Dearest Rachel –
Friday morning in Ginosar – yes, somewhere along the way, I seem to have lost a day – and while I keep hoping to be able to wander about the hotel campus (and maybe find the duplex we stayed in back in 2018), I’m still short on time to do so. The hour between when breakfast starts and when we have to be on the bus is barely enough time to fuel up and get cleaned up to go, let alone to film for posterity.
Moreover, today is gray and rainy, so it’s not amenable for walking around outside. Omer and Yael are pleased to see the rain, since the country has been suffering from a drought for the past year or so (indeed, it was pointed out at Caesarea Philippi that the pools surrounding the place were low to nearly empty), but it makes sightseeing somewhat difficult. So once again, there’s not a lot of opportunity to look around where we’re staying.
Then again, the more-than-occasional droughts have served a certain purpose; before we get onto the bus today (aside from dropping off our backpacks and other equipment that we may have brought for the day), we take a walk over to the museum on the kibbutz campus. As you might remember from our stay back some seven years ago, there is a display of an archaeological find from the area of a boat dating approximately from the time of Christ. Obviously, there’s no proof that this specific boat was ridden (or slept) in by Jesus, but it’s from the right time period, and certainly representative of the type of boat that He would have done.
From there (and after a little bit of souvenir shopping, which finds success for Daniel that he wasn’t able to manage last time around), we finally pile into the bus for a trip around the Galilee, toward Yardenit. The both of us having been baptized in the Jordan River on previous occasions, we sit this one out, which makes me wonder what, exactly, I can do with my camera when I’m not actually involved in the proceedings. However, it turns out that it’s impossible to take footage while actually participating in a baptism, and “they also serve who only stand and [film]”; I get recruited to take pictures for a few others as they get baptized.
To be sure, the cloud cover and the rain make this a particular commitment; the water, and the air one comes up in, is uncomfortably cold, but hey, it’s not as if the Christian life is meant to be comfortable. If one can deal with this discomfort, it should bode well for you one’s ability to cope with anything else that comes their way in their walk.
On a completely unrelated note, Yael suggests that we try some date honey being offered by one of the vendors at the baptismal site. It’s not bad, but if doesn’t taste that much like honey; if anything, I’d say it resembles molasses in taste.
From Yardenit, we turn around and head north; we’re hitting all the sights along the Galilee shore today. It occurs to me at this point (to my dismay) that I’ve forgotten to bring your ashes to sprinkle into the sea. I mean, not entirely; your shaker is with us here, but it’s tucked securely in my suitcase back at the hotel. Then again, it’s not as if Daniel approves of my doing this (something to do with his beliefs about resurrection that I don’t understand), so I have to be extra surreptitious about this tomorrow, should opportunity arise.
At any rate, we pass back through downtown Tiberius on our way to the excavation at Magdala. It seems as if, every time we return to this location, more and more has been uncovered of this place.
Hopefully, it’s not visible on the camera, but as we were wondering through the site, I had one of those “missing drachma” moments when I patted myself down and realized that my phone wasn’t on me. So Daniel and I hurried out to the bus in front of everybody else, only for me to find that it was still plugged in and charging, probably wondering what all the fuss was about. And while I didn’t rush back into the hotel to let everybody know that the emergency was over, and I found my phone, I did head back in to find Brian and some of the other members of the worship team, banging away on the piano in the lobby while waiting for several others of our number to return from the restroom downstairs. I would’ve tried to get a hold of Daniel and bring him back to hear all this, but by the time I would’ve done that, everybody would’ve been packed up and off to the buses.
Three sites visited today already, and it’s not even noon. When the weather is this threatening, you don’t want to stick around and run the risk of getting drenched (even though most of us already have today). It may give the places short shrift, but it does wonders for efficiency.
***
And at this point, we turn back toward Tiberius a third time; only this time we’re not passing through. We’ve come here both for lunch and to take the ship out onto the Sea of Galilee, but it’s not clear at first which one we’re doing in which order. It depends, apparently, on what the weather is like.
And it’s not cooperating as we make our way onto the boat. Daniel and I get on safe and dry, but the same can’t be said for the tail end of our group. The rain comes almost pouring down on up, necessitating us to pull down the translucent plastic tarps that line the sides of the boat.
It’s a very different experience to be traversing the sea in, while not a rain storm as such, unquestionably more than just a drizzle. The sky is so hazy as to obscure the shore, at least on the other side; it explains the panic of the disciples as they perhaps were unable to see where the shore was, both in the middle of the night and with the rain pouring down on them.
There is some discussion about Peter and his venturing out on the sea to greet Jesus, only to fall in (and, by extension, posing the question to us as to where we have “so little faith” as to give up on what Jesus has called us to do). It occurs to me that, not only did Peter have the faith to at least step out, he had the imagination to even think of getting out of the boat in the first place. I think, if I had been there, such a bold move would never have even crossed my mind. Think about it; which of us, upon seeing Jesus perform such a miracle, would think to ourselves, “hey, I could do that too, if He said I could”?
From there, we go on to lunch, which requires its own sort of faith in order to eat certain things on camera. Then again, once you’ve consumed a fertilized duck egg, what is there to fear? (Although in retrospect, I think what I found particularly objectionable about the eye was the scale that would have served as its eyelid; no amount of deep-frying can cover up for the fact that it was a scale).
Our final stop of the day – at least, I assume so, given how many places we’ve visited today, and how little daylight we have left (which feels like it should be a separate essay in and of itself) – is Capernaum, Jesus’ base of operations in Galilee, if you will.
There’s not much more to add as the skies begin to clear, and the setting set shows its face before it disappears for the day after hiding for so long. Just as Jesus called His disciples at the beginning and end of His ministry, so too does He call out to us now; maybe for the first, the second, or any number of times thereafter. The question is, how will we respond to Him?
And with that being said, honey, I’d ask you to keep an eye on me, and wish me luck toward that end. I’m sure I’ll need it yet.
Letters to Rachel 