Jesus Trail

Two of John's disciples came to Jesus and said:

"Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?" (Or maybe, "where do you live?") Jesus said to them, "Come and you will see" (John 1:39).

We decided to take Jesus up on His offer. On Wednesday evening, May 21st, our friends Tim and Kristi Knipp along with Stacie and I took a bus from Jerusalem, north to Nazareth and spent the night there in a hostel. The purpose of our trip? Backpacking the "Jesus Trail" for a few days. The Biblical Text says Jesus moved from Nazareth to Capernaum - but if you read that one verse (Matt 4:13), don't you sometimes just wonder what would that journey may have been like? How long did it take? What did He see or who did He encounter along the way?

We purchased a very detailed map of the region (available in Hebrew only), the route we mapped out was to hike from Nazareth, north to Zippori (aka Sepphoris - the capital of the Galilee during the early years of Jesus, before it moved Tiberias...but not mentioned in the Gospels), on to Cana (John 2, and 4), then west through the Bet Netofa Valley, through the Arbel Pass approaching the Sea of Galilee and finally following the northwestern shoreline to the city of Capernaum. A total distance of about 35-40 miles.

"Whoever claims to live in Jesus must walk as Jesus walked" (1John 2:6)

This, I might add, always has been, and always will be more important than walking where Jesus walked, but being blessed with the opportunity to do both...we set out.

Stacie and I walking to Cana -
the tel is the small brown hill directly in front of us

After hiking for about 10 hours the first day, we arrived at the base of the tel and set up camp for the night there in an already harvested wheat field. Tim read the two stories of Jesus in Cana - first at the wedding banquet where He performed His first miracle turning water into wine (John 2), then just a couple chapters later Jesus again visits Cana, a city of miracles.

"Therefore He came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a royal official whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and was imploring Him to come down and heal his son; for he was at the point of death. So Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe.” The royal official *said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” Jesus *said to him, “Go; your son lives.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started off."
(John 4:46-50)

The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him.

Tim, Kristi and Stacie at our campsite the second night -
a couple miles west of the Arbel Pass

Hiking through the Arbel Pass -
the most likely ancient route to the Sea of Galilee

Mount Arbel behind us

"Now when Jesus heard that John had been taken into custody, He withdrew into Galilee; and leaving Nazareth, He came and settled in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet:
“THE LAND OF ZEBULUN AND THE LAND OF NAPHTALI,
BY THE WAY OF THE SEA, BEYOND THE JORDAN, GALILEE OF THE GENTILES—
“THE PEOPLE WHO WERE SITTING IN DARKNESS SAW A GREAT LIGHT,
AND THOSE WHO WERE SITTING IN THE LAND AND SHADOW OF DEATH,
UPON THEM A LIGHT DAWNED.”
(Matthew 4:12-16)