Jerusalem Day 13 - September 6th, 2009

Today was a long day, with a lot packed into it. We started out at 6:30am and headed for Galilee. Our first stop was to see a 2000 year old boat that was found in the Sea of Galilee about 20 years ago. The boat was an amazing sight for many reasons. First of all, it is the exact type of boat that Jesus and his diciples would have used 2000 years ago. Secondly, it was so coated in mud when it was found, that much of it is still intact. After seeing the boat, we went on our own boat ride out into the Sea of Galilee. It was amazing to think that we were on the very water that Jesus walked across so many years ago. When we landed, we were in Capernaum.

So many things happened in Capernaum, even though it was such a small town. We saw the Church of Primacy, which is dedicated to the memory of Jesus asking Peter three times if he loved him. We read the passage of Scripture and went down to the shore of the Sea. Our last stop in Capernaum was at a synagogue that was built on top of the synagogue in which Jesus taught when he was at Capernaum. This was also the site of Peter's house. It was extremely neat to know that we were in the same synagogue in which Jesus taught over 2000 years ago. He spent much of his adult life in Capernaum. Our lunch was one of the highlights of the day as well. We ate at a place right on the Sea of Galilee that served fish like the one that Peter caught with the tax money in its mouth. The fish was delicious although a few people were freaked out about the fact that the entire fish (head, bones, eyeballs and all) was on our plate.

The afternoon was spent between the Mount of Beatitudes and the Jordan River. There is a church on the Mount of Beatitudes to commemorate the Sermon on the Mount which is found in Matthew 5-7. We talked about the fact that Ghandi used the Sermon on the Mount during his movement in India. We also learned that the beatitudes are about resisting, but without evil intentions. Our last stop of the day was at the Jordan River. We didn't have much teaching there but we did some worship and prayer and then about 14 people from our group got baptized. Even though the day was long, it was all worth it and beautiful to see!