Holy Land Day 3: Galilee, Capernaum and Lake Tiberias

Today we start the day studying a bit of history and geographyTo do that  we must note  that in the New Testament the Sea of ​​Galilee is mentioned 46 times while the Lake of Tiberias 5, but if we look at a map of the Galilee region there is only one place marked as water. So, what happened? Did the sea disappear? Did the lake disappear? or were the evangelists confused?

None of this, in fact the evangelists wrote almost 75% in Greek, and in this language the word lake does not exist since Greece was an empire of seas, only when they used Hebrew that was the liturgical language they mention the place as lake.

Only to clarify Aramaic was everyday language. In truth it is a freshwater lake that fills its waters with the Jordan River. The lake is in a depression of about 200 meters below sea level, it is about 20km long and about 10km wide, reaching its maximum depth at about 40 meters.

The geography of Galilee has practically not changed, beyond the crops it is almost the same as the one the Lord saw and walked.In this place the disciples fished and also here it happened that they turned Simon into Peter. We refer to the event narrated in Jn 21 1-17 when Jesus appears to the disciples on the shores of the Lake.

In this narration several things are seen:

– Jesus tells them to pull the nets on the right side. The technique of the fishermen is to always pull the nets on the left side, because with the right hand they can do the most with force, pulling the nets on the right side meant a radical change in the way they fish, Jesus wants to show us how it would turn to Simon the Fisherman in Peter the Fisherman of Men.

– Simon draws from the lake exactly 153 fish number that coincides with the number of provinces that had the Roman Empire, which Peter and his Church should “fish”.

– John who had witnessed the three opportunities in which Simon denied the Lord was now witnessing the three times that Peter told him that he loved him.

In the place where the Lord prepared the fish to eat with his friends is the Church of the Primacy of Peter, the altar of the Church is on the rock where they ate.

It is a unique place since our Church started here, it is here where Simon began to be Peter, we could say that here was the first Vatican. It is practically indescribable the unique sensation of walking through these stones, getting wet in the lake, seeing the mountains, feeling the breezes, feeling like a disciple.

Not so far from here, is the Mount of the Beatitudes.

These were for the Jews of the time like new laws, but unlike the previous ones they did not prohibit but they gave freedom. In this place there is an octagonal church that has two interpretations for this format.

On the one hand the Beatitudes are eight and one for each side of the figure. The second interpretation is that the architect made a temple of Byzantine characteristics. In Greek the name of Jesus is represented with IESÚS, similar to the Romans they had a codex that allowed to make sums with letters, the sums of the name IESUS is 8, and 888 is the representation of the Holy Trinity.

Once one enters the octagonal church he walks through it and at some point he stops to pray, at that moment we look at the ceiling and we can read only one of the Beatitudes and when we look at the floor one of the virtues is read. It is a very strong exercise, as a symbol of what God wants to tell us. It was one of the most emotional moments of the day.

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A little later we went to Capernaum.

In this place we understood how the fame of Jesus spread throughout the Roman Empire without him traveling more than a few kilometers.

Think of the politics and economics of that time, the Romans managed both, and as such had control of the routes. The Via Marítima was one of the most important roads that every merchant should use to get to sell their products to Rome. Just Capernaum was the gateway to Galilee and one of the main payment places of tribute to the Empire. Then Jesus made many signs here or in the surroundings, his fame spread through the comments of everyone who passed through this city.

In this city is where Jesus calmed the fever to Peter’s mother-in-law. To clarify this situation a little we should know that until today for the Israelites (whatever their religion) to have “fever” is to get angry with someone. Peter was born in Bethsaida, but when his Father died he felt the need to move to the house of his Father’s wife (not his mother) to take care of her.

He worked and made sure that the family did not lack anything, until he met Jesus. Then Pedro left many times to go to his house, this caused the woman anger, caused “fever”. So much so that Peter decided to take Jesus so that the woman knows him and when she met him she calmed down, the “fever” went away because she understood that everything that came from Jesus was good.

Here then we got to know the house of Pedro and the Synagogue. In truth of the synagogue where Jesus and Peter taught only the foundations are seen, since in the fourth century there was a great earthquake and it was destroyed. So it was that on this a new synagogue was built, from which the ruins can be seen today.

This visit helps us to understand life in the time of Jesus, see also how Peter had to modify his house to become the first Christian temple, see the importance of this city at the time, know that he had 18 neighborhoods and that each they were inhabited by clans, that each neighborhood was separated by the next one by a street and that in its interior it had a space common to all the families that lived there.

In this whole area is where Jesus made most of his signs, and his teachings, was a few kilometers from Capernaum where Jesus was teaching one day and there were many people, it was too late and they only had five loaves and two fish.

This place is inside a church, and it is very interesting to see that the Byzantine artist, knowing that the altar would be built on his work, represented only four loaves and two fish, the fifth being the Eucharist. This church is located in Tabga.

This region of Galilee is bathed by the Jordan River, the same where Jesus was baptized by his cousin John the Baptist.

Etymologically, the name Jordan comes from the Hebrew word “iarden” which means the one that goes down. Then the Jordan River is the river that descends, by the current that has towards the depression of the Dead Sea.

In this river we had the opportunity to renew the promises of our baptism. This sacrament is the one that most of us receive from very small without really understanding what it means. To be able to renew this sacrament in the same place where heaven opened to recognize Jesus as a child of God is something that fills the heart with joy, we had the joy of arriving at the place with a gray sky and leaving with the sky open and a sun resplendent.

To end the day we sailed through the Lake of Tiberias in a boat in the style of those used by Jesus. The captain had the wisdom to turn off the engines and sail in the style of the Lord. At that moment a breeze rose that made us all remember the storm that Jesus calmed, we heard the waves hit the boat surely as it happened to the disciples.

It was a spectacular closing for a day full of emotions.

See you on my next trip!

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