Following Jesus

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Geo: 31.0461, 34.8516

We started the day walking to the cathedral in Nazareth. It is a spectacular modern cathedral, Church of Annunciation, is built around the home of Mary. A Byzantine church was built over the place where it is believed that the angel Gabriel announced the birth of Jesus to the virgin Mary. In 1966 the Roman Catholic Church began constructing a new basilica over these remains and today this church is the largest church building in the Middle East.

On to Mount Tabor and a visit to the Church of Transfiguration. This is reputed to be the mount where Jesus speaks with Moses and Elijah. From Wikipedia: The Transfiguration of Jesus is an event reported by the Synoptic Gospels in which Jesus is transfigured upon a mountain (Matthew 17:1–9, Mark 9:2–8, Luke 9:28–36). Jesus becomes radiant, speaks with Moses and Elijah, and is called "Son" by God. The transfiguration put Jesus above Moses and Elijah, the two preeminent figures of Judaism. Several mountains have been identified as the site of the Transfiguration, for example the tallest mountain in Israel, Mount Hermon. Mount Tabor is closer to the center of Jesus's activities and therefore the Bishop Cyril of Jerusalem wrote in the year 348 that he preferred Mount Tabor to Mount Hermon. Thus Mount Tabor was accepted as the site of the transfiguration of Christ.

We also visited Tabgha which is the home of the famous Seven Loaves and Fishes church - the Church of Multiplication. The mosaics are restored and date back to Byzantine times. Tabgha is the traditional location for the calling of the disciples. It is believed that here Jesus walked along the shore and called out to Simon Peter and Andrew who were casting their nets into the lake. Walking along, Jesus saw two other brothers, James and John who were preparing their nets with their father Zebedee. Jesus called all of these men to follow him.

We then drove to Capernaum and visited a beautiful excavation of an ancient synagogue and the home Jesus grew up in right on the Sea of Galilee. The ancient ruins here were discovered in 1838 by American explorer, Edward Roberts and excavations began in the early 1900's and continue today.

We had lunch at a fisherman's restaurant and ate fried Tilapia from the sea. It was delicious - caught and cooked that day.

After lunch we drove up into the Golan Heights as far as the road goes and viewed the Syrian boarder with UN stations on each side. The view of the valley from up there was spectacular but it was cold and very windy so we didn't stay long.
Headed back down, down, down to 400 meters below sea level to the city of Tiberius. Stopped on the way at a winery for a tasting, bought wine and the food for dinner.
We checked into a kibbutz inn on the Sea of Galilee had another feast and turned in for the night. Another excellent day.

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Photos

Mary's home
The church is built around it.

Comments

[Cynthia]

Sounds like every day is an adventure. How is your group?

[nmarx]

Your posts are making me hungry! Sounds like a great trip so far