DAY 5 After
a prayer for travel mercies at the hotel, we
visited the Church situated near the Tomb of
Lazarus. This tomb can be seen in the valley through a narrow cave.
En-route, we passed through the village Bethanya
where Mary Magdalene
lived. The bus then climbed up the
small hills
to the Mount of Beatitudes, the
place from where Jesus delivered the Sermon
on the Mount
(Mathew 5). In
1937 the Franciscans built a church here. It is located on the slopes of the
low hills that roll down towards the Sea of Galilee. The visit to Tabgha and
the ‘Mensa Christi’ Church dedicated to the miracle
of Jesus feeding the five thousand with five loaves of bread and two fishes
was very humbling. Right next to this is St Peter’s Church (where
Jesus said “I will build my Church on this rock”) which is partially
built on a rock that juts out into the sea.
[Slide show - Mount of Beatitudes, Mensa Christie
Church]
Our next stop was Capernaum which was Cephas’ home town. Here we were able to see the remains of the
synagogue where Jesus used to teach the disciples. Many other incidents in
the life of Jesus happened in this town. It came to be called the ‘town of
Jesus’. Here He delivered a man from an unclean spirit, healed the
centurions servant and the paralyzed man when he was let down through the
roof, He raised Jairus daughter and healed the bleeding women. There is a
modern church which was built by the Franciscan
Fathers in 1926
over the
remains of an old octagonal structure that is thought to be Peter’s house;
possibly used by the disciples and the early Church. The Capernaum synagogue
dates back to the third century. Nearby stands a
stone mill which was used to extract
olive oil. Being located on the highway between Syria
and
Palestine, it was the chief commercial and social center of the area during
the time of Jesus. Christ predicted the downfall of this town and today it
stands a
scattered heap of black basalt building stones with faint outlines of
building here and there.
[Slide show - Capharnaum]
A forty five
minute boat ride on the Sea of Galilee took us to Ginnosar. While we were in the boat we sang songs
and worshipped the Lord. We had an opportunity to
introduce ourselves to each other. There is a museum in Ginnosar which
houses the ‘Ancient Galilee Boat’. This is a boat that was discovered in
1986 when the waters of the Sea of Galilee ran low due to a severe drought.
It was ‘re-floated’ and restored in the Yigal Allon Center devoted to the
story of the Man in Galilee. We rode on in the bus to have a sumptuous ‘St.Peter Fish Lunch’ at the Tiberias Sheraton.
[Slide show - Boat Ride in the Sea of Galilee]
While we rested in the bus
after the lunch, the bus took usup to the city
of Nazareth that stands at height of 380 meters above sea level. Here we
visited the Church of Annunciation. It is here that the “Word became flesh
and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). Jesus spent His childhood in this town
preparing for His Ministry. Now the Franciscans have built a magnificent
church in this place (1960-68). The dome of this church is 52 meters high, its
roof is covered with copper and a lantern surmounts the copula. It was
designed by the Italian architect Muzio.
[Slide show - Nazareth]
We moved on to visit Cana, where Jesus performed His first miracle of
changing
water into wine (John 2:1-11). This area is blessed with vineyards,
orchards of fig trees and an abundance of water. The small town lies 6.5 Kms
down the road from Nazareth to Tiberius and a very sweet ‘wine’ is available
in all the shops in this area and you can sip a sample or even buy a few
bottles. Two churches are built here, one church
was built inside the home
of Virgin Mary (believed to be the traditional
site where the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and announced of the
annunciation), and an adjacent church called St. Joseph’s Church. We
saw the carpentry workshop at a lower level of
this church and the baptismal place where the pagans were baptized.
We did not miss out on one of modern day Israel’s main export industry – we
visited a diamond factory at Tiberias before we went back to our hotel.
nt
(Mathe
Our next stop was Capernaum which was
Cephas’ home town. Here we were able to see the remains of the
synagogue where Jesus used to teach the disciples. Many other incidents in
the life of Jesus happened in this town. It came to be called the ‘town of
Jesus’. Here He delivered a man from an unclean spirit, healed the
centurions servant and the paralyzed man when he was let down through the
roof, He raised Jairus daughter and healed the bleeding women. There is a
modern church which was built by the Franciscan
Fathers in 192
over the
remains of an old octagonal structure that is thought to be Peter’s house;
possibly used by the disciples and the early Church. The Capernaum synagogue
dates back to the third century. Nearby stands a 
the boat we sang songs
and worshipped the Lord. We had an opportunity to
introduce ourselves to each other. There is a museum in Ginnosar which
houses the ‘Ancient Galilee Boat’. This is a boat that was discovered in
1986 when the waters of the Sea of Galilee ran low due to a severe drought.
It was ‘re-floated’ and restored in the Yigal Allon Center devoted to the
story of the Man in Galilee. We rode on in the bus to have a sumptuous ‘St.Peter Fish Lunch’ at the Tiberias Sheraton.
While we rested in the bus
after the lunch, the bus took us
up to the city
of Nazareth that stands at height of 380 meters above sea level. Here we
visited the Church of Annunciation. It is here that the “Word became flesh
and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). Jesus spent His childhood in this town
preparing for His Ministry. Now the Franciscans have built a magnificent
church in this place (1960-68). The dome of this church is 52 meters high, its
roof is covered with copper and a lantern surmounts the copula. It was
designed by the Italian architect Muzio.
We moved on to visit Cana, where Jesus performed His first miracle of
changing
water into wine (John 2:1-11). This area is blessed with vineyards,
orchards of fig trees and an abundance of water. The small town lies 6.5 Kms
down the road from Nazareth to Tiberius and a very sweet ‘wine’ is available
in all the shops in this area and you can sip a sample or even buy a few
bottles. Two churches are built here, one church
was built inside the home
of Virgin Mary (