You Can't Teach An Old Blog New Tricks: Peter, Paul, and...Jesus?

We dubbed today St. Peter day because we were just all over St. Peter sites today. First, we went to Capernaum, the main hub for the ministry of Jesus. There is a synagogue there and Peter's house is also there. How do we know it was Peter's house? Well, we don't people, just shut up and keep reading! Ha! We really don't, as with most of these sites. But, it's fun to think that at least we were close to where Jesus and the disciples walked, even if it's not the exact spot. We were at least in the same city!

After Capernaum we went to the traditional site of the feeding of the 5000, where that really cool Byzantine mosaic is located. You know the one, it's everywhere - there are two fishes and a basket. If you don't know it, I'll post my picture of it and you'll go, "ohhhhhhhh yeah, that one!"

We then walked over to the site of the great catch of fish in John 21. You remember the story, right? The disciples are out there fishing, the resurrected Jesus says, "hey you bozos throw your net on the other side of the boat" (the Van Smith translation). They do, and lo and behold they catch a whooooole lot of fish. Yes, believe it or not, someone decided where that spot is located! They call it the Primacy of Peter site, because in that story Peter is seen as the prime disciple. Or, something like that. People have waaaaaay too many theories about this stuff.

After that we went on a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee where the disciples fished. Mostly Peter, James, and John. Yet another Peter place! I must admit, it was pretty surreal to be out on the same sea as Christ and the disciples. Just awesome! No one walked on water though, so that was a little disappointing.

We then ate lunch, and of course we just had to eat some St. Peter's fish! That's the main fish from the Sea of Galilee. It was farm raised, but hey, at least we ate it by the sea!

My favorite site of the day was after lunch at Beit She'an. What an incredible site! Honestly, I'd never heard of the place, but I'm SO glad we went there! This is the largest ancient city we've been to on our trip. After digging down through the tel, it is apparent that the site has been occupied since at least 5000 BC! Juuuuuuuust let that sink in for a second...I said that's over 7000 years ago people! When we climbed to the top of the tel, I was amazed to find hieroglyphs from the Egyptian period.

The Greco-Roman city thrived there for hundreds of years after the first century, so the city was quite large. It has many columns, a bath house, and an amphitheater that is still mostly in tact. They even do live shows there today it's so well preserved. The site is very close to the Jordan river. So, since I was there, does that mean I was Van down by the river?

Tonight we heard a mini-sermon from our professor where we are staying, which is on the mountain where the sermon on the mount took place. And, appropriately enough, we read the sermon on the mount! The fascinating part about the sermon is that Jesus completely changes how we as people should understand power. We hear power and think of military might and physical strength, or perhaps someone who is boisterous and speaks with power. Jesus says, nah, real power, which comes from God, is about meekness, gentleness, and peacemaking. It's not that those things are weak. On the contrary, those things take incredible strength to accomplish. At the end of the sermon on the mount Christ says to seek first the kingdom of God. How do we do that? By being more Christlike - with humility, meekness, by bringing peace, and by thirsting for justice/righteousness.

OK, on to the pictures. That's the only reason you came anyway... Oh, and here's some music for your listening pleasure. Appropriate line in this song. You'll see if you listen closely.

Ohhhhhhhh, now I understand. Reading the first 4 gospels didn't spell it out for me, but this sign does! Thanks city of Capernaum! You're a lifesaver!

What is believed to be the house of Peter. For some reason, people build churches on/over every freaking site, which is really annoying! I don't think Peter's house deserves veneration. But I digress...

The synagogue at Capernaum. Now, now, settle down people, it didn't look like this in the first century. This is from the fifth century. Byzantines FTW!

I found this mosaic leaned up against a wall behind some shed. Hey Earl, where should we store this 1500 year old mosaic? Oh Billy Bob, just lean it up against that shed over there. But hey, I like it because it has a heart shaped flower. And heart shaped flowers are awesome!

Alright, alright, there ya go. The famous mosaic of the fish and loaves from Tabgha. Now do you remember it? It's probably the most famous Christian mosaic. This is the best picture I could get, because they don't let you go anywhere near it! I had to hold the camera above my head to take this one. This is from a Byzantine era church from around the 300s. Yay Byzantines!

The entire floor of the Tabgha church is mosaic. I really love this border.

The church was rather small, so it wasn't all it was quacked up to be.

Need another song? Here you go. My kids and I listen to this song A LOT! And all three of us sing it at the top of our lungs when we do!

See? The whole church floor is a mosaic! It's about the life in the sea, which is right outside. That snake looks poisonous! Fly away little crane, fly away!!!

The Sea of Galilee! I was literally standing in the water.

Same crane from the mosaic? I say yes. Fly away little crane, fly away!

Or could it be the holy crane of St. Peter?

Perhaps the crane didn't fly, but I did! I CAN FLY!!!

Oh I forgot to mention we saw this 2000 year old boat that some person found in the Sea of Galilee. It dates to the first century. It was stuck down in the mud for 2000 years. Awesome! I kid you not, it's made of 12 different kinds of wood. Do with that what you will.

OK, on to my favorite site, Beit She'an!

The amphitheater! How awesome is this?! I was standing up on top of it. Probably shouldn't have been up there, but, you know how photogs are ;-)

The side of the stage of the amphitheater. Now that's just cool!

Walking down the Cardo (main street) of the ancient city. The Romans called it Scythopolis. As you can see, in typical Greco-Roman style, there are columns on either side of the street. Corinthian style on the right and Ionic style on the left. Also, there are sidewalks on both sides, laid out in mosaic, just like we already saw in Sepphoris (if you read that blog that is). You can see behind is the tel, or mound of civilization that dates back from 5000 BC. That's a lot of layers of civilization!

The Cardo from above. I'm standing just on top of the hill, right next to the entrance of the amphitheater. You can see the sidewalks clearly in this picture.

As you get to the end of the Cardo, you'll find the cross street called the Decumanus. As you can see, they leave some of the city as they found it so you can see what it looked like when they found it. Those columns all stood originally on the left side of this street. The entire city was destroyed in one fell swoop in the mid-700s by a giant earthquake.

For this picture I simply turned around from the above picture. The Cardo is now on my right and the Decumanus is straight ahead. Those columns are from the ancient temple built for Dionysus.

One of the tops of the columns from the temple, a Corinthian style.

I'm now looking straight down the Decumanus toward the Cardo. Now, look closer. There's a column on the left that has fallen. It's connected to that arch. Follow the arch around and it's connected to the next column, and so forth and so on. The entire structure fell straight down and landed almost as it would have been standing up!

Remember those giant columns from the picture above? From the temple? I'm now looking down the Cardo from the opposite side and the temple is in front (the staircases).