William's Journey to the Holy Land Pt.4

UNIGLOBE Geo Travel's Managing Partner & CEO William Hsu recently returned home from a Pilgrimage to the Holy Land. William shares his experience with us in Part 4 of this entry:

May 4

Today (May 4) was the actual date of Tim’s 25th Anniversary of Ordination. Thus, he was the main celebrant for this morning’s Mass, which took place in the St. Ann Chapel at the Basilica of the Annunciation (which is right across the street). After Mass, we headed up to Upper Galilee and the Golan.

The first stop was at Banyas, which is the headwater of the Jordan River. More importantly for Christians, Banyas is the place that the Romans called Caesarea Philippi. In Greek, the place was called Paneas, since it was the site of a number of temples dedicated to the Greek god Pan. (Paneas became Banyas in Modern Hebrew and Arabic.)

Banyas is a very special place in the Gospel of Mark. In the first half of Mark, Jesus teaches in the synagogues of Galilee, gathers disciples, etc. Then he heads north to Caesarea Philippi/Banyas, the farthest north he ever goes. He’s in pagan territory, looking at the temples there when he asks the disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” After they tell him of the various theories, he asks them, “But who do YOU say that I am?” Simon Peter answers “You are the Christ.” Jesus responds with “Blessed are you, Simon, son of John. . . . And tell you that you are Cephas (the rock) and upon this cepha (rock) I will build my church, and the Gates of Hades/hell will not prevail against it.” Standing right there in Banyas, you realize that Jesus was talking about the pagan religions represented by those temples right in front of him.

The other thing is that right after this, Jesus heads south along the Jordan, through Galilee and Samaria, down to Jerusalem for his passion, death and resurrection. In mark’s Gospel, at least, Banyas is the location where the Gospel story changes direction.

After Banyas we drove through the Golan, stopping at the Quneitra outlook — a spot where you can look over the town of Quneitra, part of the UN presence in the separation zone separating Israel from Syria.

We then headed down to Zefat for lunch. Zefat (also spelled Tsfat, Safad, Sefad, Sefat, etc.) is the centre of Kabala, the Jewish mystic tradition that has gained a lot of celebrity followers lately, including the singer Madonna.

When we got back to Nazareth, we stopped at Mary’s well. There is only one well in Nazareth, so we know that Mary would have gone there often. The well itself is in St. Gabriel’s Greek Orthodox Church. Orthodox traditions state that the archangel Gabriel met Mary while she was at the well; thus, icons of the Annunciation usually have Mary carrying a water jug. Thus, for the Orthodox, St. Gabriel’s Church is the site where the Word became flesh. Catholic traditions have Mary at home when she encounters the archangel; thus, the Basilica across the street from where we’re staying is the centre of Catholic attention in Nazareth.

When we got back to the Nazareth sisters’ place, we got a tour of the archaeological excavations under the house. The convent is built directly over the remains of a Crusader area Church, which was built over the ruins of a Byzantine era church. Below the Byzantine church is a first century house and tomb. The tomb is from the period of Herod, and includes a rounded stone that was used to seal the tomb — just like in the traditional depictions of the Resurrection!
Tomorrow we will head over to the Sea of Galilee to visit Korazin, Capernaum, Bathsaida, Tagbah, etc. The following day (Wednesday, May 6) we’ll head back to Tel Aviv, stopping at various sites along the way. William and I leave (for London Heathrow) at 6:30 am on Thursday, while Tim and Daryold leave (for Toronto) just after midnight on Friday.

- William