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Then the land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill, and dwell there in safety (Lev. 25:19-20)
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At the heart of Galilee, the most beautiful region in Israel, are green, graceful mountains, looking much as they did in Jesus' day. They stretch down to the glistening Sea of Galilee, which is filled faithfully each year by the cool waters of the Jordan River. Farmers still work this fertile land, resting in the shade of the fruit trees planted on its rolling hills and dales, dotted both with picturesque villages and modern towns.
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The exquisite landscapes that ring the Galilee lakeshore are best revealed from the surrounding mountaintops, especially the Mount of Beatitudes, where Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount. One of the best-loved verses of the Sermon on the Mount are Jesus' words: "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these" (Matt 6:28-30). The "lilies" still bloom in Galilee after the winter rains awaken the land, turning it into a colorful carpet of wildflowers.
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Jesus knew this landscape, brimming with biblical history, very well. As the Bible tells us: "And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali" (Matt. 4:13-14). Nazareth, in the Galilee mountains, is home to many Christians and is still a beloved pilgrims' destination. So is Capernaum, on the Sea of Galilee, where the Peter's House has been a church for some 1,500 years and remnants of the synagogue where Jesus taught and healed can still be seen. At the place of the Multiplication of Loaves and Fishes, today called Tabgha, you can go down to the water's edge to quietly ponder the wonders that took place here, where Jesus fed the multitudes (Matt. 14:13-21) and appeared to the disciples after the Resurrection, bringing them a miraculous catch of fish (John 21).
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Pictures:
Top - Capernaum - The Town of Jesus
Above - Church on the Mount Of Beatitudes
Above Right - The Church of the Multiplication, and Mosaic of the loaves and fishes on that Church floor.
Below - Capernaum as seen from Mount of Beatitudes |
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In the northern Galilee, past a patchwork of orchards where peaches, nectarines plums and other crops ripen beneath the summer sun, is the furthest point Jesus reached in the Holy Land- Caesarea Philippi. Here, at the foot of snow-capped Mount Hermon, at the life-giving source of the Jordan River, Jesus promised Peter the keys to Heaven and preached about the time to come, in Jerusalem and the ages beyond.
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