When you first see it, it looks like a spaceship! With glass windows all around it, you’re thinking no way that’s Peter’s house. And you’d be right, it’s actually a modern Catholic church built right on top of Peter’s humble abode that you can see from above and from the side. Excavations have revealed fishhooks, Herodian lamps, coins from Agrippa’s rule, Christian graffiti, and prayers referring to Jesus and Peter. Since there was no paste or mortar between the unhewn rocks, it suggests that the roof would have been beams, branches and an earth straw mixture consistent with Mark 2:4 and how the paralytic was let down through the roof. The synagogue next door dates from the 2nd and 3rd centuries, but excavators have concluded that the stone floor and the western wall are remains of the synagogue from the time of Jesus. That means that the distance from the sea to the synagogue and Simon’s home is only a few hundred feet. This makes perfect sense if you’re a fisherman, because who’s going to haul a bunch of fish far away. What I still don’t understand is why the synagogue is so close to the sea and literally right next to Simon Peter’s home. I mean we’re talking around 40 feet! Luke’s gospel indicates that a synagogue was built by a Roman officer. Could this be the reason why it’s in the center of town and Peter later goes to visit another officer, Cornelius?
spaceship cathedral on top of Simon Peter’s home
Simon Peter’s circular home in the background
Cathedral sits on top of Simon Peter’s home, where Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law.
Around The World In 70 days 