fish swimming in the sparkling, sunny courtyard!

Mount Carmel altar

Warning: no fires, please!

 I hadn't known that Mount Carmel was in Galilee! This was Elijah’s domain, and there was a large, rocky altar in the church, built with 12 huge stones and a flat rock top, big enough for an oxen sacrifice! The sign on the fence says “No fires!” and with good reason! I haven’t seen that sign anywhere else in our travels, but certainly this would be the spot for it, given Mt. Carmel’s history of God’s blaze coming down from heaven.  You wouldn’t want some pyromaniac trying the same thing!! (In the church of transfiguration the small statue of Elijah shows him looking up and whistling while he waits!! - May we all be as confident in God's answers to prayer!)

Are these New Beatitudes or just rules?

(I was afraid one meant “no lipstick” ...

but think it’s just “no talking!!” Phew!)

The mountain of Beatitudes: long, low, sloping, down to the sea, is beautifully planted with gardens that are truly pure in spirit, radiant yet meek.  They are immaculate, kept so by smiling, faithful sweepers. I loved how clean it was, because after all, this was where Jesus fed those five thousand – and had the disciples pick up the litter! (As we drove past other picnic spots I wished everyone followed His environmentally friendly example!)

 Capernaum was the heart of where Jesus did much of His central teaching, and many miracles. Here the paralyzed man walked; the withered arm stretched out; here Jesus healed the centurion's servant, long-distance; here He raised the nobleman's son from the dead; unclean spirits were first cast out here, and here He also healed Peter's mother-in-law. (As a result there's a large church soaring over Peter's still-visible house, and a few good mother-in-law jokes!) It was also in Capernaum that Peter said, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. You are the Christ of God."

Water spring is within this church

Nazareth was Jesus' home town. Hidden in Nazareth is a spring of water that has never run dry in this dry land. It's down below the Orthodox church of annunciation, deep at bedrock, in the place where Mary first heard the angel's call to offer her life as Life-bearer. It’s as secret, serene and sure as Mary's faith, twinkling into eternity like water made into wine (oh yes, we went to Cana too!) There by the deep spring we pictured Mary’s Son drinking as a boy and young man, learning hidden truths about unending, Living Water; and our own thirsty souls were satisfied.

A highlight for me was the small, spare church of Peter's confession, right on the shores of Galilee. We waded there, as he did when, after the resurrection he saw the Lord and dashed to shore. Simple and sturdy, with rough, vibrant stained glass, the church is so fitting for a transformed fisherman. The altar floor is original, unpolished limestone. Outside are open air chapels, where we had communion and learned that charcoal is mentioned only two times in the NT, and both are connected with Peter: first in the courtyard when he denied knowing Christ, and then on the beach when he told Jesus that he loved Him. (Into my mind comes the OT image of Isaiah 6, his realization of sin, and the burning, cleansing coal from the altar that touches his lips. The revelation of our darkness and transformation into light always involves a burning.)

Original Nazareth Street

Peter was there for Christ’s transfiguration, where now a big church soars, wondrously bridging earth and heaven. The high mosaic of Jesus shows Him looking still further up, to His final home. Ghada, our guide, stood in this church, under a low acoustic arch, and sang us a haunting farewell song. That was the day we would leave Nazareth, her home village, and Jesus’ village too.

It’s true: every sacred spot here has a church on it, but each is unique, rich and varied. At first I thought all this “building” would be invasive, as inappropriate as building tabernacles to try and contain God’s glory. I thought that  maybe it would be better just to have the grassy “Jesus spots” of my imagination - but in fact the churches have preserved the areas for the ages, and each one is appropriately designed for the occasion it celebrates, whether large, small, ornate or simple.

Beneath an aqueduct

When Jesus was in Jerusalem His tears were from sorrow that they had missed Him. So were mine, in Galilee. I missed Him, but He was everywhere.  In the sweetness of the air, the blue of the sky. In the art and architecture. In the friends and prayers. In Scripture read and bread broken. In two boys' wide open eyes.  In a mystic's heartbeat. In laughter and songs by evening guitar. In reeds by the waterside. I felt His fragrance brush me in the other-worldly scent of orange blossoms, white and pure and tiny. (There’s a matching tree just outside our front door, I’ve discovered since returning, and so the scent lingers even here – I’m so glad!)

Oh Galilee. I will never forget you. I will always be grateful for your influence in shaping Jesus, the Son of Man. I will always be grateful for the Son of God in shaping you first: sweet, strong, wild and true. The early disciples asked, “Master, where do you live?” Jesus replied, “Come and see!”  I have seen now, and it makes me a truer disciple.