What I Saw In The Holy Land, 9
Not what you expected, right? I always pictured the people sitting on rocks, such as you might find in the hills of Judea, but no, the Mount of Beatitudes is lush and green. In 2000, the American tv station CBS ran a mini-series on the life of Christ which was generally execrable (Christ suffers from teen angst, mostly), but I did appreciate its Sermon on the Mount scene. Instead of the wild-eyed, solemn & mystical Christ of Zefferelli's imagining, it showed an engaging Christ walking a bit among the crowd, delivering the sermon in a give-and-take style, in interaction with questions and even smart-aleck remarks from the crowd. I'm sure that's what it must have been like. His teaching was challenging, but his style was warm and engaging, I think.
If you visit here, you must send someone from your party down to the shoreline to speak, otherwise you'll find yourself doubting whether anyone could have heard Christ's words, because at the top of the hill the wind seems to carry words away. But if the speaker is at the shoreline, you'll be astonished at what you can hear --the place is a natural amphitheater. All groups visiting Mt. Beatitude seem to share the instinct to read the entire Sermon on the Mount aloud while they're there, and it's a wonderful experience of unity in diversity to hear Christians from all over the world reading the gospels in their respective languages. In our group alone there was Spanish, French, German & English, but we also heard Japanese, Korean, Polish --and the colorfully dressed group from somewhere in Africa (Nigeria?) was reading in English.
As you can see from the photo, the lakeshore is marvelously untouched, so all the sites around Galilee are unspoiled and peaceful. Even though our visit here ended up overcast and a little drizzly, I could have stayed and enjoyed the quiet on the grounds for hours longer, recalling the words of another pilgrim who came here on a rainy day. (Photo credits.)
