Lessons from the Sea of Galilee

View from our hotel in 2013.

For our last visit to Israel, let’s go to the Sea of Galilee.  Did you know that it is the lowest freshwater lake on Earth? It is also the only freshwater lake in Israel. Our guide predicted that, contrary to popular thinking, the next world war would be over water, not oil.  Even if that’s not true, it highlights how important this lake is to Israel.

The lake isn’t that large. It is only 15 miles long and 8 miles wide. Yet, so much of Jesus’ ministry happened around this small lake.  Jesus called some of his best-known disciples from their fishing boats here.  He walked on this water without a hydrofoil!  It scared the disciples and taught Peter one of his most important faith lessons:  Keep your eyes on Jesus!

It was a significant place for Jesus to teach. One of his most memorable sermons about the blessed life occurred where the land rose high enough to be called a mountain overlooking this lake. After teaching, Jesus provided fish that nobody caught.

The Sea is known for its unpredictable storms. When strong winds blow between the hills and high places, they bring high waves and fierce currents.  Once, even the fishermen from Jesus’s disciples found themselves rowing hard and bailing water while Jesus slept at the back of the boat. They knew they were in trouble and woke Jesus.  Nothing was too powerful for Jesus. He settled the storm with his own words: “Be still!”

For Jesus, the Sea of Galilee became his megaphone to share his simple but life-changing messages.  It wasn’t a message of how to heal, multiply food, or walk on water.  It was a message about God’s power that overpowers unruly waves, emotional dysfunction, or unmet hunger.  God’s power addresses the bigger issue: our need to know and trust that God is in charge and will bring the right power, the right intervention, the right food to meet the fear, anger, or confusion that depletes us.

Yes, we walked where Jesus walked, but it was hard to imagine him there against the high-rise hotels and beautifully landscaped sidewalks. Maybe that’s good.  Maybe it is more important to recognize how Jesus comes to us today, in our multi-room, 2-car  homes with air conditioning and heat. Maybe it is more important to know that his feeding miracle is more about how his strength perfectly overcomes our weakness. Maybe he will surprise us with breakfast one morning when we’ve lost all hope. Only it won’t be fish.  His presence and peace transform any hard place when we know he’s there to help us.

If my tour of the archaeological finds and reconstructed buildings, boats, and village taught me anything, it is that Jesus doesn’t live there anymore. He lives in you and me. His words still calm the fearful and helpless.  His teaching still shows us the way to grow in favor with God and man.  We can live with his always-with-us presence. 

And we don’t go to the Sea of Galilee to find him.