Arbel Cliff and the Church of the Multiplication

Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles — the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned. (Matthew 4:15-16)

Taking the five loaves and the two fish, Jesus looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowd. (Matthew 14:19)

Our first actual day of pilgrimage! We went to a place called the Cliff of Arbel, from which we could overlook Magdala, Capernaum, Tabgha, and Bethsaida, as well as the Wadi Hammam (Valley of the Doves), through which a traveler from Nazareth would pass to enter Galilee. Behind us was Mount Tabor, which is where the Transfiguraion (traditionally) happened. An amazing insight from looking down on this area is how incredibly small the area of Jesus' Galilean ministry was. These towns are rather close together - very easy to get between by car! (I'm sure it would have taken longer on foot, but we're not talking about a lot of land here.) In fact, some in the group commented about the improbability of such an insignificant figure in such an insignigicant location would end up becoming the standard by which Western civilization is both inspired and judged.

We also visited the Church of the Multitudes, which was built on the traditional site of where Jesus fed the 5000. The rock that Jesus used as a table (?) is under the altar table in the church. Historically, a Byzantine Church was built on this site in the 4th century, but destroyed when Arab Muslims took control of the area in the 7th century. The site was accidentally rediscovered in the late 1800's by a group of German Benedictine monks, and a new church was built. I participated in the morning prayers (Lauds) at 6:00 this morning, and plan to do so the rest of our time here. The prayer service was almost exactly like the service I've attended at the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers, GA - except it was in German. It was still beautiful and meaningful.

About the rock - our tour guide Claudia pointed out that in the history of the Church, venerating a holy site was not adequate, and neither was building a church on a holy site. There needed to be a physical symbol (like a rock) for Christians, especially pilgrims, to see, or touch, or kiss, or bow before ... there needed to be some way for the the faithful to physically interact with the Gospel story. We really are a grounded, physical, yea verily a material people. God created and called good the material world. How ironic that our idolatry of the material world is the direct cause of our destruction of it.