Transfiguration

The Church of the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor.

Just the other day we celebrated the feast of the Transfiguration and today we ascended Mount Tabor where Jesus took with him Peter and James and John and where they saw Moses and Elijah with Jesus transfigured. This pilgrimage has certainly helped me to understand and appreciate the distances between places. Some places are very close but others are a challenge to get to – climbing Mount Tabor is a feat and I can imagine, and appreciate, that Peter and James and John must have been tired when they arrived at the top of the mountain. We’ve had the opportunity to celebrate the Eucharist, pray, reflect and meditate at many of the sites that we have visited. Here, at the top of Mount Tabor we celebrated the Eucharist and reflected on the transfiguration of the ministry of Jesus and the suffering that was to come.

The city of Jericho.

We left Mount Tabor and travelled back South, towards Jerusalem, and stopped in Jericho – a common stop for people who were travelling to or from Galilee and Jerusalem. It was here that the people of Israel surrounded the ‘city’ and with loud shouts and the blowing of the trumpets the walls of the city crumbled.

The Orthodox Monastery on the Mount of Temptation where Jesus was tempted in the desert.

Finally today, we stopped again in the Judean desert where Jesus was tempted. It is a sight to marvel. This has been my first exposure to desert and as you look out into the wilderness you can’t help but be overcome by the immensity, the heat, the light, and the loneliness. So many accounts took place in the desert – Jesus spent 40 days and 40 nights in the desert after his baptism, Mary and Joseph crossed the desert fleeing from Herod, the people of Israel wandered the desert. It would have been common for Jesus to have crossed the desert with his disciples on the way to Jerusalem – and for miles and miles, all you would see is sand and more sand.

Me in the Judean desert.

A camel ride might be an easier way to get around in the Judean desert ... if you don't have a car!