by Pastor Patrick Cho

Today we got to tour the cities surrounding the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. Our hotel is located on the southern shore, so throughout the day we pretty much drove around the entire perimeter. Early on in Jesus’ ministry, He moved from Nazareth to Capernaum (Matt. 4:13). Considering the geography of the land, this move made a lot of sense. Besides the fact that He had been rejected in His own hometown (Luke 4:24), Nazareth was a small and obscure town off the beaten path. Capernaum, on the other hand, was a major city on the International Coastal Highway.

Capernaum was our first stop of the day. This is a city of considerable biblical significance where Jesus called the first of His disciples. He found Simon and Andrew fishing by the sea and also called James and John, the sons of Zebedee (Matt. 4:18-22). The Gospel accounts tell us that the disciples left what they were doing and immediately followed Jesus. This was also the city where Matthew collected taxes when he was called to be a disciple (Matt. 9:1, 9).

The centurion who showed tremendous faith in Christ was also in Capernaum (Luke 7:1-10). According to the text, this centurion helped build the synagogue in the city (v. 5). We were able to see the synagogue and its original foundation, which the centurion would have built. Apparently, this Roman centurion showed great kindness to the Jews. His kindness was also demonstrated by his concern for his servant. Being a man of authority, He understood and believed in the authority of Christ to heal, and his servant was healed.

The healing of the paralytic also happened in Capernaum. This was the man who was let down through the roof of a home by his four friends (Mark 2:1-12). It may well have happened at Peter’s house where Jesus probably stayed. There is a church that was found built around a home in Capernaum that is traditionally believed to be Peter’s house. By healing the paralytic, Jesus demonstrated His great authority not only to heal the sick, but also to forgive sins.

From Capernaum, we travelled to the neighboring town of Chorazim. There were two highlights from this stop, both from the synagogue in the city. First, archaeologists had unearthed a “seat of Moses” in the synagogue. This would have been a prominent seat for important people, which is what James was probably referring to when he wrote about partiality (James 2:1-4). Some of the members of our group took turns sitting in the chair looking very official and important.

A second interesting object of note was an engraving of Medusa in the synagogue’s décor. Like the zodiac calendar from Sepphoris, it just didn’t seem to belong in a synagogue. All sorts of explanations could be given for why it is there, but in the end, we simply don’t know. I snapped some pictures of it and thankfully did not turn into stone.

We continued our counter-clockwise tour of the Sea of Galilee coming to the Mount of Beatitudes. There is a natural amphitheatre here made by the surrounding hills and is a likely spot for the Sermon on the Mount. It is interesting that from the Mount of Beatitudes, there is a fairly clear view of the city of Hippus, which was part of the Roman Decapolis. This was a major city on a hill, and Jesus may have pointed in that direction when He taught that a city on a hill cannot be hidden (Matt. 5:14).

Our next stop was Tabgha. In this region, there are seven hot springs that run into the Sea of Galilee. The warm water attracts fish, so it would have been popular place to catch fish in Jesus’ day. Some believe that this is the traditional location of Jesus’ restoration of Peter (John 21:1-19). There is even a church built on a rock that is called Mensa Christi, the table of Christ, upon which Jesus may have cooked the fish for His disciples. It was built next to a serene and beautiful cove. Of course, there is no way of confirming whether this is the true location, but it offered a wonderful picture for that story.

Next door to Mensa Christi was a church in Tabgha with a famous mosaic of the loaves and fish (Matt. 14:15-21). Interestingly, the sign leading into the church had a picture with five loaves and two fish, but the actual mosaic only has four loaves. It really doesn’t matter anyway, even if this is believed to be the traditional location for that miracle, because the Bible says that it happened in Bethsaida (quite a distance away from Tabgha; cf. Luke 9:10).

We broke for lunch in Tiberius, which is a major city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. Dr. Grisanti mentioned that one popular dish in the area is called St. Peter’s fish, so I decided to give it a try. It’s basically a whole tilapia fried in hot oil. Honestly, I ordered it more so I could get a picture of it, but it was still really tasty and a lot of food. At the very least, I can say I tried the St. Peter’s fish in Galilee and have photos to prove it.

After lunch, we had an appointment to take a boat out on the Sea of Galilee. Before we headed out on the water, though, there was a small exhibit of a fishing boat that had been discovered in the area. They call it the “Jesus boat” because it dates to about Jesus’ time and would have been similar to the kind of boat in which Jesus would have travelled. It was really fascinating to view. There was even a section at the rear of the boat, called the “pillow,” similar to the area where Jesus would have slept before calming the storm (Mark 4:38-39).

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We ended the day with a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee. Somewhere in the middle, Dr. Grisanti had the crew shut the boat off so we could sing hymns and read from Scripture. I had asked him earlier if I could try to walk on water, but he denied the request. We had a great time of worship together and enjoyed each other’s company on the boat. The wind even picked up a bit so we could see waves on the sea, though significantly smaller than Jesus’ storm. It was a relaxing way to end a busy day full of interesting stops.

This was really a highlight day because it gave us a more personal look into the life of Christ. It was great to think about how Jesus walked those roads and rode that sea. To think upon the life and ministry of Christ was really helpful, and these memories will stay with me for a long time. I know that pictures can help tell the story, but in the end there really is no substitute for being here and experiencing it in person.