Day 2
Well Maria and I stirred at 6:00am when our wake-up call rang through our room summoning us to breakfast. Just like Melania Trump, I love an old ruin, so I was very exited to be showered, fed and on the bus by 7:30am heading toward our first destination, Capernaum.
This site is just fantastic and was the perfect destination to start the day. For those of you who don’t know, Capernaum or Capharnaum was an ancient town (located on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee), where Jesus did loads of stuff. The famous “I will make you fishers of men” event happened here when Jesus chose four fishermen Simon (Peter), Andrew, James and John to be his apostles. He also chose the tax collector Matthew as well. The healing of the paralytic lowered through the roof of Peter's house, the curing of the woman who had bled for 12 years and the raising of the young girl from the dead all happened here.
Our guide is an archeologist called Mourad and he has given each of us this gizmo, (kind of like a walky-talky with an ear piece attachment that closely resembles one of my old man’s hearing aids), so we can all hear him clearly. I discovered that it can be tricky to put on and connect your gizmo when one of my fellow pilgrims, (battling with her handbag, sunglasses, tangled chords, lanyard, hat and the swaying bus) threw her hands to the heavens in exasperation and exclaimed, “Life isn’t as hard as this!”
As Mourad informed us, throughout the twentieth century, friar archaeologists excavated the ancient ruins of this Holy Place and discovered the house of St. Peter. So this is a 95% surety site and the biggest thrill was celebrating a private Mass lead by our parish priest Father Wim and supported by Father Ed in the Chapel erected above St. Peter’s house! I know, Goosebumps right!
Our next port of call was to the place on the shores of the Sea of Galilee where Peter and six other disciples encounter Jesus after his resurrection while fishing. For those of you who don’t know, on the eve of his crucifixion, Jesus told Peter that he was going to desert him, and of course Peter vehemently refutes this and basically says “No way José” and then went on to totally desert Jesus and deny him not once, but three times! So this is an awkward moment for Peter. Jesus has risen and now he is here and there is nowhere to hide. I reckon Peter must’ve been dreading that Jesus was about to give him (best case scenario) a thorough and severe talking to, or (worst case scenario) punish him. But, Jesus doesn’t do this and instead asks Peter if he loves him? “Phew” thinks Peter and in response, tells Jesus he loves him not once, but three times. Satisfied Jesus also gives Peter three commands: "Feed my lambs", “Take care of my sheep" and “Feed my sheep"; and in doing so restores Peter as not only an apostle, but also (according to the beliefs of my faith) gives Peter primacy as leader of the church.
So here we are in this traditional site on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. There is a Chapel that houses a rock on which tradition says Jesus and Peter had their above-mentioned conversation. You can also stand on the spot where again tradition says Peter and the other disciples had moored their boat and breakfasted with Jesus after his resurrection. I personally found this to be a great place for reflection and, as it turned out, great joy. Partly because of where I was but mainly because of the mounting frustration I was witnessing of a budding amateur American documentary filmmaker who just wanted to shoot a scene with himself standing alone in the water explaining to his mum and dad what happened here 2000 years ago. Unfortunately, the 4000 other people standing in the water around us also wanted to be in his documentary. 🤣
Our next stop was a brief visit to the church on the site of the feeding of the 5000 or as it is also called, the “Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes” at Tabgha. As the name of this site is self explanatory I think I’ll skip describing what happened here.
Our final destination for the day was to an area site. We know what happened here but we don’t know where exactly it happened.
So what happened here? Well, following the miracle of the feeding of the 5000, Jesus sent the disciples by boat back to the "other side" of the Sea of Galilee while he remained behind, alone, to pray. Night fell and the sea became angry my friends as the boat became caught in a terrifying wind storm. After rowing against the wind for most of the night, the disciples were exhausted and afraid for their safety. So what would’ve been going through their minds when one of them suddenly points and shouts, “What’s that!!!!????” and they all see something or someone walking towards them on the water. Adrenaline levels are now at maximum due to fatigue, fear of drowning and now having to contend with a ghost, but a familiar voice calls to them telling them not to be afraid. So Peter, partly for reassurance asks Jesus to prove it is really him, but mostly asks Jesus if he can have a go at the whole walking on water thing. Jesus says “Sure thing, get out here! The water’s a bit chilly, but you won’t have to worry about that!” So Peter jumps out of the boat and starts walking on the water towards Jesus. “Woo hoo” he thinks and maybe even does a little ‘Go Peter’ dance. Then he remembers the storm and that he isn’t in the boat anymore and becomes frightened. Naturally, he begins to sink and in desperation calls out to Jesus for help, and Jesus grabs him, comments on his lack of faith, and leads him back to the boat. After Jesus gets in the boat, the wind ceases, everyone is reassured and they all arrive safely on the other side of the Sea of Galilee.
So our purpose for coming here was to get a feel for what it might’ve been like to be an apostle when they encountered Jesus as mentioned above. So, to get a taste for the type of boat they might’ve been in, we visited the little museum where we got to see a boat, recovered by archaeologists from the Sea of Galilee, which dates from the time of Jesus. It was fascinating and really set the scene for the next bit which was a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee. How cool! Father Wim set the scene with a wonderful commentary on the events I described above, and during our time of reflection and meditation I thought I had been blessed with a vision of our Holy Mother! Unfortunately it was only Maria wearing a new scarf. 😂 While we didn’t get the chance to try and walk on the water, I did get an “I sailed on the Sea of Galilee” T-shirt which was close enough. Apparently they only ever made one “I walked successfully on the Sea of Galilee” T-shirt and it is very rare.
From there we headed back to our hotel in Tiberias where four of us thought it would be nice to unwind in the bar and enjoy a relaxing chat over a drink before dinner. Well, it wasn’t long before our number (in a classic re-enactment of one of the events of Tabgha), grew into a multitude. Luckily, we didn’t require the services of a young boy with fives loaves and two fish, and simply walked into the adjacent restaurant.
So you may be thinking, this pilgrimage is a bit all over the shop because we aren’t visiting thing’s in the right order. Well maybe so, but as the Tenth Doctor Who once described time to Sally Sparrow, it’s a “big ball of wibbly wobbly, timey wimey stuff" so I kinda like jumping in and out of St. Peter’s journey non sequentially.
After a lovely dinner, Maria and I were joined by our new friend and fellow pilgrim Paula, for a stroll through the markets that are dotted along the foreshore opposite our hotel. We finally retired to catch some Z’s at about 9:00pm.
Chat tomorrow.
Good night.
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