Day 15 - Travel to Jerusalem

Today we traveled from Tiberius (and the Mt. of Beatitudes) to Jerusalem. Along the way we stopped at Zippori in Nazareth. It is thought that this is a town Jesus might have worked at as a carpenter or mason (The Greek word is more general than "carpenter" and probably means "craftsman").

We also visited Bet She'arim which is a place of many cave tombs including the tomb of Rabbi Yehuda Hanassi who compiled the Mishna. We walked in an enormous cave and learned that selling coffins (or sarcophagi) worked the same back then as they do today. There were fancy ones for the rich and cheap ones for the poor. And the fancy were pretty fancy.

We continued on to Haifa where so much conflict took place this past year. We saw a house that had been hit by a missile. We also so the world headquarters of Baha'i. And we stopped to eat at the Church of Stella Maris, the traditional site of Elijah's cave where he hid from Jezebel after a show-down the prophets of Baal. It was a beautiful church built over the cave. We also ate lunch at the church's hostel.

After lunch we jumped on the bus and drove to Caesarea by the Sea. This is the spot where Peter met Cornelius and baptized his family. The old Roman city was beautiful sitting next to the Mediterranean Sea. We enjoyed the strong cool breeze blowing off the Sea and the deep blue water.

Along the way to Jerusalem we ran into a road block on the highway due to an accident. We were re-routed around the accident and ended up taking the scenic back-country route. It was wonderful driving through the hill country surrounding Jerusalem and getting off the main highways. Along the way we saw up-close the wall that has been erected by Israel around the West Bank. It is a very daunting structure of concrete, barbed wire, and guard posts. Our guide told us that the main issue is not the wall but where the wall is being built, on land deemed to be Palestinian land. Again we learned how complex the situation was as we saw huge modern "settlements" housing hundreds of Israeli families in the middle of the West Bank with the wall surrounding them. Only by God's grace will this situation be resolved. Yet I cannot help but wonder what part I (and we as the United States) might play in that reconciliation.

We are at the Notre Dame Hotel for the next four nights. The angels are singing!