The Sabbath Begins

The morning started after my first full night of sleep. Breakfast was great with fish and toast, this will be important later. Again, after breakfast we began our day early and immediately got on a boat and took a ride on the Sea of Galilee. While on the boat we read scripture, sang songs and prayed. It was amazing to be on the same sea that Jesus was on and around. The amazing thing about the Sea of Galilee is that it cannot be changed and taken ownership of like so many of the places around Israel. The sea is the sea is the sea. As I was on the boat our tour guide pointed out lots of little villages where Jesus preached and conducted his ministry. The sea was calm and the land was beautifully contrasted between desert and lush green trees. At the end of our boat ride we were able to see a first century fishing boat that was found, which would have been similar to the boats that the disciples traveled on. Jesus was aslo on a boat similar to the one we saw to preach to many by the sea.

We then moved on to another place where Jesus preached, or a place that celebrates Jesus' sermon on the mount. We went to a convent on the Mount of Beatitudes. Here we prayed in a convent garded and read scripture. The convent was beautiful and showed a mountain side where Jesus could have preached from, or something similar to where Jesus could have preached.

Our next stop in the day was at a monastery for St. Peter. It is said to have been the place where Jesus appeared to the disciples the third time after his resurrection. Peter was out on a boat fishing when Jesus told them to throw the nets out to the other side. Jesus then invited the men in to eat the fish. It was at this point that I remembered this story from before, but it had more meaning to me now and the fish that I ate that morning tasted even better.

Our final and my favorite stop for the day is yet another place where Jesus preached. We stopped at Capereum and saw a synagogue from the time of Jesus in the first century. A majority of Jesus' teaching took place in this temple, and it was amazingly still in decent shape. We heard about the stories of where Jesus preached in the temple and I was able to sit where first century Jews would have sat to listen to him preach.

Throughout the entire day we went to places where Jesus was said to have preached. While we cannot tell for sure if he was directly in any of the spots I was standing I am sure I was close. Even though, on our bus ride home I happily realized that I was going to be following closer to Jesus' footsteps than when I was in the synagogue or by the sea or on the water. Tonight begins Sabbath. At our hotel is staying a bunch of Orthodox Jews who will definitely be observing the Sabbath. On the Sabbath a Jew can do no work, which includes pushing a button on the elevator. I am so excited to be living near, and attemping to live out this tradition which is so so old. This makes me think that this is how we stay close to Jesus, not by seeing the sites or touching the rocks necessarily, but by living as he lived and living as he teached. I hope to learn more about Jesus' and Christianity's Jewish roots. We can not understand Jesus fully without understanding the Hebrew Bible and the Jewish tradition.

So, I appologize if this was rushed, but there are many hurried Jewish people around me closing up shop and preparing for the Sabbath. I hope to read tonight relax observing the Sabbath as best as possible. Try and take a Sabbath of your own. Even though you may not have nifty Sabbath elevators you could get on an elevator and push all of the buttons and experience it for yourself. It would be quite a ride but fun for sure haha. Think about your own life and what practices you continue from Jesus' teachings. What practices do we ignore that could bring us closer to him? What practices do you want to know more about and adopt for your life?

Let the Sabbath begin.