It's Not the End of the World, But You Can See It From Here

Tonight, I am sitting on the balcony of the Ramada in Netanya, looking out over the sunset on the Mediterranean Sea. It’s not been as warm today, which has been nice, and the breeze off the sea makes this location especially wonderful. We left Tiberias this morning and will arrive in Jerusalem tomorrow, but tonight we are staying here in what has been jokingly referred to as “Club Med.” Rachel has even found the balcony to be a great place to do her dance!

We started in Nazareth this morning, visiting the Church of the Annunication, the traditional site of Mary’s birthplace and home, where Gabriel visited her to tell her she was going to have a son. As we walked in to view the grotto, voices of song in perfect harmony rang out through the church, coming from an unseen chapel but seeming to come from heaven itself. Each of us had time to pray and meditate. What does it mean to us that God is with us in Jesus? That was the same question Mary had to wrestle with. “May it be to me as you have said”—that was her reply.

From there, we went to the Nazareth Village, a recreation of first century life in Jesus’ boyhood home. Rachel got to ride on the threshing tool and pet a baby goat. We learned about olive presses and making clothing. Obviously, this was set up for the tourists, but it is interesting and informative nonetheless.

From Nazareth, we traveled across the Jezreel Valley to the end of the world—or the place that’s most associated with the end of the world...Armageddon. Tel Megiddo is a city that was built and destroyed twenty-five times over the course of history as it stands at the crossroads of many major ancient highways. It is a place of battle and bloodshed, and was used by John in the Revelation to symbolize the final battle between good and evil. We saw an ancient grain silo, horse stables, and active archaeological digs. We even ran into some students from the University of Evansville who are working on a dig here! We then went down into the water shaft to see how this city on a hill collected water in a time of war. Our time at Megiddo was wrapped up with lunch—and some comments about eating lunch at the end of the world…”it’s the last food you’ll ever need!”

After lunch, we traveled across Mt. Carmel, passed a tomb with a rolling stone present and arrived on the coast at Caesarea Maritime. This was the preferred place for the Roman officials to live, and evidence has been found of Pontius Pilate in this place. We saw Herod’s fortress—complete with swimming pool. We saw the “hall of listening” that may have been the place where Paul made his appeal to Caesar. We saw the remnants of the ancient harbor, hippodrome (a place for chariot races) and aqueduct. We also got a brief chance to stick our feet in the Mediterranean. Caesarea has been excavated a lot more since I was here last twelve years ago. It’s also been commercialized more.

From there, we came to our hotel at Netanya...the one overlooking the Mediterranean. It’s a beautiful place to be halfway through our Holy Land pilgrimage, a rest along the way. Tonight, we will dine and watch the sunset. We will rest and prepare for our “second half”—the journey to and through Jerusalem.