Panoramic View from Arbel Cliff

From the top of Arbel Cliff, one can see the landscape of the majority of Jesus ministry along the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Listen to Matthew’s description of this ministry:
When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he left Judea and returned to Galilee. He went first to Nazareth, then left there and moved to Capernaum, beside the Sea of Galilee, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. This fulfilled what God said through the prophet Isaiah:
“In the land of Zebulun and of Naphtali, beside the sea, beyond the Jordan River, in Galilee where so many Gentiles live, the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light. And for those who lived in the land where death casts its shadow, a light has shined.”
From then on Jesus began to preach, “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.” Matthew 4:12-17 NLT

It is interesting to see that Jesus began his ministry in an area that a lot of non-Jewish people lived. He came to bring hope to those that would have been considered the outsiders by the religious elite of his day. Jesus came to be a light to the irreligious. This reminds me once again, that as a church we are not called to cater to the religious, but to instead reach out to the unchurched and share with them the good news that it is found in life not by adopting religion, but it is about developing a relationship with Jesus, the one who has come near from Heaven!!

One of the things that really struck me, while on top of the Arbel Cliff looking down on the Northern part of the Sea of Galilee is that the Sea wasn’t as large as I had imagined. Although beautiful, it is only 64 square miles and from the panoramic view of the Cliff of Arbel, we could see the entire area that Jesus did the majority of his ministry. We could see both the modern day city of Magdala and the remains of the ancient city of Magdala that Mary Magdalene came from. We also could see the plain of Genesaret, the area called Tabgha (where we believe Jesus fed the 5,000), the Mount of Beatitudes (where Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount), and also the cities of Capernaum and Bethsaida.