We sailed on the sea of Galilee this morning. One of our passengers jumped in. We visited Magdela where a tall attractive woman minister showed us the recently discovered synagogue where Jesus undoubtedly taught and enacted for us the reading of the verse from Isiah where Isaiah describes the Messiah as one who frees the captives. She sang it is Hebrew. She was standing’s in the remains of the synagogue where Jesus taught and singing the verse. It was marvelous. She also described the alter where the chariots of fire are depicted as four wheels. But the best thing she did was show us the ancient Mikvah where the Jews were ritually cleansed by immersing in water. She said that this pre-christian ritual was described by the ancients as a tomb and a womb, and was common long before john the Baptist. No Mormon could have preached a better baptism by immersion sermon.
We then visited Capernaum where Peter and Jesus lived. Dan Peterson described it as the headquarters of the Church in its small provincial beginnings, much like the latter-day Church. We talked about Peter’s transformation from a small town fisherman to a world force as a testimony of Peter’s conviction that Jesus truly was the Savior of the world. I couldn’t help comparing it to the transformation that Brigham Young experienced.
We are now in a Hotel in Jericho which is in the sector controlled by the Palestinian authority. I remember the day in New York where I invited the Palestinian representative to the UN to come as our guest to the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular and the Iranian Ambassador, who was standing there saying that he too would like to come, which I then also arranged and they both came.