Day 4, Part 4

We board the buses and take a short ride along the lake shore.  This part of Galilee is beautiful and I wouldn't mind living here.  It has busy little communities, agriculture and archaeology sites everywhere.  It has a really fun feel to it as you drive through the country side.

We soon pull into a site that is near the intersection of two busy highways.  It is Magdala, possibly the home of Mary Madelene.  It has been excavated in recent years and now has a shelter built over the main attraction, a 1st century Jewish synagogue. 

The whole site is still being actively excavated and Indiana Jolie and I are busy taking pictures of many rocks.  We arrive at the peak of the heat of the day and eventually get under the shade of the shelter.  Marc Turnage, the tour leader gives us some instruction about the importance of this site.  It is not often that a site from the 1st century is found in such an undisturbed state as this.  It informs much of our understanding of Jewish culture.  

The floor was a beautiful mosaic with geometric designs around the border. 

 The interior perimeter has a built in bench of sorts made of stones that is characteristic of early synagogues.  There were no "rows and aisles" that characterize our modern day churches.  Everyone sat around the perimeter is a sort of "equality" fashion and could add to the conversation or teaching of the day.

There are many replicas of things found at the site, the originals being in the Israeli National Museum and some lesser important original items from the site lining the walk ways.  It is very interesting.  The thought that this could have been the synagogue that Mary Madalene knew and visited is again very intriguing.  The connection of biblical people and actual sites is a powerful way to experience the Bible.  

There is much to see and more rocks to take pictures of but we are again told to board the buses. 

As we are moving to the buses Indiana Jolie spots a camel.  She is delighted and takes many pictures.  Photographing something alive and moving is much different than the rocks that are our specialty.  It's not that we haven't seen camels since being in Israel, they are usually on the roadside as we are traveling in the bus.  

 We have more sites to visit.  As we board the bus and settle into our seats, Dr. Wood, our General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God tells us that he attempted to float the idea of the Assemblies of God purchasing this very site when it came up for sale just a few years ago.  Opportunities to purchase land in Israel are not all that common and this was a great opportunity. At the time it was a retreat center and the existence of the 1st century synagogue was unknown.  He was unable to raise the 4 million dollars it would have taken to purchase the facility and the opportunity slipped away.  To think what might have been!  The Assemblies of God could have had a very important biblical archaeology site on their very own property.  Hindsight is more clear than foresight.  

The next stop is Capernaum, Jesus' home city of his Galilean ministry.  By archaeology standards, Capernaum is a very large site.  There is much to see and many rocks to photograph.  Wandering around the site I came to "The House of Peter".  I am a little confused as I read this.  Do they mean, that Peter?   Yes, they do.  This little outline of rocks that define Peter's house is believed to be Peter the fisherman's actual home!  There is actual archaeological evidence to back this up, as early century Christians revered this spot and left inscriptions testifying to the fact this was the house of Peter the apostle.  

I am stunned and dumbfounded.  I am standing at the very spot where Jesus entered Peter's house and healed his wife of a fever.  I am at the very place where the friends of the lame man climbed up on the roof and tore a hole in it to let the lame man down in front of Jesus.  It is no wonder there was no more room for these men to get in as the house is certainly not very big.  A good 25 people could fill the place up.  The house in typical Jewish fashion is attached to a much larger courtyard which is also the "house" of Peter.  

The scriptures become living to me at this moment.  Again, the connection of an actual place, an actual structure that connects one with the Bible passages is a very powerful reinforcement to faith.

Ornate and intricate columns and capitals abound.  Grinding mills and the leftovers of everyday life in Capernaum are everywhere.  This is a very rich site in archaeological terms and it has been extensively excavated.  

There is more to see, but it is difficult to pull myself away from this spot.  There is a beautiful and large, ornate Jewish synagogue up ahead that many people are walking up to and inside of. Indiana Jolie and I meet up at this spot.  She has been taking many pictures.  On the approach to the synagogue a little sign catches the eye that tells us that the synagogue we see is sitting on top of the synagogue of Jesus' time.  

The one we see is from the 3-5th centuries.  The synagogue of Jesus' day is the one that provides the foundation to this one. The one below us would be the synagogue where Jesus cast the demon out of the man who disrupted the Sabbath worship.  Again, I am amazed and in wonder of how I am connected to the Bible and the land of Israel.  

We are bid to gather in a covered area with seating all around.  The afternoon sun is still hot and I seek the shade side of the pavilion.  Moving around in the heat is not so bad as there are many distractions of things to see, but sitting in the sun and listening to someone talk?  Too hot to bear.

As we wait for everyone to assemble, we have a beautiful vantage point to look out on the Sea of Galilee.  

 

What a pleasant place.  I would have gladly chosen Capernaum as a place to live myself.  To think I am gazing upon the very shores Jesus would have found Peter mending his nets when he called him to be his disciple is informing and beyond interesting.  The lake level is higher today than it was in Jesus' day they tell us and the actual shoreline was probably a little further out than it is today.  

We are taught from the gospels in the home of Jesus.  What a thought.  We are in the place where the majority of Jesus' 35 recorded miracles actually took place.  Blind eyes opened, lame people healed, deaf ears restored.  We close this teaching time with a time of prayer for healing.  Many people respond.  One woman comes forward who came on this trip in what she was told was the last month of her life due to the advancing cancer in her body. There is much fervent prayer and many are encouraged.  

Due to the heat of the day and the much walking I am pretty ready to call it a day.  It is getting to be late afternoon and of course I am thinking dinner needs to be soon.  I am also thinking it is at least an hour back to our hotel and all the comforts it offers but we are told we are on our way to a special "surprise".  Hmm....