Prague and the Holy Land: Boats and the Sea of Galilee, May 18, 2019

I mentioned that my favorite part of the Holy Land was the Sea of Galilee. It matched my mind's eye of what Galilee would look like. So easy to imagine all that Jesus did here. We went on a boat ride to see a boat. More on that below.

Leaving shore.

Our boating hosts wanted to make us feel at home.

I took a lot of photos of the Sea of Galilee. This body of water, a lake, is known by other names: Lake Tiberias, the Sea of Kinneret, Lake Gennesaret.

The Sea of Galilee is135 feet at its deepest. It contains 22 types of fish.

The Sea of Galilee is mentioned 51 times in the Gospels.

One of the strangest gospel stories takes place near the Sea of Galilee, The Healing of the Gadarene Demoniac, found in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Scholars believe Gadarenes is possibly modern day Kursi. It was a pagan place, as evidenced by the people herding pigs, an unclean animal according to Jewish law. Here is Mark's account, 5:1-20

They came to the other side of the sea, to the territory of the Gerasenes. When Jesus got out of the boat, at once a man from the tombs who had an unclean spirit met him. The man had been dwelling among the tombs, and no one could restrain him any longer, even with a chain. In fact, he had frequently been bound with shackles and chains, but the chains had been pulled apart by him and the shackles smashed, and no one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the hillsides he was always crying out and bruising himself with stones. Catching sight of Jesus from a distance, he ran up and prostrated himself before him, crying out in a loud voice, "What have you do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me!" (He had been saying to him, "Unclean spirit, come out of the man!") He asked him, "What is your name?" He replied "Legion is my name. There are many of us." And he pleaded earnestly with him not to drive them away from that territory.

Now a large herd of swine was feeding there on the hillside. And they pleaded with him, "Send us into the swine. Let us enter them." And he let them, and the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine. The herd of about two thousand rushed down a steep bank into the sea, where they were drowned. The swineherds ran away and reported the incident in the town and throughout the countryside. And people came out to see what had happened. As they approached Jesus, they caught sight of the man who had been possessed of Legion, sitting there clothed and in his right mind. And they were seized with fear. Those who witnessed the incident explained to them what had happened to the possessed man and to the swine. Then they began to beg him to leave their district. As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed pleaded to remain with him. But he would not permit him but told him instead, "Go home to your family and announce to them all that the Lord in his pity has done for you." Then the man went off and began to proclaim in the Decapolis what Jesus had done for him; and all were amazed.

Above is a depiction of the demon-possessed pigs plunging into the sea from a display at the Festival of the Nativities.

Here are some of my fellow pilgrims dancing on the boat.

On the left, my friend Peggy Arizzi, who invited me on my first pilgrimage, and now this, our third together. On the right is Geralyn Sparough who has also traveled on two of these pilgrimages.

Jesus stilled these seas and walked on these waters.

Getting close to land.

More beautiful blooming trees.

Here is the destination of our boat ride, the Galilee's Miracles Center. Displayed here is a boat from the time of Jesus.

The Ancient Galilee Boat. The boat was discovered by two brothers in 1986 during a drought. The shoreline had receded, showing the boat buried and protected by the seabed's sediment. After it was excavated, the boat went through an 11 year restoration process.

The boat showed evidence of being repaired many times and used 12 types of wood, indicating that it was owned by someone of limited means. It is thought to be they type of boat referred to in the Gospels.