The hikers, Maoz Inon, 32, and David Landis, 25, have just taken a short hike down from the Mount of Beatitudes to the shore of the Sea of Galilee on part of the new Jesus Trail hiking route they have mapped out over the past five months.
“Can you imagine what it would be like for a hiker after walking the route for some hours and then to arrive here, or at another holy site? It is different than arriving on an air-conditioned bus,” said Inon.
The two young entrepreneurs — Inon, a Jewish Israeli, and Landis, an American Mennonite tourist who divides his time between Israel and other travel destinations — met over the Internet when Landis came across
Inon’s travel blog.
For several years Inon had toyed with the idea of mapping out a hiking trail along the route of Christian holy sites in Galilee. He found a partner in Landis, who shared his passion for hiking and world travel.
Landis mapped out the trail using Global Positioning System navigation and Google Earth, which offers searchable satellite imagery and maps. A map or GPS files of the route can be downloaded from the Web site — www.jesustrail.com — and an experienced hiker can set out on his own. The Web site also includes information about the trail,
accommodations, tour operators and other logistics.
The 40-mile trail, which follows the pre-existing Israel National Trail as much as possible, begins in Nazareth and passes through places of Jesus’ ministry: Cana, the site of the wedding feast and Jesus’ first miracle; Tabgha, where Jesus multiplied the loaves and fishes; and Capernaum, which served as Jesus’ home base during his ministry. The trail also includes traditional Israeli tourist sites such as Zippori, famous for its Byzantine mosaics, and the Cliffs of Arbel, with their
panoramic views.
The trail culminates at the Mount of Beatitudes. An optional return route of equal distance passes through additional sites on a circuit back to Nazareth.
Most of the trails are accessible to all hikers, with varying degrees of difficulties. Public transportation is easily accessible from many parts of the trail.
The trail follows the growing trend in pilgrimage hikes such as the Way of St. James to Spain’s Santiago de Compostela and the St. Paul Trail in Turkey, said Inon. A group from Harvard University is putting together a trail following in the footsteps of Abraham — from eastern Turkey, through Syria, Jordan and ending in Hebron, West Bank — as an interfaith peace-building project, he added.
The Israeli Ministry of Tourism has been considering a similar idea for almost eight years, but the wheels of bureaucracy turn slowly, said Amir Moran, who is working on the planning of the Gospel Trail for the Ministry of Tourism and the Galilee Development Authority. The Ministry of Tourism path, which will in many places follow the Jesus Trail, will include marked paths, parking lots, shaded areas, rest areas and other facilities, Moran said. The project, which is expected to be completed in about two years, will cost between $2 million and $3 million, he said.
“We as a public group need to make sure the tourists have a safe path to follow. There are things we as public officials can do which Maoz can’t do. I very much support Maoz’s initiative. The idea is a very
natural one,” said Moran.
Though it may be hard for the Western mindset to comprehend, Inon said with a grin that he and Landis expect no financial compensation for the work they are doing. They hope their path will attract more tourism to the area and encourage people to spend more time in northern Israel, eating at local restaurants, buying supplies from shops along the route
and visiting the small villages and Christian monasteries in the area.
“You give and you get,” said Inon, adding that they both enjoy the work they are doing and the people they are meeting along the way.
“Hiking is a much more humble way to travel,” said Landis. “You are in contact with people that you meet, you have to work for it and appreciate it more.
“You can connect with the way Jesus walked and lived as a real person. It is something that is moving and living. It is not just something that happened a long time ago that existed in one place, but something you
can participate in in a different way.
“Jesus didn’t build churches,” he added. “Jesus met people by walking from village to village.”
Copyright (c) 2008 Catholic News Service www.CatholicNews.com Used with permission of CNS
Many people come to the Holy Lands trying to change the world. They come with an agenda, either to speed up the end of the world or find personal spiritual epiphany. Sometimes they try to call down justice to give the land to the Jews or create a Palestinian state. In comparison, most of the people who were born here seem to just want to live their lives in peace. In a land that has been a crossroads of trade, culture and religion for millennia, they are used to visitors coming and going with crazy ideas and absurd goals.
My most meaningful experiences in the past four and a half months have not been with revolutionaries, peace activists or religious leaders. They come from the normal people who populate the towns and cities, spending time with their families, and going to work each day. These relationships are built within an atmosphere of hospitality sharing the normal parts of life—coffee, tea, falafel and shwarama. These people seem to have a greater ability to see their neighbors as human beings, not as others representing a specific religious or ethnic background.
I’ve spent a lot of time walking the routes that Jesus would have traveled regularly in the Galilee. Nazareth, Cana, and Capernaum, as well as most of the places mentioned in the Gospels, were almost inconsequential in relation to the broader ruling empire. The two largest cities of power and glory in the region—Tiberias and Sepphoris—were never mentioned in scripture. Jesus’ disciples were common peasants and laborers with mixed and ambiguous perspectives on the Roman Empire. Many of them would have spent most of their lives just trying to feed their families.
Last week my Israeli friend Maoz and I took a journalist and photographer from the Israeli Newspaper Ha’aretz on the Jesus Trail, a hiking route that we are developing to connect these places. It was a lot of fun to share some of the places of Jesus’ life with them, explaining why they were significant to his history and the Christian story. When we passed by an ancient synagogue at the ruins of Arbella, they shared pieces of their Jewish heritage with me.
Together we visited the Mount of Beatitudes, all remarking on the ugliness of the church’s interior and how much more beautiful the green paths of the countryside is in comparison. I think it all made us wonder about the difference between Jesus the Jewish peasant traveler and the Christianity that has developed since he walked these hills 2000 years ago.
I am currently taking a seminary course that explores the first century context of Jesus’ life. In my research, I am continually struck by his normalcy. Although history does indicate that his life brought revolution to western civilization, I often wonder if his intention was to be someone who would change the world. My suspicion is that he was just trying to live his life well and help a diversity of others to do the same, directing their journeys toward God.
There is a saying that if you spend a week in Israel you can write a book about your experience, and that if you stay for a month you can produce a really good article. The adage continues saying that if you stay here much more than this, you won’t even know what to say.
The longer I stay in Nazareth, the more I just want to live my life in the company of close friends, sharing the hospitable space that happens over a cup of coffee or dinner. This renews and sustains our relationships and brings us joy each day. And perhaps because they’re not trying to start a revolution, these interactions may change the world.
ELKHART, Ind. (Mennonite Mission Network and Franconia Conference) — Last year, Mennonite Mission Network and Franconia Mennonite Conference collaborated on the first Youth Venture experience in Israel.
This summer, Franconia Conference will again partner with Mission Network to offer another Youth Venture learning experience in Nazareth, Israel, and will add a new location: Mexico City, Mexico. Both trips will take place in July 2008.
“This is a relevant collaboration because it brings Mission Network’s skills and Franconia conference’s relationships together,” said Steve Kriss, director of communication and leadership cultivation for Franconia Conference.
The Israel experience will be led by David Landis, Franconia conference associate for communication and leadership development, who also led last year’s trip. The group will begin its time in Nazareth volunteering at Nazareth Village, a first-century recreation of life during the time of Jesus.
They will then travel to Jerusalem and Bethlehem, where they will live with Palestinian families in the West Bank.
Landis hopes this year’s trip will be more educational and experiential and allow participants to meet with Israelis, Palestinians, Christians, Muslims and Jews.
An orientation will be held in the Philadelphia area.
The Mexico experience will be led by Franconia Conference staffer Lora Steiner, and will be hosted by Mexico Mennonite Conference, one of the Franconia’s partners in mission.
The first part of the trip will be spent in Mexico City, participating in service projects with local Mennonite churches and living with families from the churches.
The group will then travel toOaxacato explore some of Mexico’s past and current context, visiting Mayan ruins, a coffee plantation, and exploring the city.
Mennonite Mission Network works to partner with area conferences, congregations, and other groups in order to promote collaboration and networking.
“This partnership [between Franconia and Mission Network] allows us both to bring our vision and passions together and to work on these trips collaboratively instead of each trying to do something alone. It’s been a wonderful way to bring all of our unique gifts together,” said Arloa Bontrager, Mission Network Youth Venture director.
Both trips will focus on building relationships and understanding the complex issues and perspectives that affect people in both regions.“These experiences are an important way to cultivate young leaders by giving them the opportunity to be out in the world and not only to serve, but to experience and learn as well,” said Kriss.
Youth Venture offers young adults age 14-20 the opportunity to join with other teens for one-to-four weeks of service in July or August. Youth Venture recruits a team leader and invites participants into groups that will live and work together in various North American and international mission projects, pray, and study the Bible together.
“We want youth and young adults to come away with a vision for a lifetime of service and mission, whatever that may look like for them,” said Bontrager, “Hopefully their understanding of the world and how God is working can be shaped and expanded through these experiences.”
The sun had just finished its descent over Bethlehem and the call to prayer rang crisp in the evening air. I breathed in the sent of Arabic coffee mingling with olives and lime trees while sitting with Samir Sababa on the back porch of the Sababa house.
We were both sipping the warm coffee, which was really more like a shot of espresso than a cup of Maxwell House. Squinting into focus some whirring figures just past the low garden wall, I could make out the silhouettes of children piloting their bikes back and fourth on the neighbor’s crumbled patch of macadam. Although I could not understand their Arabic, it was enough to hear the joy in their laughter. “Surely this could not be the Palestine I have always imagined,” I thought to myself. Where were all the extremists and constant gun battles that the American news had told me about?
No, the only extreme I could find there on the porch was the deep brown of Samir’s Palestinian eyes which were staring off intently. He represents the fourth generation to live in that house and now shares it with his parents, Fáud and Louris. He is 28 and married, with a child of his own, Salina.
Samir had completed his undergraduate studies in engineering in his early twenties, but there was little work for him in that field in Palestine, so he works the days away in his fathers mechanic shop slaving over dusty engines. At night he comes home to work just as hard at being a father.
I remembered how, that morning, he had taken me to the unfinished second floor of the house. With an air of gauged accomplishment in his voice, he led me through the rough concrete walled structure holding the future for his young family.
“That room is for Salina and this one is the kitchen,” he pointed, as we stepped over some water and electric lines which dove down through a hole in the floor. I imagined the new space with its final coats of paint and tiled floors smooth with the satisfaction of living well.
Interrupting my thoughts, Samir said, “Here it is like a big jail.” I thought I understood what he meant, but quickly realized that I never really would, I couldn’t. For it was not the grey walls of his second story construction that he was referring to, but another wall, one whose height sprung just as far above the ground; only it served a much more strangling purpose.
“During the last intifada,” he said, “the tanks drove up our road. We had to leave, to hide in the city.”
With the immediacy in his voice I felt as though he half expected me to feel the ground beneath them shiver under the 65 tons of an Israeli Merkava Mark IV tank crawling just outside his bedroom window.
I followed his detached gaze to an oddly vacant lot across the alley. “They blew up our neighbor’s house,” he said, as he turned to measure the weight his words had on his silent listener. It was clear that the cold steel tread and the concussion of the 120mm shells still weighed heavily on Samir like a mallet of judgment for sins he had not committed.
I could still hear the laughter of the children on their bikes, only now it was layered by giggles and squeals coming from Salina. I caught a glimmer in Samir’s eye as he looked contentedly at his wife and daughter.
Then I began to understand that he was not driven by the fear and frustration of those memories, but by hope. His daughter was his hope, his wife and parents were also. They were the freedom and peace that no walls could smother and no tanks could crush.
In the morning I often go into the old Nazareth market to buy fresh pita bread for breakfast, where a small bakery is located on the corner near the White Mosque. The bakery is a maze of clockwork conveyor belts that passes dough through the oven, depositing hot puffed pita balloons onto the tray below, where I can watch them deflate as they cool. The store is run by a hunched-over greying Muslim man with glowing eyes. He speaks English well and is always friendly when I come to buy my daily bread.
The other day when I went to get a pita pizza at the bakery, I decided to take an opportunity to practice my developing Arabic skills. I began with Marhaba (hello), and he responded, Keef halak (how are you doing?). After I replied Mabsut (good), he corrected me by stating that I should say instead, Hamdu l’Allah, meaning “Thanks be to God.”
He asked me how we should respond to this and I ventured, Allah Akbar, meaning “God is greater.” Happy with my correct reply, he went on to tell me that we should first thank God before saying we are doing well because God is greater than what we want or how we are feeling. He reminded me it is because of God that we can do well, as God is greater and we must submit with gratitude.
The White Mosque was originally constructed to foster better relations between Christians and Muslims in Nazareth. A blessing of accountability was given to the mosque, indicating that if a Muslim preacher ever spoke against the Christian community in Nazareth, the minaret would crash to the ground and destroy the building. To this day the mosque stands near the center of the Old Market, where many come to converse, trade, and interact.
I am challenged by the initiative of the Muslims of Nazareth to extend a hand of coexistent hospitality to their Christian neighbors. I am encouraged by the 138 Muslim scholars, clerics, and intellectuals who came together in October to unanimously declare the common ground between Christianity and Islam in a historic document entitled, “A Common Word Between Us and You.” Their invitation to the global Christian community is that we take Jesus’ two greatest commandments seriously, to love God and to love our neighbors.
Learning a new language is a humbling experience; one that teaches much about the contexts and cultures of our neighbors’ lives. It is a deliberate decision to learn to love what is unfamiliar and greater than ourselves, which directs our attention to God.
Choosing a humble learner’s approach is the act that begins the process of mutual understanding, the essential initial building blocks of peacemaking through transformational relationships. This is the bridge to taking the next difficult step that Jesus requires of us, to love our enemies as well as our neighbors.
By living in a place where I am required to interact with Jews, Muslims, and Christians on a daily basis in order to go about my life, I am continually learning that indeed, God is greater than our differences. Open and honest relationships, like God, acknowledge and transcend the labels we have constructed to separate ourselves from each other. The invitation to love our neighbors is open and awaiting our participation.
For more information on the letter “A Common Word Between Us and You” sent October 13, 2007 and the Mennonite Church USA response visit: Mennoweekly.org
TABGHA, Israel (CNS) — As the two hikers reach the parking lot of the Church of the Multiplication of Loaves and Fishes, a group of tourists scrambles into their waiting air-conditioned bus.
Landis mapped out the trail using Global Positioning System navigation and Google Earth, which offers searchable satellite imagery and maps. A map or GPS files of the route can be downloaded from the Web site — www.jesustrail.com — and an experienced hiker can set out on his own. The Web site also includes information about the trail,
The Israeli Ministry of Tourism has been considering a similar idea for almost eight years, but the wheels of bureaucracy turn slowly, said Amir Moran, who is working on the planning of the Gospel Trail for the Ministry of Tourism and the Galilee Development Authority. The Ministry of Tourism path, which will in many places follow the Jesus Trail, will include marked paths, parking lots, shaded areas, rest areas and other facilities, Moran said. The project, which is expected to be completed in about two years, will cost between $2 million and $3 million, he said.
Email This Post
David Landis, dplandis@franconiaconference.org
Last week my Israeli friend Maoz and I took a journalist and photographer from the
The longer I stay in 
In the morning I often go into the old Nazareth market to buy fresh pita bread for breakfast, where a small bakery is located on the corner near the White Mosque. The bakery is a maze of clockwork conveyor belts that passes dough through the oven, depositing hot puffed pita balloons onto the tray below, where I can watch them deflate as they cool. The store is run by a hunched-over greying Muslim man with glowing eyes. He speaks English well and is always friendly when I come to buy my daily bread.
I am challenged by the initiative of the Muslims of Nazareth to extend a hand of coexistent hospitality to their Christian neighbors. I am encouraged by the 138 Muslim scholars, clerics, and intellectuals who came together in October to unanimously declare the common ground between Christianity and Islam in a historic document entitled, “
