How do we as Christians express what it is like to visit Nazareth and the River Jordan, to walk the lands we know Jesus once walked, to see views similar to those he would have looked upon? Our tour today included a visit to the archaeologically confirmed home of the Virgin Mary, where the Angel Gabriel came to visit her, the location in Galilee where Jesus delivered the sermon on beatitudes to his disciples, and the River Jordan where he was baptized. It was an incredible day.
The day began with a drive-by of Mount Carmel, where Elijah challenged 450 prophets who believed in another god to a contest to see whose god was truly watching over the people of Israel. As the story is told in 1 Kings 18:22-39, the challenge required the deity to light a sacrifice on fire. After the other 450 prophets failed Elijah asked that his sacrifice and the alter be drenched with water. Then he got down on his knees and prayed. Fire fell and consumed the sacrifice, the wood, the stones of the alter…everything. The witnesses who saw this were convinced that Elijah’s god was the true God.
Our first official stop was the Sea of Galilee and the memorial that has been built to commemorate Jesus’ sermon on beatitudes, recounted in Matthew 5:1-11 and referred to as the Sermon on the Mount. Beatitudes are attitudes all Christians should aspire to incorporate into their character. There are eight beatitudes; the memorial is built with 8 sides and inside the memorial there is an alter in the center of an octogen with each of the eight beatitudes called out on a side. It is a beautiful and serene location.
From here we visited the River Jordan. There are two locations along the River Jordan where Jesus is believed to have been baptized, the one we visited near Galilee and another closer to Jordan. Those who visit the Galilee location are met with an entry wall that contains the words of Mark 1:9-11 in a variety of languages. More walls within the confines of the site contain the scripture in even more languages. We don’t know how many are included, but it appears they tried to include every major recognized languages on earth. Along the banks of the river are several baptismal areas; the guide who greeted us said they can do as many as 1,000 baptisms at a time. Some people felt the area was a bit too commercialized, but for the Christians who come here to be baptized there is nothing commercial about it. Some people save their whole lives to be able to make the trip here to be baptized. We were fortunate to witness a few while we were there.
Our final stop of the day was the Church of the Annunciation, built directly over what would have been the Virgin Mary’s home. During this period the people of Nazareth lived in caves. In the lower level of this Roman Catholic Church is the grotto Mary was living in when she was visited by the Angel Gabriel and told of Jesus’s birth. Services are regularly held in the church, and one was in process when we were there.
It was a beautiful day full of beautiful sites.
Sea of Galilee 
Memorial to the Sermon on the Mount 
The gold ceiling represents the riches of heaven 
This mosaic represents the story of Jesus feeding the multitudes with 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread 
At the entry to the River Jordan Baptism Place 
The gospel in any other language… 
Standing at the River Jordan 
A Baptismal “Pen” 
Witnessing a baptism 
Church of the Annunciation 
Beautiful doors 
The grotto where the Virgin Mary lived 
Countries from around the world have donated panels such as this one from the U.S. depicting the Virgin Mary 
Excavations below the church provide archaeological proof that this was the Virgin Mary’s home. 
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