Walking In Peace

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We encounter in this reading the Sea of Galilee or sometimes called Tiberias or Kinneret. It is the lowest freshwater lake in the world and the second lowest lake of any kind. It is called a sea with the exception of Luke, who calls it “the Lake of Gennesaret”. The meaning of the word Galilee is a ring or region of the Gentiles. Even from the earliest times, it was not predominantly Jewish. The Hebrew word Galil means circlet or anything that is round. The Sea of Galilee is more rounded and wider where the Jordan empties into the Sea at the north and tapers to a more narrow lake in the south. This is where most of the fishing villages can be found. 

In John’s account of the feeding of the five thousand in our reading it is interesting that John refers to the fish eaten using the Greek word opsarion which many translate as “small fish”. St John is the only one to use this word. In actuality the word translates as “savory dish” or as we might say, hors d’ oeuvres. This is exactly the type of pickled fish found coming from the Sea of Galilee. This is a great example of the local color only John adds as he was a fisherman from the area.