Day 3 Begins
The day began with breakfast at 7:00 AM. Breakfast consisted of a buffet containing a variety of cheeses, meats, fruits, scrambled eggs, pork hotdogs, breads, cereals, juices and coffee. One thing I often do when traveling, is to try different foods, and so I tried some of just about everything. And everything I tried was good. So it was a good start to the day.
Mount Tabor
On the drive to our first stop, our guide Peter provided us with more information not just about Mount Tabor, but about many things about the area, some history, connecting the bible to the place we were heading. And that place was Mount Tabor, the location tradition tells us was the site of the Transfiguration.
As the road to the top is narrow and has many sharp turns with switchbacks, our bus could not take us all the way to the top. So we had to switch to van taxis, which took us to the gate just outside the Church of the Transfiguration.
My first thoughts when we arrived is, this is much higher than I had always imagined, when reading Matthew 17:1 “After six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.” In visiting with our guide Peter, he said it is about 2,000 feet above sea level and if you walked up the road we just drove, it would take about an hour just to walk up to the top. Now imagine what it would take if you were following some dusty, probably rough, path? Not something easily done.
But before entering the church, Peter and Bishop Gruss talked about the significance of the transfiguration and gave us some history of the present day church, which was built on top of other churches that existed on this spot previously. The church has three areas, each representing one of the prophets appearing at the transfiguration – Moses, Elijah and Jesus. Within the main area representing Jesus, there are four mosaics with three angles and Jesus in each one. These four mosaics represent four aspects of Jesus – Nativity, Eucharist, Death and Resurrection.
As I reflect upon the transfiguration, and being present where tradition tells us it actually occurred, once again brings a sense of awe to me. I’ll never read that passage again and not think about this day, when I had the opportunity to be standing on the same ground as Jesus.
Peter, our guide, informed us from the terrace next to the church, you can see much of the very fertile agricultural land. But we had to take Peter for his word on this as the area was covered in fog.
Cana
After traveling down the hill in the taxies, and reboarding the bus, we then headed to Cana. At the Shrine of our Lord’s First Miracle is the Cana Catholic Wedding Church. We enter the side chapel where Bishop Gruss presided at a brief ceremony where the eleven married couples on the pilgrimage renewed their wedding vows. Following that, he performed a brief ceremony for those whose spouses were not on the pilgrimage for whatever reason.
Once again, which I suspect I’ll be saying repeatedly while on this pilgrimage, the word awe keeps coming to mind. Being in the area where Jesus performed his first miracle, and being able to have my marriage vows to Nancy renewed, in the year of our 30th anniversary, is in so many respects, an overwhelming experience.
“His mother said to the servers, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now there were six stone water jars there for Jewish ceremonial washings, each holding twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus told them “Fill the jars with water.” So they filled them to the bring. Then he told them, “Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter.” So they took it. And when the headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine, without knowing where it came from (although the servers who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves good wine first, and then when people have drunk freely, an inferior one; but you have kept the good wine until now.” John 3:4-11.
We then stopped at a shop and had an opportunity to sample, and purchase if desired, some “wedding wine”, which many of us did do. We then headed to a local restaurant for lunch.
Nazareth
We re-boarded the bus and drove to Nazareth. As we drove, Peter explained how at the time of Jesus, the town of Nazareth had a population of no more than 500 people. Today it is a sprawling city of approximately 100,000 residents with many more towns springing up all around it.
We were dropped off several blocks from the Basilica of the Annunciation. This church is built over what is believed to be the home of Mary when the Angel appeared to her. When we arrived in the courtyard, Peter gave some background information and explained how homes at the time were typically made in caves expanded to have an “upper room”, sometimes translated as “the Inn”, which was the living and sleeping space, and two lower spaces one for cooking/storage and the other a stable area for their animals.
In Luke 11:5-8, we hear the story about a neighbor knocking at the door of a friend at midnight, pleading with him to provide some bread to feed a visitor. The response received is “Do not bother me; the door has already been locked and my children and I are already in bed.” A typical scenario would be the entire family sleeps on the floor in the upper room. So to open the door, which swings to the inside, would probably mean waking up the entire family, so the door could be opened and the bread retrieved from the kitchen. Understanding how homes were typically built brings an entire different perspective to this passage.
Likewise, think about the birth of Jesus in a stable in Bethlehem. With Joseph coming from Bethlehem, another small town of maybe 300-500 people, he surely had relatives still living there and there probably wasn’t a “motel” in the town. So like us, when we go visit relatives, we usually stay at the home of the relative, Joseph and Mary probably stayed at the home of one of Joseph’s relatives. And when Mary went into labor, in order to given them some privacy, the only place available in the home was the stable.
After a brief explanation of the front of the Basilica, the largest in the Holy Land, we proceeded to enter. In the center of the church is an altar in the front of the cave believed to be the home of Mary.
After some time to view it up close and say some prayers, we headed to the Upper Basilica, where we celebrated Mass.
After Mass, we proceeded up the adjourning hill to the Church of St. Joseph. This church is built over what is believed to be the home Joseph built for Mary and Jesus.
On our return trip to the Pilgerhaus, we prayed a rosary with the Joyful Mysteries based on the place we had just left. Upon return to the motel, we had some time to relax before our evening meal. What an amazing first day in the Holy Land.
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