Saturday Evening, August 30, 2009:
We have not had internet access except at exorbitant tourist trap prices, so we have been waiting to send emails.
We had a good night sleep, but got up early. I watched the light dawn over the Sea of Galilee. There was a nice cloud cover. We had an early breakfast and we in the bus by 7:30 a.m. I washed some of my dirty clothes in the bathtub before leaving. The food at this hotel is not nearly as good as the other places that we have stayed.
This hotel is inundated with Jewish families. Since it is the Sabbath, the observant Jews don’t use the regular elevator, but the Shabbat elevator that stops on every floor without having to push a button! Palestinians prepare and serve the food and handle other tasks so that the Jews don’t have to work on the Sabbath.
Our first stop was the Mt. of Beatitudes – the area where Jesus gave one of his most famous sermons. In the 4th century, Christians came to the area and identified (via local oral tradition) the area where Jesus gave this sermon. It is an area in the north west corner of the lake. There is a Franciscan monastery there and the grounds and buildings are very nicely maintained.
We sat in an amphitheatre overlooking the lake and Mark Driscoll gave a sermon the the beatitudes from Luke. The sun was starting to really beat on us, even though it was early in the morning, when the Lord provided a cloud to cover the sun and a nice breeze. After the message, our guide stated that Jews use 3 blessings and Jesus multiplied that by 3. Mark Driscoll emphasized the contrasts between the blessings and the woes.
We next traveled to a museum that primarily preserves a fishing boat from the first century – just like that used by Jesus and his disciples. The boat was found preserved in mud and was carefully saved over a period of nine years. The boat seats about 13 people, just enough for Jesus and the disciples.
We took a boat tour of Galilee – really just a brief excursion off shore in old wooden boats. I was asked on the spot to provide a devotional and quickly put together a message from Mark 6, where Jesus feeds the 5,000 and then walks on the water past the disciples – using Bob Cryder’s message that “whatever threatens to be over your head is under his feet.”
After the boat ride and the museum, we went to lunch to have St. Peter’s fish. Fortunately, Miles and I opted out of having the fish. My chicken was excellent and Miles just had salad and pita bread.
Next stop was Capernaum. This is a wonderful site, but for reasons that escape us our guide rushed us through the site in order to get to the Jordan River baptism site. Capernaum was Jesus’ adopted home, and the home of Peter, Andrew, James and John. Peter called those disciples at Capernaum. He healed the paralytic who was lowered through the ceiling and he healed Peter’s mother at Capernaum. Jesus healed the daughter of Jairus, the synagogue leader there.
Capernaum was wiped out by an earthquake in the 600s. All of the cities along Galilee where Jesus ministered disappeared. This appears to be in fulfillment of His prophecy that it would be better for Sodom and Gomorrah than those cities, because they saw the power of God come and still did not repent. In the excavation of Capernaum, archeologists are fairly certain that they found the remains of the home of Peter’s mother, who Jesus healed. This is about 100 feet from the water and between the water and the Synagogue. There were various inscriptions on the floor of the home from the 1st century in the form of statements of praise to the Lord. The home was apparently converted to a church sometime early on in the life of the church. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to spend nearly enough time in this town.
One of the coolest things we saw there was a large group of Ethiopian Christians who sang praise songs and had devotionals at different spots within the ruins.
We next drove around the east side of the lake and crossed the Jordan River. We went to a baptismal site where Mark Driscoll preached again and where many in the group were either baptized or re-baptized.
The baptismal site was one of the most offensive tourist traps that I have ever seen. It was $10 per person baptized in the form of baptismal coverings. It was like walking into a center of the prosperity gospel in every language. The tourist shop marketed every conceivable Christian trinket, including “holy water” from the Jordan River there.
The good thing about the place is that every tribe and tongue was clearly represented in the people who came to the site. While we were there, tours of Asian, African, Russian, Polish, American, French, and others came to be baptized. The power of the Gospel’s reach to the far corners of the globe was evident there.
The commercialization and trivialization of the baptismal process was also evident. I watched two Hindu women from Mumbai (they said that is where they were from), baptize themselves in the Jordan there and take some of the “holy water” in bottles from the river. The people running the site sold “holy water” from the river in every imaginable form, including scented holy water.
Miles and I hung back, but we were able to hear Mark Driscoll’s message and he courageously blasted the operation even though the people running the place were treating Mark with great deference. I can’t wait to re-watch the lesson online.
After the message, Mark baptized one of his sons and then many others were baptized. Miles and I wilted in the heat. Many of the people with us were also offended by the place. We had a great conversation with the lady from South Africa who told us about climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in 2007 in order to pray for Africa fron the top of the mountain with 40 other people. She described how gracious the African Sherpas were. The Christians were so appreciative that they felt the best symbol of appreciation they could provide was to wash the feet of the Sherpas, which the Sherpas apparently really appreciated. Wow, what a way to be a humble blessing to people who have been a blessing!
I know that Jesus didn’t want his ministry turned into a tourist driven “trinkets and trash operation.” What a tragedy that more than 2,000 years after Jesus ministered here in Israel that people come to it as if going to an amusement park instead of coming to know Him and love Him more intimately. The most valuable aspect of being here is to understand the context of His ministry, to see the Word come to live in geographical and historical context, so that we can better understand and communicate Who His is in the context of our world.
One other observation. There are many observant Jews in the hotel where we are staying. They continue to seem trapped in ritual. They don’t appear happy. They are pushy and rude. The non-observant Jews and the non-observant Muslims seem much freer and happier and open to conversation about spiritual things. In this context, I can see the prison of the law over people’s lives and the longing to break free of the law of sin and of death. As Paul said, thanks be to God who has provided a way out of this bondage.
Tomorrow we head to Jerusalem, stopping at several places on the way.
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