On the Hunt for Loaves and Fishes

 

                                                              Horvat Susita Golan Heights

You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid.  People do not light a lamp and put it under the bushel basket; rather, they put it on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

Matthew 5: 14-16 NRSVue

 They replied, “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.”  And [Jesus] said, "Bring them to me" Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.  And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full.  And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

Matthew 14: 17-21 NRSVue 

In an earlier time of life I took three groups of people to Israel and then simply ran out of steam for involvement in these sorts of excursions. Twenty-eight years later Ruth and I returned after years of coaxing by her sister who has lived there for more than three decades. She lured us with the promise of a trip designed to meet our interests and she certainly delivered during our recent visit. 

We did return to a number of places because they were meaningful in the past and we knew that some archeological sites had been explored much more extensively since we were last there. We also visited places which were new to us, including national parks and nature reserves. 

                                                                       Five Loaves mosaic

While in the Galilee we searched out an archeological park called Horvat Susita which has been excavated over the past twenty years but only opened to the public a month ago. For a couple of days we rented an Airbnb on the west side of the Sea of Galilee along with a car for snooping about. So, we circled around the north of the iconic lake to the Golan Heights and climbed a switchback road to get the astonishing view from the east at Horvat Susita. There are the ruins of no less than seven churches on the site and one has a mosaic showing a basket of loaves and fish, leading some scholars to speculate that this could be close to the place where Jesus fed the crowd by miraculously multiplying the meagre fare of a child rather than traditional bgha at the north of Galilee/Kinneret. 

It has also been suggested that when Jesus encouraged his followers to be the light of the world like a city built on a hill he was drawing on Horvat Susita as his inspiration. We won't ever know, at least not in this realm, but it's fun to speculate. One of the wonderful aspects of visiting Israel is that scripture comes to life, often in unexpected ways.