We are staying at the Gai Beach Hotel in Tiberius. This city is fairly poor but is right on the Sea of Galilee. It was built on a cemetery and thus Jews were not supposed to live there. It was considered unclean. It is actually never referred to in Scripture apart from some reference to a sea of Tiberius. It was apparently inhabited by the Romans during Jesus's day and was named for some ruler. The hotel itself is beautiful. I got up early this morning to see the sun rise over the Sea of Galilee. It was a bit hazy but beautiful.
We journeyed to the place where Jesus invited the disciples to eat breakfast with him after the resurrection. This is where Jesus was reconciled to Peter as well. Jesus asked Peter three times if he (Peter) loved him (Jesus). The pastor who spoke made the point that Jesus's long-suffering and mercy can reach the most sinful person. No one, not even I, is beyond Christ's forgiveness. However this was more than just forgiveness, it was a more complete being made whole. It was a true "peace meal". It was a true offer of shalom - or wholeness or being made right, the way things are supposed to be. I was impressed that our walk with the Lord should be a daily "wholeness" or true peace. It can be this way if I seek His forgiveness.
We then journeyed to the Mount of the Beatitudes. This was a beautiful setting and we heard from Chuck and David Phelps here. It was very meaningful and moving. Chuck went through the beatitudes and shared some thoughts about each one. Just a couple of thoughts:
1. "Blessed" refers to the ultimate well-being of one who will share in God's kingdom life.
2. The first 4 beatitudes can be looked at as our vertical relationship with God and the last four can be looked at as our horizontal relationship with people.
3. The first one (Blessed are the poor in spirit) can be thought of as "those who don't look at themselves as spiritually self-sufficient. They are not arrogant. They are teachable. The reword? Kingdom life. We are to depend on God and His word.
We then drove to Nazareth Village, a reconstruction of what type village might have looked like in Jesus's day. It was very well done and interesting. One of the things I learned there was that Jesus prayed on the Mt. Of Olives. We saw an olive press in action and snored how they take three different pressings to get the oil out. The first is for the temple and the menorah. The second is for people to drink and use on cooking. The third is for lighting regular lamps in homes. Gethsemanee means olive press in Hebrew. Jesus was "pressed" here in His Spirit. He went back three times to see if his disciples were praying for Him.
Finally we want to Caperneum, where Jesus spent the bulk of His ministry apparently. We say the remains of the actual home thought to be Simon Peter's and where Jesus stayed. Not sure how they know that.
apparently walked a day's journey to seek Jesus to have Him heal his servant. Even though there were no fireworks, no signs, etc, yet the Centurian had to walk a whole day's journey to get back home to check on his servant. He had to simply trust Jesus that He would do what He had promised.
In the same way we are on that journey too, being here on earth before we see eternity. Even though we may not see any dramatic signs, we simply must trust Jesus that He will fulfill what He promised in taking us to heaven. We are on that whole day's journey back
David
No comments:
Post a Comment