June 19, Thursday - Do you want to get well?

Today we started tracing the last week of Jesus’ life starting with his entry into Jerusalem.  As he was coming into Jerusalem he came as far as Bethany.  We did not actually go into Bethany but started the day just over the hill from there.  There are actually quite a few things which happen in Bethany not the least of which is that Mary, Martha, and Lazarus live there and this is where Jesus raises Lazarus.  John explained how burials were performed in the past.  The tomb would normally be carved into a cave and there would be small side ‘rooms’ where the body would eventually be laid.  In the center would be a table like structure where the body would be laid and prepared.  Different oils and such were used to actually help the body decay and then it was wrapped and placed into a side room where it would stay for a year.  After that point there would only be bones and those would then be placed into a small stone box called an ossuary.  There was a stone in front of the tomb entrance but it was made such that it could be easily rolled away so that people could enter as needed.  They believed the soul stayed with the body for 3 days and then left for good.  So at the end of 3 days they would open the tomb once more and call out the deceased name 3 times (just in case they really had not been dead).  Then the tomb was closed for the year.  When Lazarus died Jesus continued teaching where he was for 4 days and then told his disciples they would go there.  So by then they would have given Lazarus one last chance to come out of the tomb and they would believe his soul was gone.  Jesus has them open the tomb and he calls out his name once and Lazarus comes out. 

This is also the place where Mary anoints Jesus’ feet with perfume.  One of the high points for all of us on this trip has been the shower at the end of the day.  We have all come to the conclusion that Jesus and his disciples (and probably everyone in the area) was in very good shape from walking everywhere.  We also know water was in short supply so they also probably did not have a real good sense of smell!  The aroma of the perfume would have stayed on Jesus for days.  This was just prior to his coming into Jerusalem for the Passover just before his death.

Next we discussed the Mt of Olives (called that because of all the olive trees).  It faces the east gate to the Temple Mount which is significant because the belief is that the Messiah will arrive from the East and that the Mt of Olives will be where judgment will take place at the end of the world.  For this reason Jews have wanted to be buried here to be first to greet the Messiah.  So as a result this is the longest continually used cemetery and it is estimated that there are over 150,000 graves on this part of the Mt of Olives. 

Throughout Jesus’ ministry there are lots of things He does which indicate he is letting people know he is the Messiah, but he does not come directly out to say it.  To do so would force an immediate confrontation with not only the priests but also the Romans.  His kingdom is not a military one but one of faith and relations with God and so it is through faith that people come to recognize who He is.  One of the symbols is that he rides into Jerusalem on a donkey.  This is how the Messiah was prophesied to arrive and so his disciples were probably not surprised that he asked that they bring Him one, however they probably were surprised that he chose to enter Jerusalem not through the East gate but instead through one known as the sheep gate because this is the gate that the lambs were brought through for inspection to make sure they were ‘perfect’ enough for sacrifice. (If they were not perfect, in the Sadducees judgment, then you could buy one of their pre-approved lambs, which just happened to have been raised in Bethlehem, with shepherds watching over them day and night (sound familiar?))  The day Jesus enters Jerusalem is ‘lamb selection day’.  This is 4 days before Passover because you are supposed to live with the lamb you intend to sacrifice for 4 days to make it a more meaningful sacrifice.  We discussed quite a bit more about the things that took place on the Mt of Olives but I’ll leave that to others to fill you in so that I can hopefully get caught up with all that we saw.

We walked from the Mt of Olives down the same path it was likely that Jesus rode, entering the North or Sheep’s Gate too.  From there we walked to the Church of Saint Anne (Mary’s mother, the grandmother of Jesus).  The church was built during the time of the crusades and they are not sure how they managed to do this, but it has perfect acoustics.  We stood on the altar steps and sang Amazing Grace, by the time we finished, quite a group of people had stepped inside to listen – and thanks to the acoustics and a couple of strong singers in our group we really did sound very good!

Next to the church is the Pool of Bethesda.  This is the site of a pagan temple to the Roman god of medicine, Asclepius.  In order to help keep the ‘cure rate’ as high as possible, there was a sign that said old people and pregnant women (1 out of 2 would die in childbirth) were not allowed in the pool.  This is where Jesus cures a man who has been there for 38 years.  The story was that when the pool waters stirred, the first person into the pool would be cured.  He had no one to help him get into the pool and so someone always beat him into the pool.  Jesus asked him if he wanted to get well and when he said yes, Jesus cured him and told him to sin no more.  Jesus was not saying he had been ill because he had sinned but that the sin was in worshiping Asclepius.  Jesus often asks people to confirm that they really do want to get well because that will drastically change their lives. 

John had split the group of us into 4 smaller groups and in the evenings we have been meeting to discuss our 5 H’s – Heritage, Hero, Heartache (something we found hard in our life), Highlight (something other than finding our spouse or having children), and Hope for the future.  Others in the group are also allowed to ask any questions they want. It is a good way to get to know each other and by this point we have all shared those stories about ourselves.  So at this site John likes to offer the opportunity for anyone to bring up anything that they have been struggling with so that we as a group can pray with them and for them.  Several of our group asked for prayers for various things (knowing it would change their lives in different ways) and there, sitting in old Jerusalem, surrounded by so many places of religious significance we prayed for each other.  It was one of the most intense times of the trip, leaving us feeling so much closer to God and each other.  But the area was closing for lunch and we were compelled to move on.

Our last visit for the day was the southwest area of the Temple Mount at the ground level.  It was along here that there would be all kinds of shops set up to take advantage of the crowds of people visiting the Temple.  They have excavated down to the level that Jesus and his family and disciples would have walked.  Right along the Temple Mount wall were piles of large stones.  These were parts of the wall for the temple which originally made up the top portions of the wall.  When the Romans came through in 70 AD destroying everything through Israel they pushed much of the wall down as they destroyed the Temple and other buildings up there.  Each of the blocks (some weighing up to 550 tons!) had been carefully chiseled in the quaries nearby and moved into place.  Once set in place they were further chiseled to add essentially a recessed edge on both the outward and inward facing sides of the block.  This edge helped give a finished look to the wall and helped hide imperfections when the sun shown against it.  We discussed the fact that even though the inward facing side would never be seen by people once the dirt was moved in behind the wall, the builders still carefully finished that side because they were building something for the glory of God rather than just something for man.  Our faith lesson was to let God chisel our behavior to make us better people even if it was not always obvious to others.

In this same area are the southern steps to the Temple Mount.  This is the way most people would have gone up to the temple including Jesus and his disciples.  The priests had their own bridge which led from their neighborhood directly to the temple so that they did not have to risk becoming unclean by touching someone else who was unclean.  At the base of the southern steps were 48 Mikvahs (ritual pools for purification used before any worship activities).    

The Jewish feast of Pentecost (also known as Shavuot) takes place 50 days after Passover.  This is also the feast when Christians celebrate the fact that Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to his disciples on this date which also is known as Pentecost now.   Some of the gospels say that the disciples were in the upper room when the Holy Spirit was sent, but John made the argument that the disciples would probably have been at the temple for the celebration that day (Luke’s gospel says the disciples stayed in the temple courts continually praising and blessing God after Jesus ascended).  After the Holy Spirit descended on them they began to talk to the crowds and everyone heard them speak in their own language.  The southern steps would have been the ideal place to address large groups of people gathered for the feast day.  The bible also says 3000 were baptized that day.  The 48 mikvahs at the base of the stairs would have provided the means of baptizing so many followers.

The other idea which John planted in our minds was regarding the 3^rd Temple.  The belief in the Jewish faith is that the Temple needs to be rebuilt a 3^rd time before the Messiah will return at the end of the world – this is why the Temple Institute is working to prepare the items needed for this 3^rd Temple.  However many others feel that when the Holy Spirit appeared as tongues of fire above the disciples that was an indication that God no longer lived in just the Temple building but that He lives in each of us and that as a community we form the 3^rd Temple.  Lots to think about as we finished another day.

(NOTE: text is complete but pictures need to be added.  I'll be adding pictures once all the texts are done.  (2 days left to document) )

June 18, Wednesday - We hike through water

This marked our first full day in Jerusalem and it was a full day.  John came to meet the Jerusalem group at our hotel and we walked over to the Temple Mount.  The Temple Mount is essentially and artificial platform upon which had been built the first and second Temples.  Four huge retaining walls were built first by Solomon and later expanded by Herod so that the temple could be built right on top of the location where Abraham was prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac – the top of Mt. Moriah.  That same spot is sacred in the Muslim religion not only because of Abraham but they also believe it is the spot from which Muhammed left for his nighttime ascent to heaven.  You can read up on the history of the various times this area has been under control of various religious groups but in short, after the 1967 war when Israel recaptured Jerusalem control of the top of the Temple Mount was left under Muslim control. 

Currently the main structures on the top are the Dome of the Rock – a shrine covering what is believed to be the rock at the top of Mt Moriah, and a large mosque.  There is some dispute about the exact location of the top of Mt Moriah because you were supposed to be able to see from the east gate directly into the holy of holies in the Temple.  The visible East Gate lines up with the location of the Dome of the Rock.  However excavations have found evidence that the original East Gate was a short way further north on the East wall.  There is a small domed area covering this as an alternate location for the top of the mountain.  Because of the uncertainty of where the holy of holies was and the overall sanctity of the temples, devout Jews will not come up on the top of the Temple Mount so as to not accidentally walk into areas which would have been forbidden for normal Jews.

We discussed how it is in the story of Abraham and Isaac that the word love is used for the first time – love between a father and son.  God stops Abraham from sacrificing his son, but God lets his own son be sacrificed for us less than 2 blocks from here.

Because most Jews will not go on top of the Temple Mount the next most holy spot to pray for them is along the exposed area of the Western Wall.  This is the area which is as close to where the arc of the covenant would have been kept in the temple that is easily accessible.  There is another spot further along the wall which is closer but you need to travel through the excavation tunnels along the wall to reach that spot so most Jews pray along the wall in a large open area.  Men have one side where they can pray and a separate section of the wall is reserved for women.  Anyone can pray along the wall and you find thousands of pieces of paper with prayers written on them pressed into cracks in the wall.  Several of us left personal prayers along the wall too.

Jews believe the Messiah will come to restore his reign on earth only after the third temple has been built.  Needless to say this is a controversial topic since it would mean the destruction of the Dome of the Rock and probably the mosque also.  There is an organization headquartered a short way from this area called the Temple Institute.  Their main purpose is to research all the sources they can find in order to reconstruct not only the various items for the third temple (such as the show bread table, and incense table) but also the vestments that the priests will wear.  They have already completed many of these including a 9 ft high gold Menorah which is on display overlooking the western wall and Temple Mount. 

From here (after lunch) we walked down to King David’s city which is on the south side of the Old City.  We did not spend much time here but did talk about how David saw Uriah’s wife bathing (Uriah was off at war) and had an affair with her.  As punishment for his sin (adultery and orchestrating Uriah’s death so he could marry his wife) the son that Bathsheba has dies. 

Hezekiah’s Tunnel is just a short distance from here.  John warned us to wear shoes that could get wet and we got a chance to experience why as we descended down to the tunnel. King Hezekiah built the tunnel as an aquifer diverting water from a spring outside the city walls to a pool inside the city in preparation for an attack from the Assyrians.  It was built by having two teams of workers working from either end of the tunnel toward the middle and it still took almost 15 years.  It is considered an engineering wonder having had to be built in such a way that the water flowed into the city, but not at so fast an incline as to erode the tunnel.  It has a 6% grade and extends for 1750 feet.  Being a tunnel it is also totally dark, only about 2 feet wide and about 5 feet tall.  It took us about ½ hour to walk (slosh) through the tunnel.  We walked through water the entire way.  It was normally 8-12 inches deep but some places were at least 18 inches deep.  John had purchased small flashlights for us all but knowing what was coming I had brought a small headlamp that worked great.  It was hard to imagine what it would have been like to be working on cutting the tunnel.  Only one person could probably fit at the face of the tunnel and they would have had to pass the cut stone back from person to person to take it out of the tunnel.  Lighting would have been by candle or torch. 

Hezekiah no doubt prayed that God protect them and the city when the Assyrians were going to attack but he also prepared the city too.  Sometimes when we pray for help, the help we get is the time and opportunity to help ourselves.

The tunnel ends at the Pool of Siloam.  The bible tells the story of a blind man asking Jesus to help him see.  Jesus asks him if he really wants to see and when he says yes, Jesus makes a mud paste, puts it on his eyes, and tells him to wash in the Pool of Siloam.  Many of the times that people ask to be cured by Jesus He first asks them if they want to be cured or what it is they want specifically.  This is because being cured will drastically change their life and He wants to be sure they really want that.  We discussed this in our group about not only that we need to think about what we ask God to do for us, but also how it can make us afraid to turn our life over to God thinking that it will change our lives in ways we don’t want.  Again it all comes back to trusting God that He will only ask us to do what we are capable of with Him.

At this point the basketball group headed back to Bethlehem and the Jerusalem group did a little shopping.  Later that night we met John at one of the restaurants which is a favorite of his and his wife’s.  We had a great dinner and it gave us ‘older’ folks a chance to sit and relax together.

At this point it is a little harder to say how many miles the group has walked since we are doing more side trips in smaller groups but overall it will be the same so I’ll just report what my group has done from this point on.  So as of the end of today we have walked 46 miles (over 140,000 steps) on this trip.

(Note: the text for this day is now complete, but pictures and links are still missing.  I’m 2 days behind in writing and we leave tomorrow to go back home.  I really do plan to complete this (perhaps I’ll get the text posted before we leave) and get pictures loaded because I know I’ll need this to help me remember so much of the trip.  In some respects I cannot believe it is already time to leave, and yet it seems so long ago since we hiked in the Sinai Desert!)

June 17, Tuesday - Another Day...Another Mountain to climb

Another day and another mountain to climb.  John claims this is the last major hike but I’m pretty sure I’ve heard this before from him so we will just have to see.  One of the things I’d like to point out is that on these various up hill hikes that we have done, we have occasionally seen other people hiking – but they all start at the top and hike down!  I think the road to Jericho is the only time we did that (and thank goodness we did that one downhill!).

Today’s trip is up Mt. Carmel.  This is the mountain that Elijah climbed when he was challenging the faith of people who worshipped Baal.  He told them to quit trying to worship both Baal and God and that they had to choose.  This was also during a time when there had been a drought for 3 years.  So he told them to build 2 altars, put wood on it and a bull prepared for sacrifice but don’t light the wood.  Instead call on Baal to send fire and he would call on God to do the same and see which god answers.  So all day the priest of Baal called on him to send fire and nothing happened.  Elijah taunts them to call out louder because maybe Baal is busy or has gone off to relieve himself but still nothing happens.  Finally Elijah calls for people to gather around.  He pours water on the altar to God 3 times so that it covers the bull, the wood, and fills the trough around it.  Then he calls on God and fire comes down and consumes the bull, wood, and altar itself, even drying up all the water.  After this storms come and the drought ends. 

Aside from talking about what great shape Elijah was in (he climbed the mountain at least twice that day and we were all beat from the one trip up) we talked about what great faith it took to not only trust God would answer Elijah but also for Elijah to pour water on the altar.  This was after 3 years of drought and every bit of water would have been precious.  But what greater show of faith and trust in God than to give to Him first and trust He will give you what you need.  I’m reminded of how when I have lots to do one of the first things in my day I might drop is time for prayer or reading the bible.  Instead, time with God should be the main focus and He will provide a way for everything else important to get done.

Mt Carmel is actually close to the Mediterranean and from here we drove down to Caesarea.   Caesarea is another of Herod’s palaces but one which he does not use that often (being Jewish he prefers his desert palaces).  However, Pontus Pilot does like to stay here.  He always builds the biggest and nicest places which are not only ornate but engineering marvels.  Here he has a harbor which is big enough for 300 ships so he can trade directly with other countries – the largest man-made harbor in the world.  He also constructs a statue of Caesar 9 stories high (he wants to stay on the good side of Rome). 

When the city is finished he imports tons and tons of white marble from Italy and covers everything with it so that Caesarea glistens in the sun and can be seen from 5 miles out in the Mediterranean.  When the Romans come through in 70 AD Herod is just another Jew as far as they are concerned and they tear down all the marble and throw it into the water.  It still washes up onto the shore every day.  John asked the question who are we building for – ourselves or God?  All that Herod built was destroyed by man and has become just souvenirs for tourists but Jesus asks us to build up treasures in heaven by living like him.

We did have some time to look for pieces of marble and we all found some, but we only had about 15 minutes to look so we did not have enough time to find pieces for everyone we wanted to bring some back to.  So if you get a piece from someone on this trip, know that they really want to share this story with you and maybe it can be a good conversation starter about some of the faith lessons of this trip.

From here we headed back inland to Jerusalem.  Our group is a mixture of basketball players (men and women) and others here mainly for the bible study.  The basketball group, including John are staying in Bethlehem at the second hotel we stayed at.  The other 7 of us are staying in the old city of Jerusalem.  So this evening we went out to explore around a little.  They are having a Festival of Lights where they have various displays set up around the Old City.  They use different colored rope lights (like you see at Christmas time) set up to mark the white, blue, red, and green routes.  We walked along the white route and then along the red route on the way back.  It gave us a way to get a feel for the city as well as experience the crowds of people out enjoying the festival.

(NOTE: Text is complete, pictures/links to be added later.  I’m going to press ahead and get the text for the other days (I’m now 3 days behind) done as soon as possible and then go back and add pictures.)

June 16, Monday - Jesus' stomping grounds

We are in Nazarethin a convent about 25 feet from the Basilica of the Annunciation and we can hear the evening Muslim call to prayer in the distance which seems natural in this mixture of cultures. But back to this morning.

The shore of the Sea of Galilee

John asked us to meet him down by the shore to the Sea of Galilee at 7 in the morning.  We came down there to find he had made a small fire right on the water’s edge.  We began our day by reciting the Sh’ma – first in Hebrew and then in English.  It is a short prayer/declaration of what Jesus said were the 2 greatest commandments – Love God with all your heart, soul, and might, and love your neighbor as yourself.  We then read the bible passage where Jesus meets up with his disciples in the Galilee after his resurrection.  They are just off shore fishing and he is on the shore.  They have not caught anything and he tells them to fish the other side of the boat.  They immediately catch a huge amount of fish, recognize him, and rush to the shore.  There they find he has built a fire and has some bread and fish for them.  This is where he tells peter to ‘Feed my sheep’.  John explains that this happened about 100 yards from where we are.

After breakfast we head to our first biblical site for the day.  John likes to either start with the big hike for the day (while it is still cool) or go to a place likely to get crowded later in the day.  Today it was the later as we found ourselves at Capernaum.  This is where Jesus lived during most of his ministry – possibly with Peter who also lived here.  This was also one of the two places Jesus would have read from the Torah in the synagogue (the other being in Nazareth) since you had to be a member of the community in order to read scripture.

More rabbis came from this village than any other place and so it was not surprising to see that the school house portion of the synagogue was probably 4-5 times as large as any we had seen so far.  The synagogue faced toward Jerusalem – indicating it had been rebuilt at some point but the foundation and general scale is the same it would have been when Jesus lived here.  Peter’s house is less than what we know as a block away from the synagogue.  They are certain that this is his house since as far back as the first century there was a church surrounding it.  Today a catholic church stands on top of it.  There is a glass floor in the church so that you can look down into Peter’s house, but there was a private mass being said and we could not go into the church.  I went down along the shoreline and (wait for it…) picked up some rocks to bring back.  Security is going to really wonder about me when they x-ray my bag!

Our faith lesson from here centered on how it often says things in the bible like ‘they were amazed at how he spoke because he spoke like one with authority and not like the scribes’.  John explained how only certain rabbis were had the authority to add to the teachings and most rabbis just explained the teachings of other rabbis.  But in order to get the authority to do this at least 2 other rabbis had to give you that authority.  So while Jesus was recognized as a rabbi, they questioned who had given him the ‘authority’ to teach on his own rather than just quote other rabbis.  Jesus’ authority came from John the Baptist and God.  We also have authority given by Jesus to ‘go out and make disciples of all nations’ and spread His word throughout the world – starting in our communities.

Our next stop was Susito, also known as Hippos.  It was one of the 10 cities in the Decapolis which was an area primarily of Roman and Greek influence known for pagan worship.  It was a city which was very wealthy.  They did not have a source of water up on the top of the mountain so they built a stone aqueduct to bring water up from the spring below.  The water pressure was so great that the fountain at the end of the aqueduct (where people came to get water) shot 100 feet into the air.  They also had stone columns made from granite from Egypt.  How they got them all the way up here is a marvel and testament to how much extra money they had here.  It is believed that this is the place where Jesus drove the demons (called legion) from a man and into a heard of pigs.  The pigs then ran off the cliffs into the sea and drowned.  The man who had been tormented by demons asked to come follow Jesus but he told him to stay and tell his story to the people in the region.  (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%205&version=NIV) He did this and when Jesus returns later to the area thousands of people come to listen to him and he ends up feeding the 4000 after teaching them for 3 days.  Evenutally this area became such a site for Christianity that they had a cathedral up here and the bishop from there was part of the first Nicene council debating the relationship between God and Jesus when they decided they were consubstantial (sound familiar to fellow Catholics?) and wrote the Nicene Creed we say today throughout the world.

The faith lesson was that by telling the story of what God has done for us we can bring others to Jesus just the way this man did.  We each though of someone who we would like to come know Jesus or even just become stronger in their faith.  We picked up a rock to represent that person and placed them all in a pile here.  We then prayed together for all these people and we will continue to pray for these individuals for the next 40 days.  We heard stories from John about how people who were prayed for in the past eventually ended up coming on this trip – not realizing that they had been prayed for in the past.    

Beth She’an is another city in the Decapolis.  All of the cities in this area were eventually destroyed in 749 by a massive earthquake.  So when you see pictures of pillars on the ground all lying in the same direction – that is a sign they were toppled during an earthquake.  The Jordan River valley actually marks/follows the boundary between the African and Asian crustal plates.  Beth She’an was the 3^rd largest city in the Decapolis and very Hellenistic in that everything was all about celebrating what man can do.  They had large ornate buildings and elaborate mosaics.  When the earthquake hit it was all gone within minutes.  The faith lesson was that even as we become successful we need to acknowledge that it is God which has given us our talents and what we do should honor Him rather than do things just for our personal glory.

Our last stop for the day was in the fields around Nazareth.  These are the places where Jesus grew up.  He would have spent a lot of time working with Joseph, his father, to learn a trade.  We traditionally show Joseph and Jesus as carpenters.  Stop reading now if you don’t want a different thought.

There are very few trees in Israel relative to the amount of area, and very little was made of wood.  The early bibles describe Joseph and Jesus as builders and people who translated the bible changed that to carpenter.  However, the area is full of limestone which even today is used for building most structures.  It is fairly easy to cut into blocks and shape as needed.  During the time of Jesus all the stone masons in the area were commissioned to provide stone for Zippori which was just a few miles from here.  The existence of old quarries in area also supports the thought that Jesus was a stone mason rather than a carpenter.  This would also explain references he made to cornerstones, etc.  However, in the greater scheme of things it does not matter so much if he was a carpenter or a stone cutter but that He lived and died for us.  Our faith lesson was to ask Him to chisel us as needed to fit into His plan so that we can use our talents the best way possible.

Our hiking total is now 33.5 miles (over 100,000 steps!).

(NOTE: Text is finished and links and photos still need to be added.)

June 15, Sunday - Drop that goat

So it is the end of Monday when I’m getting the chance to describe Sunday.  All things considered that is not too bad.  Sunday involved a little more traveling from spot to spot so there were just 3 biblical sites today.  First on the list was Gamla.

It was home to a large group of Zeolots.  These were a sect of the Jewish people who refused to pay Roman taxes and wanted to force the Romans out of Israel.  One of Jesus’ disciples was a Zeolot – Simon.  He would have found it difficult to accept Jesus’ message to love your enemy and turn the other cheek.

As we head for the top

Gamla is often called the Masada of the North because it was both a geographically protected city (on top of a hill surrounded by valley on all sides, but was also eventually overrun by Roman soldiers (60,000 soldiers vs 15,000 Jews) and all the zealots here were killed. 

Walls around Gamla

Our hike took us down a steep path and then up again into the city past the place where the Romans breached the city walls. 

Gamla Synagogue

Within the city is one of the oldest synagogues ever uncovered.  It is very likely that Jesus and his disciples would have visited here considering it is close to other areas and especially if one of the disciples were a zealot
.  We sat in the ruins of the synagogue and discussed the passion the zealots had for God and the main problem was their use of violence against non-Jews.

Looking back to hill we started from

The picture to the right is looking back to where we started (top of the hill).  Notice the steep rocks about 1/2 way up.  These were stair after stair of rock steps cut in the rock.  We have become quite the group of Stair Masters!

The narrow road

John is always looking for word-pictures for us to use to help remember the things we study and discuss.  He used this path within Gamla as the 'Narrow Road' which leads to God.  In a few days we would get the word-picture for the Wide Road.

Israeli outpost on Syrian boarder 

From Gamla we drove on to Caesarea Phillipi.  On the way there we passed through the Golan Heights area and there are still burned out tanks and bunkers from the six-day war.  We stopped at a Druid village to buy fresh cherries (cherry season here too). 

Spring water from Mt Hurmon

Niche in Rock Face

Ceasarea Phillipi was known as a city of idol worship and the gates of hell were thought to have been in the great spring that flowed from the caves (water often signified the devil to the Jews).  There was a temple here to the Greek god Pan.  Jesus brought his disciples here just before he headed to Jerusalem to die.  It was here that he proclaimed Peter the rock upon which the church would be built.  We talked about what things we might be worshiping other than God. 

Cave where spring originated

This was the cave which had the temple to Pan built over it.  Water flowed from this cave until an earthquake changed the passageways through the rock and the spring shifted away from here.

Temple at Omrit

The final site was Omrit.  They only recently found this site and believe it is the third temple built by Herod to honor Caesar Augustus.  At first archeologists were confused as to why a temple would be built so far away from any communities.  Then they discovered that the road to Damascus ran past here – putting this on one of the main thoroughfares in the country.   People would pay ‘tribute’ (taxes) to Caesar as they passed by. 

Inner and outer walls

The temple was rebuilt at least once and you can see the inner and outer perimeters in the pictures.  We discussed Jesus’ comments on whether it was lawful to pay tax to Caesar.  His response was to say to give to Caesar what is Caesar’s (his picture was on the coin used to pay the tax) but give to God what is God’s.  We are God’s and we should live our lives with that in mind.  We also discussed Paul’s conversion on the road to Demascus (he probably passed by this way several times).

Road to Damascus (not excavated yet)

 Today’s hiking totaled only 3 ¼ miles but that brings our total to 29 miles for the trip.  The problem for anyone who was hoping to loose weight on this trip is that they do a good job of feeding us.

PS: ask the person you know here to explain the goat reference in the title. :-)

NOTE: Text and pictures for this day are complete.

June 14, Saturday - Hiking around the Galilee area

Surprise, surprise…. Another busy day for us.  Up at 6, breakfast at 7, on the bus at 7:30, hiking by 8.  If you are looking for a relaxing vacation – THIS IS NOT IT! But if you want one that will challenge your mind, soul, and body I don’t know that you could find a better trip to take.

Part of the trail

Our first stop today was Mount Arbel.  It stands about 2700 ft above the Sea of Galilee and we started pretty close to the bottom.  It was a steep climb to say the least, so much so that parts of it had metal hand holds which had been pounded into the rock so you had something to grab on to and also step on as you climbed. 

Part way up the mountain we came across caves.  These had been used by Jews who were fighting Herod in 43 BC as a place to hide their families while they fought.  Eventually the Romans found them and massacred them.  Now 70 years later Jesus is telling the descendants of those murdered to love your enemy.  Jesus was not bringing an easy message to this area.  It is sometimes just as hard for us to accept this today.

Each of our hikes is also meant to help us experience something of ancient times and John explained that rabbis of the time of Jesus often would come here to be alone to pray and think before starting their day – another indication that these guys were in great physical shape if this is how they start their day!  This is where scholars believe Jesus gave his disciples the direction to ‘go out and make disciples of all the nations’. 

Caves along the trail

Looking back down

From the top of this mountain we could see the main area where Jesus taught.  They estimate that 80% of his time was spent in the northern section of Galilee primarily because there were devout Jews in the area who were waiting for the Messiah and the concept of a rabbi and discipleship was practiced in this area.












One of the main cities he taught in was Chorazin.  It was a small typical city around Galilee where one of the main things they did was to make olive oil.  It also had one of the oldest synagogues uncovered in Israel.  We studied the various elements of a synagogue (ritual bath area before entering the synagogue, Moses seat where the person scheduled to read from the Torah would sit, place from where the Torah was read, etc.). 

Looking into synagogue from entrance

One of the things which each synagogue would have was a school room attached to the back or side of the building.  It was here that young children would study Torah until age 12.  At that point if you were a boy you would either start learning your father’s trade or, if you were gifted in studying scripture, you would continue studying until about age 15.  At that point you would either start working the family business, or you could ask a rabbi if he would take you on as a disciple.  If you did not find one, then off to work.  By about 18 you would then get married.  The significance of this is that, as we discussed, only Peter was married so that could well mean that Jesus picked (and it was rare for the rabbi to pick the disciples) teenage boys who essentially flunked out of religion since they were working with their families.  It was this simple group of boys who carried his message throughout the area, eventually reaching the whole world!  

Hill beyond the trees is sight for feeding 5000

Bethsaida was a fishing village (the name actually means house of fishing) probably right on the Sea of Galilee (the shoreline no longer comes right up to the village).  All of these villages were fairly small with only 400-500 people living in each.  What is remarkable is that Jesus called Peter, James, Andrew, John, and Phillip from here!  It was just a short way from here in one direction that Jesus fed the 5000 and a short way the other direction where he fed the 4000.  So of course this is where we ate lunch. 

We discussed the section of the bible where Jesus’ disciples are discussing the fact that they had forgotten to bring bread on one of their trips and they only had 1 loaf and worrying about what to do. (Mark 8: 13-21)  Jesus said: Didn’t I just feed 5000 with 5 loaves and 4000 with seven?  Don’t you get it yet?

Jesus was not saying that he could easily feed them with the 1 loaf but that we don’t need to worry about the more mundane things – He knows what we need and will provide it.  We just need to trust in Him.  In other words – don’t sweat the small stuff (and most is small stuff)!

After lunch we drove over to a place where you can reach the Jordan River.  Don’t let the name fool you, it is more like the Jordan stream.  John said that except for flood stage during the rainy season this is pretty much what it would look like.  During the time of Jesus water signified chaos or the devil.  When water is described in the bible it often involves storms or other trouble or danger.  By coming out of the water, John’s baptism signified coming out of the chaos into order.

Me in the Jordan River

John told us how his children were baptized in the Jordan last year and he called any of us who wanted to be baptized to come on in (he was standing in the water at this point).  He also said that normally the person would have gone out into the river themselves, gone under the water, and come back out.  So he also invited any of us who wanted to do this to also feel free to do it.  Several of our group went out with John to be baptized and others of us re-dedicated ourselves to God by immersing ourselves in the Jordan.  Even for those who did not feel moved to go into the water it was a wonderful time of fellowship.

A cool spot for bible study!

We talked about how every time you make a choice in your life that cannot be undone (getting married, having a child, etc.) you are essentially reborn because you start a totally new life.  It is important to keep God in all your re-births, not just if you consider yourself reborn in Christ.

As if we did not already have enough to think about this day (it is already taking me 2 days to summarize it!) we still had two more lesson sites to visit.

Harbor area where Simon was fishing

The Tabgha Springs is a location at the edge of the Sea of Galilee where local fishermen would come to rinse their nets when they were done fishing.  This is because there as a group of 7 springs in this area which provided clean water plus it was located in a natural harbor area.  Simon was here with his partners James and John cleaning there nets when Jesus came by.  Jesus had already raised someone from the dead and performed many other miracles so there was quite a crowd following him.  He asked Simon to take him out in a boat so he could teach out a little from the shore.  When He was done he told Simon to lower his nets to fish.  They had fished all night but not caught anything but when they lowered the nets they caught so many fish it almost sank 2 boats.  They were both amazed and afraid but Jesus reassured them and asked them to follow him as disciples.  I always wondered about the part in the text where it then said they dropped everything and left to follow him.  But as John explained – here was the ‘rock star’ rabbi of the period asking them if they wanted to be his disciples (remember, rabbis did not ask disciples to follow them, boys would ask to be a disciple).  I can now imagine them jumping at the chance before Jesus changed his mind. 

Our faith lesson was to learn to leave behind anything which keeps us from following Jesus in our life.

The Spring

Our final stop for the day was actually just across the street from the Tabgha springs.  Along with being a natural harbor, the hillside forms a natural amphitheater.  This is the traditional location for the Sermon on the Mount.  We discussed how Jesus would not have instructed his disciples in all of these things all at once but instead they would have spent quite a lot of time going over each point.  It may be that this was a favorite spot for Jesus to take his disciples to discuss these various topics and that often there would be crowds who followed to listen in.  The gospel writers may have just grouped all these teachings together as if it was one long sermon.  Perhaps the better title would be teachings on the mount. 

We also discussed the story of the Prodigal Son and how the father actually had 2 sons who were ‘lost’ in terms of their obligations to him.  The first by wanting his inheritance right then and the second for being resentful when his brother returns and not helping his father rejoice. 

Inside the Church of the Beatitudes

As the rest of the group headed back to the hotel I did a little extra hiking out to the Church of the Beatitudes.  I thought I might be able to find them having Saturday evening mass but arrived to find them about to close to tourists for the day.  They were nice enough to let me in for a quick visit since I had obviously hiked up there (nice way to say I was pretty dirty and sweaty with my hiking poles in hand).  It was refreshing to sit in the church (more the size of a chapel than a church) and read parts of the Sermon on the Mount teachings.  The only bad part of the extra hike was about 50 yards of weedy field I had to hike through after leaving the road.  (I was still feeling that the next day with all the small scratches – but it was well worth it.) 

Church of the Beatitudes

The hotel was within walking distance but the extra hike added about 2.5 miles to my day.  Not counting that side trip we hiked 4 miles today (mostly up hill) for a total of 25.75 miles so far.  I suspect that I have a shorter stride set on my pedometer than I’ve actually been walking and hope to double check that in the next day or so.  I’ve been recording the number of steps per day so if I find that this is off (seems low based on how my feet feel at the end of the day) I’ll post the updated distance.

Some additional pictures:
Some of the excavation work at Bethsaida is being done by people from the University of Nebraska at Omaha and some of the finds are also on exhibit there.  This is the sign that says this.  Bryan and I were surprised to find a reference to Omaha way out here.  

(NOTE: Text, links, and photos are complete for this day.)

June 13, Friday - Merry Christmas!

It may get difficult to keep up with things for the next few days.  We are now in the Sea of Galilee area and not only was today a busy day but I know the next few ones will be very busy too.  Coupled with no internet connection for part of last night I’m still catching up from yesterday.  I did finish yesterday’s blog.  If you looked at it any time before noon on Friday (the 13^th J) you probably did not see all the pictures.  I have all of those up there now.  I’ve also decided to start listing at the bottom of the day’s blog whether or not I’ve finished the text and photos so you know if you should check back later.

Main Cave area

Ok, on to today’s adventures!  We covered 6 different sites and still walked 4.5 miles on top of that so we were busy, busy, busy.  One of the things John normally does not do is to visit any of the churches.  He wants us to get a sense of how things were in the time of Jesus, or whoever the subject for the site may be.  So instead of visiting the church of the nativity as a group, he took us to a similar type of cave this morning.  These types of caves can be found all around the area.  The best way to describe how they look is that they are similar to a large pita bread cut in half and opened up.  They have a wide opening, lowish ceiling, and do not extend that far back.

'Manger' area similar to where Jesus was born!

The purpose is to provide a sheltered area for the sheep and they often had a water trough cut into the rock where the shepherd could put water for them.  As you can imagine it was not the cleanest of places with a rather distinctive odor.  It was here that we discussed Jesus’ birth.  We started by focusing on when it might have taken place.  The only thing we know for certain is that it was not on Dec 25^th.  I won’t go into detail about how that date got chosen, but generally birthdays were not considered significant enough to be mentioned by date.  But there are a lot of clues as to when it might have been.  There is a 5 mile stretch of land near Bethlehem specifically called ‘the fields’.  It is used for growing barley and wheat.

Entrance to the 'pita bread' cave

Once they are done harvesting the wheat, the shepherds are allowed to bring their sheep into the fields to finish cleaning up what is left.  Kind of a win-win situation in that the farmers get their fields cleaned and fertilized and the shepherds have an abundance of things for their sheep to eat so they don’t have to take them all around to find enough to eat (remember how barren the hills around there normally are).

The bible also says they were keeping watch over their sheep at night.  Normally they are kept in a rock walled pen at night and the shepherds can then sleep.  However just prior to major feast days they are required to constantly watch the sheep which will be used for sacrifice to ensure that they stay pure.  So based on these clues we know it would be after harvest which puts it in the June-Nov timeframe.  In the Sept-Oct time there are 3 feasts (Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, and Sukkoth).  John feels it was at the time of Sukkoth that Jesus was born, but at 11 at night I can’t recall why of the 3 he felt that was the one (he did his masters thesis on the birth of Jesus so I’m sure there is good reason), but I’ll ask tomorrow and post an update.  (Update: John feels it was Sukkoth because that is the feast of first fruits and when they pray that God will provide what they need and Jesus is living water. But it could be any of these 3 feasts and not change the message that Jesus came to show us how to live in the Father.)

So we have a date, as for the place we are fairly certain that the church of the Nativity does mark the spot because when Romans took over the area the local people had already been honoring that site as the location for his birth (they were also honoring the site where the church of the Holy Sepulchre stands as the place of his death, burial, and resurrection).  But the main points that John wanted to bring out is that there could not have been a more humble (think dirty, stinky) place for the Messiah to have been born.  But he loved us enough to come to us as a most lowly person to show us that we are all capable of following in his steps.  We ended our visit to the cave by singing Christmas carols.

Well and Manger still in use

The Judea n Wilderness

From here we moved further into the ‘wilderness’ to a location thought to be the area where Jesus went to after his baptism by John.  It says he fasted and prayed for 40 days, after which he was tempted.  40 is the number almost always used to symbolize a period of preparation and it is during this time that Jesus prepares to begin his ministry.  We also see in the bible that after the preparation time is a period of temptation (kind of like finals after you have been studying).  We discussed how God tests us so we know our strengths but the devil tempts us in our weaknesses to try to get us to fail.  The challenge is to recognize our strengths in order to resist giving in to our weaknesses.

We Hike along

It was now about noon and we were about to begin our big hike for the day.  I’m guessing it was easily in the upper 90s if not hotter.  We were getting ready to hike about 2 ½ miles along the Jericho road down to Jericho.  John gave us 3 options – take the bus down to the meeting place, ride a donkey along the trail, or walk it.  We had some people for each option.  I decided to walk it.  This was the one hike from the last trip that I had not been able to finish (I took a donkey ride for the last part last time).  I was determined to do it this time.  I might have gone the donkey option if we were walking from Jericho back to this spot.  That is what we did last time and it is up hill going that way – with the steepest part right at the end.  But even though this was the down hill direction it was still a tough hike.  There is no shade along the way and you are generally carrying extra water with you so that also weighs you down. 

About 1/2 way along

Jericho in the distance

The significance of this hike is that this is one of the main routes to Jerusalem and one that we know Jesus walked on his way there just before he died.  This is also believed to be the road used in the parable of the good Samaritan.  In that story it talks about how 2 different priests walked past the man who had been beaten up and left by the side of the road.  Walking this road you see it is pretty much just a narrow path (maybe 3 ft wide) with a steep drop-off on one side and the hill going steeply up on the other.  This means they would have had to step over him to get past him.  People of the day would have understood this because they also would have used this road frequently. 

It was awesome to walk this same path as Jesus and his disciples and contemplate what they might have thought about or discussed as they walked along.

Everyone did a great job in finishing the hike and I was pleased to have been able to do it and still have some energy left at the end! 

An old Sycamore Fig

Once we arrived in Jericho we refreshed with our now standard pita bread, humus, meat, and cheese sandwiches and headed off to central Jericho.  Our first stop was at a large sycamore fig tree.  This figures into the gospels as the place where Zacchaeus, a tax collector and short man, climbs a sycamore fig tree so he can see Jesus as he passes through town.  When Jesus calls him down to say he plans to eat at his house, the Sadducees (many of them liked to live here) talked about how wrong it was for him to eat with a sinner (they did not think highly of tax collectors).  Jesus uses this opportunity to explain how he came to save sinners and at the same time used parables to scold the Sadducees for not being faithful to the laws passed down from Moses.  Our faith lesson centered around the fact that we do not need to be always worrying that we are being as productive for God as we can, just that we be faithful to how he wants us to live our lives and He will do the rest.

We Circle Jericho

Jericho was the first city the Israelites encountered as they entered the Promised Land.  The city was (like most cities) surrounded by a high wall for protection.  God instructed them to walk around the city once a day for 6 days on on the 7^th day, walk around it 7 times and then blow their horns and shout to God.  They did that and the walls fell down and they captured the city.  We began by walking around Jericho ourselves.  It only took about 15 minutes so imagine how many blocks you could walk around in that time and that is about the size if the old city of Jericho.

Jericho Ruins

Once they captured the city God told them to not take anything from it and to continue on into the Promised Land.  This would have been a hard thing for them to do because they have just spent 40 years in the desert and Jericho is an oasis town with lots of trees and probably great farmlands.  But God asked them to trust him that he had better things in store for them.  The faith teaching is that we too should give God the first/best we have whether it be our time, talents, or treasures as a way of showing that we trust Him to in turn give us even more of what we need.  It made us think about how many times our religion is something we fit in when we have the time rather than fitting in the rest of our day around living our faith.

Fountain from Elisha Spring

Elisha Spring

Another major event to have happened here is that Jericho was the city where Elisha returned to after Elijah was taken up in chariots of fire (not the movie).  He finds that the water is bad for drinking in the town spring.  He asks for salt, throws it into the spring, and the water is now clear and clean.  It continues to flow with fresh water today.  We ended our day of teachings by sitting alongside this spring and letting our feet enjoy the cool water.

The end of day 6.  Today was one of the longer hiking days with 4.5 miles of hiking.  That means the trip total is now 21.75 miles.  Tomorrow should put us over the 25 mile point! Not that distance is any indication of how much we see or learn – just another aspect of the trip.

(NOTE: The text and pictures are finished! )