"Walking Where Jesus Walked"

We had a full but very meaningful day today. We started by going to Caesarea Philippi and visiting the ruins of a temple built in honor of the Greco-Roman god pan. While there, Pastor Bob reminded us of Peter's confession, upon which Jesus promised to build His church.

There is a cave in this place and the entrance to it used to be known in antiquity as "the entrance to Hades." We were reminded that Jesus promised His disciples that even the gates of Hades could not prevail against His church. It is not hard to imagine that Jesus could have pointed to this place as His natural "power point," as He liked to do.

We went to more places than I can write about here, including a village built on a hill that overlooks the Syrian border -- "the road to Damascus." I bought some hyssop from a local Druze man at this place. He was trying to sell me honey and all kinds of jam also. Our bus passed by the "mighty" Jordan River one more time. Nowadays the Jordan is a small stream, nothing also.

We visited Caphernaum, the town that effectively became Jesus' home town. There we saw the remains of a 5th Century Synagogue. One layer underneath the current structure, though, goes back to the time of Christ and we can see it. It is the closest we've come to "walking where Jesus walked," especially since right across the street they have found the remains of Peter's house. The New Testament talks about Jesus leaving the Synagogue and entering Peter's house, which makes perfect sense since they are across the street from each other. Later this building was turned into an octagonal church and today the Catholic Church has build a church over the sight to commemorate its importance.

We took a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee on a windy day and Pastor Bob reminded us of three prominent stories related to Jesus as He navigated the waters of the same lake with his fishermen's friends. Once again, the stories came alive as we took in the wind and the surroundings. From a distance, other boats were passing us by, no doubt carrying tourists as well. During the boat ride I lied down and took a nap on one of the boat benches. Galen came over and asked, "Ivanildo, don't you care that we perish?" I told him to go talk to Jesus about it... Ha, ha!

We also briefly toured a museum which houses the only boat from the time of Christ that was found and through a very complex process which lasted over 10 years, was preserved and is now on display. It was great to see that.

One of the highlights today, besides Caphernaum, was the Mount of the Beatitudes. Pastor Bob did a wonderful presentation of this most famous sermon Jesus ever preached. We were standing on the very place where this took place, several layers below. There is plenty of room around the area for people to have sat and listened to Him. The words of that sermon are still echoing in my mind. At a distance one can see the Sea of Galilee, the wind was strong, there were wild flowers around and birds of the air were flying about. Bob reminded us of all those elements in Jesus' most famous sermon.

We ended the day visiting the church that commemorates Jesus' feeding of the 5,000 men. A small piece of the oldest Christian mosaic ever found is displayed inside that church, still on the same location where it was found.

As you can see, our trip is moving along well, the pace has picked up quite a bit and we are headed to Jerusalem tomorrow. Most of us are feeling tired already but I can already tell you that that no one is complaining the Scriptures have come alive in a fresh way as I have had a chance to be in this land. And our lives have been impacted in a deeper way by the life and words of this carpenter from Nazareth.

Thank you for your prayers!

Pastor Ivanildo C. Trindade

itrindade@woostergrace.org