Pella 

Al-Maghtas is considered the historical location of Jesus' baptism, and the ruins of ancient Pella. Pella is located in the northwestern part of Jordan, which was formerly known as Perea. Pella is known as the site of many of the activities of John the Baptist and more specifically the site where John baptized his cousin, Jesus of Nazareth. Pella became well known as the headquarters in Jesus’ later public ministry in Perea, and is still the site where many make a pilgrimage to be baptized in the Jordan River.

Pella is located 130 kilometers from Amman. It is located at the eastern edge of the Jordan Valley, a fertile region in Jordan, and lies very close to the Jordan River. Pella has been almost continuously occupied from the Paleolithic (Old Stone Age) through the Neolithic times (New Stone Age) when people first started to change their economy from food gathering to food-producing. It was one of the first agricultural settlements built in the area. Perea in those times was the most beautiful and picturesque province of all Palestine, but like so many places in Jordan, the city of Pella was destroyed by the terrible earthquake of 747 CE.

The city was first built by the Greeks in the 4th century. It was named Pella after the birthplace of Alexander the Great in Macedonia. It was a very important city in the Greek period. The first literary reference to the city is from the 19th century BCE when it is mentioned in Egyptian texts as Pihilum, or Pehel. It was a flourishing trade center, with links to Syria and Cyprus as well as Egypt. Perea of ancient times was referred to by the Jews as “the land beyond the Jordan.” Pella was about equally gentile and Jewish, the Jews having been generally removed from these regions during the times of Judas Maccabee. After the Roman general Pompey’s conquest in 63 BCE, its prosperity increased further as one of the cities of the Roman Decapolis and the Roman city more or less eliminated the Hellenistic city. The Byzantine era saw a revitalization of Pella, as trade routes strengthened and local industries developed.

Pella features excavated ruins from the Greco-Roman period, including an Odeon (a small theater used for musical performances) built in a curve of the hillside. At the base of the main mound (on your right as you pass through the entrance) are the limited remains of a Roman gate to the city. Atop the hill are the ruins of an Umayyad settlement, which consisted of shops, residences, and storehouses. The small, square Mamluk mosque to the west dates from the 14th century CE. After the 7th century Arab conquest, Pella continued as an Umayyad city for just over 100 years, and some superb pottery remains have been found there, made in the Jerash kilns.

An ancient Byzantine era church still stands on the hillside overlooking the valley while another is near the river at the foot of the ancient tell. Carved into the southern side of the hill is the recently excavated Canaanite temple dedicated to the Canaanite God Baal, constructed in around 1270 BCE. East of the civic complex church are the low-lying remains of a Roman nymphaeum (public fountain). There are also stones of a Byzantine fort and a Roman temple. In ruins, much of the city’s grandeur needs to be imagined.

Pella was a nearby village to the site where John the Baptist established his camp, and the spot where Jesus and his brothers James and Jude were baptized. Even though the Jerusalem Sanhedrin harassed him, over time, John baptized over 100,000 believers, and as time passed, rumors came to Capernaum where Jesus worked as a boatbuilder at the time. Jesus listened to these reports as John slowly worked his way up the Jordan valley from the Jordan ford nearest to Jerusalem. But Jesus worked on making boats, until John had journeyed up the river to a point near Pella in the month of January of 26 CE, when he laid down his tools and declared his hour had come; presently presenting himself to John for baptism.

The baptism of Jesus and the celestial visitation associated with it have become legend as it was recorded; as the voice of God spoke saying: “This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.” Others nearby heard the voice, and Jesus experienced the final unveiling of the last of his prior memories of his life on high before coming to live on this world, in addition to being shown a pageant of celestial grandeur that assured him of his role as the Son of God. After Jesus’ baptism, he entered a period of forty days of isolation in the Perean hills where he spent the time in meditation and serious contemplation; deciding the future path he would take, and the methods he would pursue to enlighten the world.

During the time just after Jesus returned from his forty days in the hills, he spent some time in Pella with John the Baptist and his disciples, who were all profoundly impressed with Jesus. John had told them that Jesus was the one they had all been waiting for and four of them, Andrew, Simon Peter, James, and John left with Jesus when he returned to Capernaum. Along the way he gathered two more apostles named Philip and Nathaniel; and for many months Jesus continued to train and prepare them. Before long, and with Jesus’ approval, each man chose and sponsored another new devotee which would be trained to become one of the twelve apostles of Jesus.

Sunday morning, February 24, 26 CE, Jesus took leave of John the Baptist by the river near Pella, never to see him again in the flesh. After the arrest of John by Herod Antipas, Jesus returned to the Pella area to teach and preach. After John had been in prison for a year and a half, he sent special friends to Jesus to deliver his last message and to inquire about the status of the kingdom of heaven. Jesus sent words of comfort back to John and assured him that he was not forgotten, and that the poor had good tidings preached to them and believed. John the Baptist was executed by order of Herod Antipas on the evening of January 10, 28 CE. It was at this time that the disciples of John and the apostles of Jesus met in joint council and after that time, with few exceptions, the disciples of John followed Jesus.

Pella was the site of the Sermon of the Good Shepherd, (among many other notable sermons) taught in the presence of the apostles of Jesus, disciples, Pharisees, and others including a company of over 300 people who had followed them from Jerusalem after they attended the Feast of the Dedication. In the presence of these friends and enemies, Jesus taught the parable of the True Shepherd and his words confused and amazed everyone. His enemies said, “He is either mad or has a devil.” But some of the Jerusalem teachers said: “He speaks like one having authority; besides, who ever saw one having a devil open the eyes of a man born blind and do all of the wonderful things which this man has done?” By the next day, half of these Jewish teachers believed in Jesus and the other half returned to Jerusalem and their homes in dismay.

The Pella camp headquarters of Jesus and the 12 apostles was established December 6, 29 CE and could accommodate up to 500 visitors. It was located at John the Baptist’s former camp near the Jordan River. To accommodate up to 1500 visitors that would come to hear the teachings of Jesus and the apostles, David Zebedee (brother of two of the apostles) set up a tent city one half mile north of the apostolic camp. It was no longer necessary for Jesus to go abroad to teach the people. They now came to him in increasing numbers each week and from all parts, not only from Palestine but from the whole Roman world and from the Near East. The multitudes grew to be thousands of persons and it was at Pella that Jesus experienced a rare moment of emotional ecstasy in response to the faith and belief of his followers and the multitudes.

On March 13, 30 CE, Jesus and his apostles took final leave, and David Zebedee closed the Pella camp. It is of record that many of the followers of Jesus escaped to Pella after the siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE because of Jesus’ warning on the Mount of Olives just before his arrest and crucifixion. It was there that Isador wrote the Gospel according to Matthew.

The work of the kingdom in Pella included a group of devoted women who had been trained to minister to the sick and afflicted. They toured Perea and numbered as many as sixty-two; taking over much of the work including home visitation and in the art of ministering to the sick. Jesus established the Women’s Evangelistic Corps to be religious teachers and, in those times, women were not allowed on the main floor of the synagogue or to even greet their husbands in public, so Jesus’ action and his broader treatment of women was astounding for that day and age. Jesus empowered all people to achieve their best destinies. He said many times that in heaven there would be no special regard for race, gender, affluence or privilege. Jesus proved that all are equally welcome in heaven.