A beautiful and exciting day in Galilee and the north! We had a clear and cool morning to see the sun rise over the Sea of Galilee. The weather is perfect, the place is calm and peaceful, and our hosts have received us with enthusiastic grace and generosity.
Our first stop was Cana of Galilee, the traditional place of Jesus’ first miraculous sign (John 2:1-11). A beautiful church stands directly above the archaeological remains of a fourth century church that can be accessed and seen up close. There is a replica of one of the large stone water jars that the Gospel of John talks about in the story of Jesus turning water to wine. Perhaps the greatest part of our experience this morning was the feast of teaching that our guide George placed before us—incredible insight and wisdom that helped us to understand Jesus’ sign and it’s meaning with great new depth.
At the foot of Mount Hermon in the far north we spent some unrushed time at the Tel Dan national park. We saw the lush area where the Old Testament tribe of Dan settled and where we find some of the headwaters of the Jordan River. The high place that king Jeroboam set up to compete with Jerusalem is there (1 Kings 12), as well as both a Canaanite Middle Bronze Age and an Israelite Iron Age gate complex. We learned a lot about ancient cities and religious practices.
From that point at the foot of Mt. Hermon to another just to the east, we traveled to Caesarea Philippi. That’s the place where Jesus took his disciples to ask the famous question, “Who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16) A large, deep grotto is there from which water gushed such that people believed a connection existed with the underworld—indeed, “gates of hell.” At that very place, Jesus told Peter, “On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.”
Our travels ended today with a stop overlooking the Syrian border and the road to Damascus (Acts 9). What a day!
