Galilee

Today we traveled north to the Galilee area. This is more of an agricultural area with fields of bananas, mangos, olives and dates.  We went to Nazareth where there was a modern church of the annunciation.  Nazareth was 60% Christian at one time, but now is 40%.  So there is some trouble there.  The church celebrates the angel Gabriel announcing to Mary that she was to be the mother of Jesus.

Up the road was Capernaum where Jesus probably lived in between his trips into the countryside.  The village was destroyed but some excavation has revealed a synogogue and a possible church.  Roman Catholics have built a beautiful church on the site.  From there we went to a site that commemorates the beatitudes.  This is a beautiful and peaceful site along the Sea of Galilee.

What I thought about today was Jesus walking the hills here in his ministry.  The hills are somewhat higher than some of our bluffs.  It’s rugged terrain with a lot of rocks.  As we went through Nazareth, with it’s shops and messy streets and conflict, it all brought home to me again the real world in which Jesus lived.  It wasn’t a Cecil B. DeMille movie, but a real life Jesus lived.  He dealt with the heat, the afternoon winds off the lake, the cold in winter, the agitations of people, all of it.  He truly did come into our world and share it with us.  I forget that sometimes.  So I’m grateful for this experience.