My Adventure to Israel: Chapter 4: Capernaum Part 1: God's Roommate

Before I start, I must explain something, or rather, a few things that have to do with one of the many reasons why I came to Israel: First, I was believing God for a miraculous healing in my life. Second, throughout this chapter and the chapters to come, God would reveal little hints, or coincidences if you will, that caught my attention, that pointed to the possibility of my future healing. And thirdly, I have decided to share exactly what happened, and the reason I needed a healing so bad.
It's a little personal, a subject that men in particular would feel uncomfortable hearing about. So for your sakes guys, I'll try not to make it unpleasant for you. So, if you're a guy and are willing to keep reading, thank you for your support and willingness to be the better man. And who knows? God may show you something here:
For the past few years, I've had very irregular menstrual cycles, and eventually they got to where they would last for one or two months! Last year alone, I bled seven months out the twelve. I would be miserable and tired, but refused to see a doctor, knowing that they'd just put me on Birth Control, which I absolutely did not want! I was almost out of options except for some herbal supplements that my mom had found for me, but they hardly helped. I had also being praying and been prayed for, but again, nothing changed. I'm not saying prayer doesn't work, it was that my faith that wasn't strong enough to believe that I could be healed.
When I had signed up to go to Israel, I found renewed hope when I was told that we'd get a chance to be baptized in the Jordan River a few days into the trip. I suddenly had the idea that if I got baptized in this river, the most famous of rivers in all the Bible where so many miraculous things happened, I'd be healed. It seems pretty silly to put my faith in a natural thing, but I really was believing God, it was something special to me and I knew it was also a place that God favored, so I figured, why not try?
And so, with that out of the way, here's the first place we went to where God began to show me some pretty interesting things:

Saturday, April 21
Our second to last site of the day was Capernaum, the Town of Jesus, or so it said on the sign as we all walked through the gates. Roman lead us through a courtyard and past a church that, no lie, looked something akin to E.T.'s spaceship (more on that later). We then passed another set of gates that let us out on the shoreline of the Sea of Galilee, where we all sat in a circle underneath a tree.
"I'm sure you could all tell by the sign outside that this was the Biblical town of Capernaum," Roman began. "But some of you might be wondering, 'Why does it say it's the town of Jesus?' You'd think that Nazareth, the place where He grew up, or Bethlehem, the place of His birth would be the town of Jesus. Well, that is the question we are going to answer today." He began to walk around the tree, "Who can name some miracles that occurred here?"
A few people named various miracles: Peter's mother-in-law, the Roman Centurion's servant, Jairus' daughter, the paralytic who was let down through the roof; all of these Roman confirmed with a yes.
I then thought of the woman with the issue of blood, someone with whom I'd always felt a strong connection to because of my own issue. I wanted to raise my hand and ask if that miracle also happened here, which I was sure it was, but, I couldn't bring myself to ask. It's ridiculous now that I look back on it, but I was worried about everyone thinking, 'Is there a reason she's bringing that miracle up?' I have an overactive imagination at times and because of my introverted nature, it's hard for me to raise my hand or speak up in a group, I often feel like everyone is staring at me and is able to see right through me...
Anyway I didn't raise my hand, or, at least I was pretty close to convincing myself to speak up, when another lady sitting a few feet away from me, raised her hand and asked: "What about the woman with the issue of blood?"
"The issue of blood, yes, that miracle did happen here." Roman confirmed.
Pastor Troy has a way of describing that moment when God shows you something awesome that applies to you in the season you're in, he calls these moments "Baby Leaping", like when Mary visited her cousin Elisabeth after being told by Gabriel that she would birth the Messiah. The book of Luke says that Elisabeth's baby leaped inside her because he was so close to the mother of his Savior. That's the feeling I got the instant that lady asked that question and Roman said yes. It was a jolt, starting in my stomach and spreading throughout my whole body. I wish I could tell you that I was instantly healed right then and there, but no. But it was enough for me to just be there, in the same vicinity where my favorite miracle took place. This was God Coincidence No. 1.
We soon got up and followed Roman back to where E.T.'s spaceship was.

The church was positioned over one of many archaeological ruins, but these ruins were special. Underneath the church were three structures, octagonal in shape, with one inside the other:

 (The central octagon directly under the church.)

(A photo of the three octagons before the church was built over it in 1990.)

The outer octagon is all that's left of a church built sometime during the 5th century, while the next one is yet another church circa 4th century, and finally, the central octagon, on which Roman brought our attention, was from the time of Jesus.

"This central octagon was one of many homes in the town of Capernaum." Roman said. "It is in fact, a fisherman's home; this is the normal size for a house like this from that time. Now how do you know if it was someone's home?" He let our group try and guess the answer, to which no one thought of the correct solution. "Pot shards." Roman answered. "That is how you know if a house was lived in. Pottery is one of the top things archaeologists look for when excavating a site.

So, the significance of this particular house is that it not only belonged to a fisherman, but it is the house of Simon Peter, Jesus' disciple."

After giving us a second to recover from this bomb shell of Awesome, Roman told us that when Peter's house was uncovered, etchings were found on the walls, one of which read: "House of Cephas* and Yeshua." (*Aramaic for Peter.)

"What?!" I thought, trying to process what I'd just heard. Roman went on saying that when Jesus was at Capernaum, He would have stayed with someone He knew, and there was even evidence in the Bible to support this theory:

In Matthew 17:24-27, Peter is asked by the temple tax collectors if Jesus pays taxes, and he replies that He does. When Peter returns to where they're staying, Jesus asks him: “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth take customs or taxes, from their sons or from strangers?” And Peter says to Him, “From strangers.” And Jesus says, “Then the sons are free. Nevertheless, lest we offend them, go to the sea, cast in a hook, and take the fish that comes up first. And when you have opened its mouth, you will find a four-drachma coin, take that and give it to them for Me and you.”

Roman then explained to us how taxes would have worked in that time period: The temple tax was two drachmas per person and the way people would have paid taxes then was per person, per household. 

"That's how we know Jesus was living with Peter at the time, because they paid taxes together." Roman finished.
Also, anyone remember the story of the paralytic being lowered through the roof of a house so Jesus could heal him because it was so crowded? Ever wonder whose house it was? Well, I'll let you do the guessing.

We walked a short distance off to the left of Peter and Jesus' home and stopped to look out over the massive ruins of one of the neighborhoods in Capernaum. Roman mentioned the fact that the whole of Capernaum had been destroyed in an earthquake because of their unbelief (Matthew 11:20; 23-24): "Then He began to rebuke the cities in which most of His mighty works had been done, because they did not repent.... And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades; for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you.”
"They tried to rebuild Capernaum a second time," Roman said. "But it was again destroyed by an earthquake."

The two above pictures are of these ruins, the top has some Stonehenge looking shapes. Look real hard and imagine whole vessels of pottery being stored on them; those used to be shelves. The bottom picture shows a courtyard of sorts that was open to four different houses in the neighborhood. If you're thinking those are pretty small living spaces, well, just remember that whole families lived there; and that courtyard space was shared by the women of those homes, where they would cook and wash clothes. Also, when no one was around, the only place private enough to bathe was the roof of the house.

"Sound familiar?" Roman asked. "That's because that is what Bathsheba was doing when King David saw her, she was using the free time she had in order to bathe in the only private place in the house. Of course, as you all know, it wasn't so private after all."

I was so fascinated with how so many pieces from history could fill in the empty places that the Bible doesn't fully explain. Roman would again provide a marvelous piece of history in the minutes that followed, a piece that would also become God Coincidence No. 2.

TO BE CONTINUED...