Day 2 in Israel

Day 2 – Sea of Galilee, Mt. of Beatitudes, Capernaum, Bethsaida, Gadarenes, Jordan River

Jesus’ entire ministry was around the Sea of Galilee. Israel is a small country. Everything is within walking distance. It is only 43 miles around the Sea of Galilee. We visited the Catholic Church that is built over the place where Jesus would have cooked fish for the disciples after his resurrection. Close by is where Jesus reinstated Peter and asked him three times to “feed my sheep.” Also nearby is the place where Jesus fed the 5,000 with the fish and bread. All of the area around the Sea of Galilee was Jesus’ classroom. After our devotion we sang, “Hark! The Voice of Jesus Crying.”


We sailed on the Sea of Galilee in what is called a “Jesus’ boat.” The water was very calm, but storms can come up very quickly and on the Sea and be violently tempestuous. After our devotion on the boat, we sang “Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me.”


We had a devotion on the top of where Jesus gave his sermon on the mount (or the Mount of Beatitudes). We visited the Chapel of the Mt. of Beatitudes. This place is a natural theatre with Jesus below the crowd and his voice would have carried naturally.

After the people of Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth rejected him, he makes Capernaum his new hometown. It is likely that he moved in with Peter. Peter and Matthew are both from Capernaum. There is evidence of the synagogue and Peter’s home which are within 50 feet of each other. This is not the actual synagogue, but the remnants of this synagogue are built upon the foundation of the synagogue where Jesus worshiped and taught in. After our devotion we sang, “I Love to Tell the Story.”

Bethsaida is 20 miles from Capernaum. It is a fishing village. Jesus heals a lame man and a blind man in Bethsaida. Five of the twelve disciples come from the Bethsaida area. The feeding of the 4,000 was close to Bethsaida.

We went to the traditional place for where Jesus healed the Gadarenes man possessed by demons. The demons were sent into the pigs who then ran off the cliff and drowned in the Sea of Galilee. This is the first place where they had “deviled ham.” It is also the first case of “swine flu.”


We ended the day where the traditional place for John baptizing people was. His actual baptizing location is much farther south, closer to Jericho. But this area was very green and lush. It was very cool that there were people being baptized that day. I did bottle some Jordan River water to bring home.

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