Our Pilgrimage into the Holy Land-Day 4

Easter Sunday, April 1, 2018: Mount Tabor-Nazareth-Jordan River

“The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’” Luke 1:30-33

Today we got up before the sun came out and took some beautiful pictures of the sunrise coming out behind the Sea of Galilee.

We then went down to breakfast, which was better than yesterday, and by 8 am we were on the road towards Mt. Tabor, site of the Transfiguration.

We could not have asked for a better Easter gift. To be on the mount where the Transfiguration took place was mind blowing. We went up the mountain on the buses as far as they could go. We then took small shuttles that drove us to the very top. We can’t begin to imagine how much the people in Jesus’ time walked. They must have been in perfect shape. No gyms needed at that time.

We celebrated the Eucharist in the Church of the Transfiguration. How special. The church is absolutely beautiful. Very simple with just the right amount of ornamentation. It’s built on two layers. The altar is on the bottom layer. On the floor, there were two glass openings and down below we could see rocks from where the original church was located. The altar of the church had two peacocks. Father Willie explained that the peacock is the sign of power, the sign of the kings. They are present in the church of the Transfiguration to represent the kingship and the divinity of Jesus. Of course, when the Transfiguration took place there was nothing here. It felt very peaceful even with all the people. No wonder the apostles wanted to stay up there with Jesus.

Father Frank was the one that celebrated the mass. He gave us a very nice homily about the marriage of Jesus with His church. He said the engagement took place at the moment of the Annunciation when heaven and earth came together. The marriage rehearsal took place on the Transfiguration. And the marriage ceremony happened on Easter Sunday when Jesus resurrected. He also told us that it’s possible that the Transfiguration happened more than once. Jesus went by himself to pray many times. He could have been transfigured any of those times. The problem is that during those times, there were no witnesses.

Father Frank then asked us to close our eyes and place ourselves at the moment when Mary Magdalene runs to the tomb and finds it empty. Jesus was not there because He had resurrected. At the end of the communion, Manny Garcia-Tunon started singing “Christ, I believe. Christ, I believe. I believe that You are the Christ. Christ, I believe.” This tied it all together and brought it into perspective, because Jesus, we do believe. We do believe that You are the Messiah, the Son of God.

The views from Mt. Tabor were absolutely beautiful. To imagine that God spoke to the apostles there, that they saw Moses and Elijah, with all that scenery in the background... WOW.

On the gate they had a square cross with four small crosses on each of its corners.

Father Willie told us that was the Jerusalem cross, and he explained the three possible meanings:
1-The four small crosses may represent the four evangelists.
2-They could represent the four corners of the world.
3-All five crosses may represent the five wounds of Christ.

Our next stop today is Nazareth, but first, we had to eat. We went straight to a restaurant for lunch. They gave us a vegetable soup that was delicious, followed by spaghetti, followed by a meat that resembled a boliche with carrots, potatoes, and cole slaw. For dessert they brought us coconut macaroons. The one thing that we have not liked at all in Israel is the coffee. The Turkish coffee is too strong and bitter. No amount of sugar helps to make it better.

We then walked over to the Basilica of the Annunciation, the place where it all began. It even says, “And the verb became flesh HERE.” It’s the only place in the world where they add the word “here.” We began by reading the passage of the Annunciation from the gospel of Luke in the courtyard outside the church which is surrounded by images of the Virgin Mary from all parts of the world. Here we were, in this modest village that watched Jesus play, mature, and learn a trade, because He remained here until the age of thirty (Luke 2: 39–40).

We then entered the basilica which is ornately decorated, colorful, and brightly lit. But our main goal was to get to the spot where it’s believed that the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary. In order to get there, we had to go to the lower floor of the basilica, which is simply decorated, dimly lit, and austere in feel. The focal point of the lower floor is the small stone recess thought to be part of Mary’s home and the place where she received news of Jesus’ upcoming birth from Gabriel (Luke 1: 26–38). We  just stood for a few minutes in awe contemplating the stone, closing our eyes and trying to place ourselves at that moment in time, which was not easy with so many people gathered there trying to snap a picture of the stone. 

We then walked over to the church of St. Joseph where it’s believed that they lived after they returned from Egypt. The church is built over the house itself. There’s a circle in the middle where parts of the house are visible, and also some stairs with a door that shows another portion of the house. It was all beautiful and very moving. This was the house where Mary and Joseph raised Jesus, protected him, and taught him the Scriptures. It was surreal to be at this very place.

Father Willie explained to us that Mary was full of grace. Grace is the opposite of ingratitude. She was full of gratitude. And that is why we need to imitate her. She also placed her trust in God and pushed fear aside. Fear keeps us from fulfilling God’s plan for us. We need to trust God and push fear aside like Mary did.

From Nazareth, we took an hour ride to the Jordan River to visit the spot where John the Baptist baptized Jesus. We had a small service by the river bank, where we read the scripture of the baptism from Mark 3:13-17. We then got our feet wet on the water. Even though it took a bit of imagination to try to picture the way that the river looked 2,000 years ago, it felt so peaceful there that it was easy to transport ourselves to that moment in history. It was full of people getting baptized, just like it was 2,000 years ago. The water was very cold but we could not come all the way over here and not get our feet wet where Jesus was baptized. 

On our way back to the hotel, we had an unexpected stop at a diamond factory. Diamonds is one of the top industries in Israel. A huge percent of all the diamonds in the world are cut and polished in Israel. We saw a movie of the whole process, and then, of course, they have a showroom where we could purchase diamonds and other precious stones, mounted or unmounted. The prices were pretty astronomical. Paul asked for the price of a 3.6 carat diamond with top clarity, and it was half a million dollars. Wow. We didn’t buy anything. Jesus is our best diamond. He meets all four C’s. He has the highest clarity. He meets the highest level of carats. His cut is perfect, right to the core. And His color is as bright as the sun. We don’t need diamonds when we have Jesus.

We arrived to the hotel pretty late because of this unnecessary stop that was not part of our pilgrimage. We bypassed having dinner at our hotel, and we went to the Scot Hotel and had dinner there at the bar. We ordered a mixed of tapas (grape leaves, beets, cheeses, salmon, veal carpaccio, etc). They were excellent.