Originally published 1/23/19
Caesarea Maritima is just up the road from Joppa and Tel Aviv, about 40 miles. A quick bus ride, but maybe a three-day walk. I've been thinking about these places in terms of how Jesus and Paul and Peter and the rest of them got around, and I now see why foot washing was a thing. Caesarea Maritima was built by Herod the Great in 22-10 BC, and had a palace, theatre, hippodrome, aqueduct and breakwater. The aqueducts brought water from Mount Carmel, which is about 25 miles to the northeast. Quite an engineering marvel, and a large city - maybe 12,000 - for its time. The hippodrome (horse-racing stadium) seated 15,000 and the breakwater (man-made port) was 1800 feet long with a system for flushing out silt via a sluice.
Ruins of the hippodrome at Caesarea Maritima. Built by Herod the Great, named after Caesar Augustus.
Several things of note happened here, Well, probably a lot more than this, but I'll just go over these few: Pontius Pilate was staying in Herod's luxurious palace here when he was called to tend business in crowded, urban, dirty Jerusalem, where a group of rabble-rousers wanted a guy who claimed to be King of the Jews crucified. There is a rock at Caesarea, (a replica; the real one is in a museum) that has Pilate's name carved in it.
Left: Shafiq talking about the rock discovered with Pilate's name etched in it. We were standing on the footprint of the palace Herod built. We could have been standing where Pilate stood.
Later, when Paul had just been converted and had begun preaching voraciously to the Jews (the leadership of whom did not take kindly to that), he was chased out of Damascus and Jerusalem and ended up in Caesarea, where he got on a boat to go home to Tarsus, which is across the Mediterranean in Turkey. I think a lot of people got on boats in Caesarea, on account of the breakwater, which we would call a marina, that Herod built. It was a place where boats could access the shore safely. Then Peter was summoned by Cornelius, the Roman officer, who was a Gentile (not Jewish). Cornelius' faithfulness made it clear to Peter that Jews were not only God's favorites. Acts 10:34. And they all saw the Holy Spirit come down upon those Gentiles, and so Peter baptized them. He got criticized for this later, but once he explained that the Holy Spirit came down upon those Gentiles, the Apostles got busy building the Kingdom of Christianity. Herod Agrippa I (grandson of Herod the Great) then died in Caesarea Maritima. He had the apostle James killed, and imprisoned Peter in Jerusalem when he discovered James' death pleased the Jewish leadership. An angel set Peter free after much fervent prayer, and Herod went back to Caesarea. It was there that he made a speech to a delegation from Tyre and Sidon, who depended on Caesarea for trade. After his speech, the people said "It is the voice of a god and not a man!" Acts 12:22 And just like that, he was struck down by an angel, filled with maggots and died. Right there. On the beach where we stood.
Shafiq our tour guide was quite emphatic that Herod could have died right there. We're not smiling about the maggot death. We're smiling because it was so unexpectedly cold and windy. Erosion has also occurred over a couple thousand years. The beach was was a lot further away than it is today.
Paul, whom many regard as the most important figure in Christianity, was imprisoned here for two years. He was called a troublemaker and a ringleader, but Felix, the governor, talked with Paul from time to time, but didn't call for a trial or a sentence. The next governor, Festus, was also kind, and acquiesced to his request to be tried before Caesar, as he maintained he did not oppose Jewish law nor desecrate the Temple, as the Jews accused him and demanded his death for. Dr. Wilton gave a short talk here, practically standing in the living room of Herod the Great's palace, where Pontius Pilate lived, where, when it rains, shards of pottery from thousands of years ago are revealed in the sand. He spoke about five things that Paul did that are important to remember. I can only remember three of them. (I think when he's on TV the list might appear on the screen, so that would make things like this easier to remember. And, it was cold as all get out that day and I was one sweater short. I live in Florida now.) He said Paul 1) Listened, 2) Trusted, and 3) was Outspoken in his faith. Well, that was depressing. I am terrible at all three of those things. I am writing these stories and doing additional research and reading of the stories in the Bible as a way to listen, and Michael is yelling at me from the other room that we've got to finish watching True Detective before the HBO trial runs out so we don't have to pay for HBO just to watch this one show. How can I listen for God through that? Michael gets to listen for God all day. It's hardly fair. I know, he works at an office in which I know they do not spend the entire day in Benedictine prayer. But how does the average person who works, manages a family, goes to the grocery store, loads laundry, cooks three meals a day and tries to exercise a few days a week listen for God in all that? Just yesterday I was wondering if I have to find a rooftop, which, unless we finish True Detective soon, I may have to. I have also wondered about trust in God. In my heart I trust him, but my head is often at war with my heart. Paul implores us that Anyone who trusts in him will never be disappointed, and he prayed that the God who gives hope will fill you with much joy and peace while you trust in him. Then your hope will overflow by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 10 and 15. Well, I am disappointed all the time, and lately, I have not been filled with joy and peace. So does that mean I don't trust God to answer my prayers, resolve my conflicts? I will juxtapose that with Paul being in jail for two years, and who then got lost at sea for three months. Again, likely not a Carnival Cruise on the Mediterranean. Yet he was still adamantly an advocate for Christ. How can I be at peace while working on a frustrating piece of software and being an unsuccessful sales person? I'm waiting for the Holy Spirit to comment on that, and am trying to listen through all the daily noise, but nothing yet. Which makes me feel ignored and loosens my trust. I know that life isn't easy, and work is hard, but I wonder why he has left me feeling this way for so long. So how could I possibly be outspoken about my faith, certainly not like Paul was, to the point of being put in jail and in the end being beheaded. I think I've decided that even if asked directly by God I probably won't yell at everyone in Fort Pierce. But I will write these stories, and openly examine what I saw in the Holy Land and what I think about it, on a deeply personal level. Maybe one person will read it and think along with me. (That's my version of the Baptist altar call, which Dr. Wilton did after each talk, even in Israel. Man, Baptists are persistent in their calls to conversion...just like Paul!)
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