DBB 6.16.2018: Weekend at the Lake

We began the day at Tabgha, site of the feeding of the 5,000 (Matthew 16 and Mark 6), Jesus walking on water (Mark 6), the restoration of Peter (John 21), among other events.  Jesus spent a lot of time here:

This is the view from the shore, looking out at the Sea of Galilee.  This would have been exactly what Jesus would have seen.  And, by tradition, the site of Peter’s restoration.

They’ve built a church there:

Tradition holds that this is the site of that first breakfast with Jesus and the disciples following the resurrection. (Mensa Christi means the table of Christ):

When we hear of Jesus feeding so many in such tiny villages, we are right to wonder how this is possible.  This is a view of the valley that contains the Via Maris—the highway of the sea.  This road ran from Caesarea Maritima all the way to Damascus and was heavily travelled.  (As a side note, the plateau you see in the middle was the site of Salah ad-Din’s victory bringing the Crusades to an end.):

This is the site where it is believed that Jesus multiplied the loaves and the fishes with the little boy’s bag lunch.  The mosaic dates back to the 4th Century when Constantine’s mother, Helena, went to the Holy Land to establish churches on biblical sites:

We then headed to Capernaum, the adopted home of Jesus, that served as the location of so many ministry encounters.

We visited the synagogue here where Jesus taught.  This is not the original synagogue, but one built over the foundations of the old one shortly after the time of Jesus.  However this was the space, and the dimensions and seating  would be the same as the synagogue of Jesus’ day:

Jesus left the synagogue and went to heal Peter’s mother-in-law.  Here is what is traditionally believed to be his home:

Archaeologists uncovered fourth century writing quoting the Scriptural passage relating to the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law.  It’s the white patches in the middle:

We then headed up to the Mount of Beatitudes where Jesus spent time away by himself and preached the Sermon on the Mount:

And finally, today’s current forecast:

Tomorrow we head to Nazareth and ultimately to Jerusalem where I will register for GAFCON.  Please do keep me in your prayers.