Come to Israel

      We drove along the water to an area called Tagbha, (pronounced tag-ba), to yet another church!  This one Leo called the “church of the loaves and fishes” – which gave us a hint of why we were there.  (The actual name of the Church is The Church of the Primacy of St. Peter. I like Leo’s name better…)

 While we were on our way, Leo told us that Israeli fishermen always cast their nets on the left side of the boat – never the right. Which is why, he said, it was so unusual for Jesus to tell them to cast their nets on the right side.

He explained that their hauling in 153 fishes that day means two things: First it showed that Jesus wanted them to preach throughout the world, since at that time there were 153 nations in the world. He also stated that the numbers 153 can also mean I AM GOD THE TRINITY in their alphabet.

      The church is located in the northwest corner of the Sea of Galilee and it sits on the hill above the sea. It’s built over the spot where Jesus appeared for the third time after His resurrection, and cooked the Apostles breakfast on a charcoal fire by the beach. It’s also where Peter apologized three times to Jesus for telling everyone around the charcoal fire at Caiaphas’ court that he didn’t know Jesus.

      Once we were all inside the church, Leo explained that outside, at the back of the church, were rock stairs. Still existing from the 4th century that fishermen used when they climbed out of the sea with their nets.

When we were back outside, I grabbed a better picture of the stairs, through the gate that protects them today.

The windows inside the church are all open and let in the sea air and the view

The ancient stairs were found 120 years ago and they led to a wide limestone rock; the huge upper section of this rock is located inside the church, right before the altar. This is where Jesus served the disciples the breakfast of fish and bread (and there is a mosaic of loaves and fishes under the altar).

  The sign in front of the rock says: Mensa Christi – which is Latin for “Table of Christ”.

We each had a chance to get close enough to touch the rock, and to say a prayer.

Before we headed back outside, where we could see people on the lake, fishing.

On the far-right side of the back of the church, near the water, was a statue of Jesus and Peter.

 Leo told us that this statue as well as the whole scene, represents the spot where Jesus reinstated Peter as the head of the church. That’s why the term primacy is used for this spot.

    We had plenty of time to walk the grounds and took lots of pictures of the sea, the area, and each other.

Tomorrow we’ll visit Dormition Abbey, and pray at the Western Wall…