Nothing to See Here: Touring Biblical sites in Israel

The House of St. Peter’s Mother-in-Law (Capernaum)

My bucket list includes visiting all the “I” countries in the world. It started accidentally by visiting India as part of a travel course in seminary. The following year I went to Indonesia. Thus, my bucket list.

November 2019, I traveled to Israel with my sister. The tour was organized by what I call fungel Christians—a fundamentalist/evangelical missions’ entity. I am a Christian and I value the Christian scriptures which also includes the Hebrew Bible. To visit the land where Jesus walked is a privilege.

An odd thing happened. It happened again, and then I realized it was a consistent pattern during the tour. It had to do with Catholic churches marking geographical locations where significant Biblical events occurred. Seeing that Christianity was formed out of Judaism and migrated to Asia and the rest of the world, we must acknowledge that the beginnings the Christian worldview was unified, albeit, for a short time at its inception.

Protestantism arose out of Catholicism in the 16th century thanks to the famous protester—Martin Luther. Hence, the fungel is finds themselves in disagreement with the Catholic faith tradition because they are perceived as not doing or thinking Christianity correctly.

If we go back in time, it stands to reason that those who fought in the crusades did so with the blessing of the Catholic Church—the universal church. The rhetoric of the time was to secure the Holy Land under the care of the Christians. Therefore, significant, and not so significant events from the Bible are under the protection of and administration by the Catholic church. Generally, those places that Christians deem important to our formation are places where one finds a preponderance of Roman Catholic symbols.

One of our tour stops was at the House and Church of St. Peter at Capernaum. Trip Advisor has a great number of positive reviews for this site, including some who declared this archaeological site and its protective church to be a meaningful and spiritual place. From a historic point of view, it is an excavation of a village which features a well-preserved typical house structure dated to the time of Christ. There seems to be some markings on the foundation that suggests this home was acknowledged to belong to the disciple Peter’s mother-in-law.

Jesus and the gang (disciples) came to Peter’s mother-in-law’s (MIL) house for a visit but she was terribly ill. Jesus healed her and she was able to cook dinner for them all. It is a very brief story found in the gospels of Mark and Luke. Perhaps this story is especially important to Roman Catholic faithful who recognize Peter as the first pope. This likely explains their rational for sacralizing this place.

Stick a shovel in the ground anywhere in the middle east and you will likely find historical artifacts. Keep digging down and you will uncover layer after layer of history. This is how Peter’s MIL's house was uncovered between 1978-1982. Since it is a more recent archeological discovery, it is a popular place for tourists. The land was already under the care of the Catholic church (firstly it was the Byzantine Church) so they built a that protects the ruins from the elements and honours the story of Jesus’ miracle. The interior is very modern with seating in a horseshoe shape such that your gaze is drawn to the glass floor overlooking the excavated house. The church is a vibrant place of worship with regular mass despite the tumultuous presence of tourists.

My tour group was one of many on location. Imagine hundreds of devout Christians and history buffs converging on a “new” archaeological ruin. There was an atmosphere of energy and excitement that seemed more intense than at other sites. Perhaps we all had a whiff of what still lies under the dirt and stone awaiting discovery. Hopefully another such uncovering will further validate the Christian scriptures as also a reasonable historical document.

Not everyone was happy here. One dear elderly woman of my group, Pearl, was irate. She was terribly upset and almost spitting nails. “It didn’t look like this 35 years ago! This building wasn’t here! The Catholic church has taken over another site!” This woman is over 80 and had toured Israel with her husband Bill during the most recent excavation of the house. During the ensuing time between her first visit with Bill and this tour (Bill had died before this trip), the church commemorating the miracle was built. At first, I concluded that Pearl was angry at another Biblical site commandeered by a group who did not understand Christianity as she did. It is not unusual to hear some harsh criticism levied against Catholicism by the fungel.

I continued to stand beside her and ask more questions about her first visit with her husband. She told me how precious that trip was for the two of them. They had to save for many years to afford the travel. As devoted Christians they yearned to walk where Jesus walked. Their trip was not only a pilgrimage, but it also was a living picture of a loving marriage of two people who were journeyed together in faith. It occurred to me that she was looking for her husband here. Most of the other stops on our way had not changed over the decades but this was a “new” discovery and now it was unfamiliar to her thanks to the addition of a building—a Catholic one.

It brought to my mind the resurrection narratives found in the New Testament. The 24th chapter of the gospel of Luke describes the scene of the empty tomb of Christ. Some of the disciples heard the tomb had been opened and they ran over to check it out. Inside two angelic beings inquired of them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?”

This made me think about Pearl’s husband. To the believer in Christ, our bodies are objects of decay whereas our spirits belong to God; eternal and indestructible. Bill’s body may be dead, but his spirit is alive with God. Perhaps Pearl is looking for her Bill in the wrong place. The ruins are not a place where life exists. The stone walls have fallen, the dust has settled over the foundation and this house had all but disappeared from human memory. Bill is a beloved creation of God’s design; his essence is animated by the breath of God. He is not to be found at Capernaum.

I wish I had thought of all this when I was there listening to Pearl share her story of life with Bill. I was focused on her frustration with seeing another geographical location in the life of Jesus venerated by people who in her mind didn’t have a clear understanding of how to live the Christian life properly. Now I wish that I had invited Pearl to reflect on what it means to not find something amongst the tomb-like stone.

Perhaps we would have had a beautiful conversation about the hope that is central to our understanding of Christ’s resurrection. Perhaps we would have talked about Mary Magdalene in the last chapter of the gospel of John, who was searching for Jesus since his tomb was empty. As Mary wept in the cemetery a man approached her, whom she took to be the gardener. “Where have you put my beloved’s body?” she asks. “Mary!” says the Man. Oh, how she rejoiced as she recognized her risen Messiah, the Christ.

Maybe Pearl and I would come to see that Bill is not to be found in the place of decay but with his Lord and Saviour. Peter, his mother-in-law, all the men around the MIL’s dining room table, and beloved Bill are not in Capernaum. The sands of time will also wipe away the footprint of this newly constructed church. This geographical location only reminds us that there is no point to seek the living among the dead.