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The Gospel Trail was opened in November 2011.
Photo courtesy of Israel Ministry of Tourism
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Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs - The State of Israel
Jesus of Nazareth grew up in the verdant area near the Sea of Galilee. Modern visitors can see the places where his ministry flourished.
"And Jesus went about all Galilee teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people" Matthew 4:23.
The Sea of Galilee, known as Lake Kinneret to Israelis, lies on the ancient Via Maris that linked Egypt with the northern empires. Its strategic location and excellent fishing made the lake’s vicinity a popular place for Greek, Hasmonean and Roman settlement. And because Jesus of Nazareth grew up in this area, his ministry revolved around the Sea of Galilee.
The Gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke describe how Jesus recruited the Galilee fishermen Simon and his brother Andrew and the brothers John and James as apostles. His famous Sermon on the Mount is believed to have been delivered on a hill overlooking the lake, and this is also the body of water upon which the Gospels say he walked. The miracle of the loaves and fishes took place on its banks.
That’s why, ever since the times of the Byzantine Empire, the Sea of Galilee and its environs have attracted countless Christian pilgrims. Today, Christian tourists account for at least 65 percent of incoming tourism to Israel. And in the Sea of Galilee region, there’s more than ever to tie modern believers with the origins of Christianity.
Walking on water
The Sea of Galilee itself is a major Christian tourist attraction because this is where Jesus is said to have walked on the water (John 6:19-21), calmed a storm (Matthew 8:23-26) and showed the disciples miraculous catches of fish (Luke 5:1-8; John 21:1-6). Several tour companies offer Christian-themed boat rides, and there’s even a “Walking on Water” Christian tour around the lake.
Speaking of walking, the Israel Ministry of Tourism and Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund inaugurated the $3 million Gospel Trail in November 2011 along the paths that Jesus is believed to have walked on his way from his childhood home of Nazareth to the future center of his ministry in Capernaum (Kfar Nahum, in Hebrew) on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee. The signposted footpaths and roads of the 62-kilometer trail, which begins at Mount Precipice near Nazareth, can be traveled by foot, bicycle or car.
Not to be confused with the Gospel Trail (although there is necessarily some overlap) is the ecology-centric Jesus Trail, completed in February 2008 at the initiative of Israeli backpacking/hostelling industry pioneer Maoz Inon. This route runs 65 kilometers, beginning in Nazareth about 16 miles from the Sea of Galilee and passing through Zippori National Park, Cana, Moshav Ilaniya, Kibbutz Lavi, Karnei Hittin, Nebi Shu’eib, Arbel National Park, Migdal, the “Jesus Boat Museum” at Kibbutz Ginosar (where a 2,000-year-old boat raised from the Sea of Galilee is exhibited), Tabgha, the Mount of Beatitudes and Capernaum.
Church at Capernaum built over the ancient house of St. Peter
Photo by Mordagan for the Israel Ministry of Tourism
Capernaum National Park
The ancient village of Capernaum – sometimes called “the town of Jesus” -- lay in ruins until it was discovered in 1838 by an American explorer. Later archeological excavations uncovered the former sites of a church and a synagogue.
In 1968, the Franciscans restored these sites and also revealed a house that may have been inhabited by the Apostle Peter and served as a meeting place for early Christians, judging by the many fragments of plaster found there with Christian symbols and inscriptions including the names of Jesus, Simon and Peter.
A large octagonal church was built around the house of St. Peter, featuring a mosaic floor, and in the 1990s the Franciscans built a modern church on top of these ruins. It has a glass floor in the middle so visitors can see the original church below.
It’s possible to hike to Capernaum National Park via the Gospel Trail or Jesus Trail, or from a two-mile promenade along the Sea of Galilee. And a dock built by the Israel Parks and Nature Authority, near the antiquities site, allows tourists to sail to Capernaum from Tiberias and Ein Gev.
Pilgrims can wander among the park’s natural and domesticated plants, such as the Christ-thorn jujube, said to be the species from which the crown of thorns was made that Jesus was forced to wear at the crucifixion.
Tabgha
Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes at Tabgha
Photo courtesy of Israel Ministry of Tourism
Tabgha (the word is an Arabic corruption of the Greek name Heptapegon, or Seven Springs – Ein Sheva in Hebrew) is on the lush northern shore of the Sea of Galilee, so it’s not hard to imagine why Christians of the early Byzantine period found it an attractive place to live and to commemorate the ministry of Jesus and the miracles ascribed to him here. The earliest building found at Tabgha, from the fourth century CE, was once a small chapel – perhaps the shrine described by the fourth-century Spanish pilgrim Egeria.
The fruitful garden of Tabgha is accepted traditionally as the site where Jesus fed 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish, as described in Matthew 14: 13-21. Hence the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes was built here in the fifth century, as well as the Church of St. Peter's Primacy (where Jesus is said to have appeared to his disciples after the resurrection) and several other Byzantine-period monasteries, churches and shrines.
The monastery and church at Tabgha were destroyed in the seventh century, probably during the Arab conquest of the country, and buried beneath a thick layer of silt and stones. In the 1980s, after excavation, the church and portions of its original mosaic floors were restored. One of the mosaics depicts a basket of bread flanked by two fish, and it was moved in front of the altar. The church belongs to the Order of the Benedictines and is open to visitors.
Kursi National Park
Kursi, east of the Sea of Galilee at the mouth of a riverbed descending from the Golan Heights, is traditionally the spot where Jesus healed two men possessed by demons, as described in Matthew 8:28-33. A huge sixth-century monastery and church built there to commemorate the miracle lay hidden in ruins until road construction in the early 1970s unexpectedly exposed it to the modern world. The Israeli government excavated the site and developed it into a national park.
The Israel Antiquities Authority discovered evidence that the monastery was once quite a busy hub for pilgrims. A paved road led from the monastery to a small harbor where the Christian pilgrims arrived in boats, and another paved path led from the entrance of the monastery complex to a large plaza in front of the church at the center of the complex.
To the south of the church there was a chapel with mosaic paving over a crypt containing the tombs of monks who had served in the monastery. The complex apparently had living quarters for monks and overnight accommodations for pilgrims as well. The whole structure was abandoned after a devastating eighth-century earthquake.
Mount of Beatitudes, Mount Arbel, Mount Tabor
The Mount of Beatitudes, on a low hill near Tabgha, is the spot where Jesus is believed to have given the Sermon on the Mount ("Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven ...”).
