Come to Israel, Day 3, 2019, continues; Day 4 begins.

   Now we were headed for the church in Cana which is still an active church where couples can be married and/or renew their vows.  

   Leo explained that the wedding at Cana would have been on the third day of the Jewish week – our Tuesday – and the receptions were on the third day after the wedding, or our Friday.  It would have been the reception that Jesus attended.

   The church itself is beautiful, outside and inside but, like the others, it’s what’s underneath that’s the most fascinating.

Below the church are the remains of the Byzantine chapel and the original first century room(s) which could be where the wedding reception was held when Jesus turned water into wine.  

Much more certain is that the massive jar kept under glass is a first century jar that is believed to be one of the jars that held the miracle of the water turned into wine.

If you look closely, you can see around the bottom of the jar, the notes that people were leaving… while I was busy taking pictures!

What amazed me as much as the fact that this 2000- year- old jar not only still exists, and that it might one of the jars of water that Jesus transformed into wine, was that the shape of the opening in the top of the Jar is actually a heart!

 Even in the first century, a heart was a symbol of love.  It showed up clearly when Jess reached up and tried to get a picture of the inside. We couldn’t see down inside, but this was SO much better!

We headed out of the church basement, and up to the Chapel of Divine Mercy.  Today, instead of mass, Father held a blessing ceremony for the married couples on the journey with us.

It was getting late when we finally travelled from Cana to Tiberias, where our hotel rose in sections across from the Sea of Galilee. 

Our bus went around to the back of the hotel to park and we came in by the pool area.  Now we could see that this place is a popular summer resort – right across from the Sea of Tiberias, and lots of other summer amenities.

I couldn’t get a front picture of the hotel, but this is the one I found online before we left the States.

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Sunday, Day 4, in Tiberius

We got our first real view of the gorgeous lake from our room as the sun rose.  In the early morning sunlight, our bus drove along the water with Lake Tiberias on our right (also known as the Sea of Galilee) and the Town of Tiberias on our left.  Closest to the water were dozens of hotels – the Lake area is a summer hotspot. 

Tiberius is built on a tall hillside, with the homes of the residents rising in stepped rows up the hillside, with roads running throughout.  It made a neat picture against that surreal blue sky.  This is the amazing color of the sky in Israel – everywhere. 

On our way to the Church of the Beatitudes in Galilee, we passed hills and grounds that were spring green on our left, and we could nearly always see the beautiful blue sea on our right.

It took a bit of time to get to the Church of the Beatitudes, which is where Jesus sat by the very same water to teach people who were scattered across the hillside above him. 

Join us Wednesday to see where Jesus taught… and much more.