Joppa, present day Jaffa, was the most important natural port on the coast of Israel in antiquity. It lay about 55 kilometers from Jerusalem and served as the gateway for those arriving by sea.
It was through Joppa that the cedar wood from Lebanon passed on its way to build Solomon’s temple, and later to rebuild the temple after the Babylonian exile.
In the book of Jonah, it was from there that the prophet set sail trying to flee from God’s command to preach in Nineveh, a vain attempt to escape the divine call.
In the New Testament, Joppa takes on new significance. Peter raised the disciple Tabitha there, a woman known for her kindness and care for the poor.
Staying at the house of Simon the tanner, Peter had the vision on the rooftop of the sheet with unclean animals, and there he understood that the gospel was also for the Gentiles.
Thus a small port marked by a flight became also the place where God taught his church not to close doors that he himself had already opened.
