Sept 11, 2022

Hello from the Holy Land:

I am writing to you from the city of Jerusalem. I never thought I would ever say that in my life, but not only are Kim and I here, we are going to stay for 6 nights. But we had to take a journey to get here, and we stopped at a few faith-filled sites along the way.

First up was the Mount of the Beatitudes. Once again, the Catholic Church has built a beautiful, modern cathedral on top of the mountain, and it was very peaceful being inside it, but the view on the outside was spectacular. As I leaned over the rail to drink in the glorious site, I noticed how the geography of this place has something to say about this story. Matthew records that Jesus took his disciples up the mountain to give his sermon from there. If Jesus had any interest in the crowd hearing his teachings, his only choice would have been to teach the sermon from the Mount. The crowd would not be able to come up and reside on the Mountain withJesus - it’s just too small to fit them.

Luke records in his gospel that Jesus gave his sermon on the plain, where the people were, but ifJesus was among the crowd on that plain, very few people would have heard him. The geography tells me that Jesus was on the mountain, and the crowd on the plain. Matthew focuses on the perspective that Jesus has, and Luke focuses on the perspective of the crowd. They are both right. They are just approaching it from different angles.

Our next stop was Capernaum, where we saw the 4th century ruins of a synagogue, and the ruins of the house that Peter lived in, most likely the place where Jesus stayed, and called home, after he left Nazareth. The ruins were spectacular, and our guide surprised us by saying it was the Byzantines, who were Christians, who built the 4th century Jewish synagogue. Our tour guide then asked an excellent question: Why would a 4th century ChristianGroup build a Jewish Synagogue? We did not know the answer. Honestly, no one knows, but our tour guide had an interesting theory. He believes that the Byzantines were sensitive to the fact that Capernaum was a very Jewish town. If they wanted to preserve Peter’s house, best to keep the locals happy by building them a place to worship. Whatever the reason, it was impressive to hear this historical story of interfaith cooperation.

The next stop was the city of Jericho, which by the way, is in territory administered by the Palestinian Authority - the Fatah to be precise. I always believed it was a part of Israel proper, but not only is Jericho under Palestinian Authority - so is Bethlehem.

Jericho is an amazing archeological dig. The excavation done there is extensive, and the pathways they have marked out for visitors to walk upon are up front and personal. You feel like you are a part of the dig, transporting yourself to the time when Joshua and the Israelites were approaching the walls of Jericho.

There was a vendor on the streets of Jericho selling camel rides. It would have been fun, but we did not have time to linger, but Kim approached the vendor to have a closer look at the camels, and he showed her that this camel gives out kisses, and Kim leaned in for one. It was a while before I kissed her again.

On the bus and off to Jerusalem we went. As we entered the city, our tour guide played a version of the Holy City on his speaker system. Many of us joined in on the chorus, Singing Jerusalem, Jerusalem, as we rolled into this Holy City. It was wonderful. Kim and I both looked at each other and said: Katie would have loved this.

Well time for bed. I think we’re going to Bethlehem tomorrow.Should be great.

Take care and God bless.

Ed