Pilgrimage to Israel Day 7

Pilgrimage to Israel Day 7

We packed our bags and said goodbye to Jerusalem. What an amazing city! Full of so much history and religious significance for so many people. We hopped in our rental car and drove north to Nazareth...but there were a few things to see along the way.

First stop was the Inn of the Good Samaritan. Of course the Good Samaritan story is a parable Jesus told when asked "Who is my neighbor whom I should love?" It seems that an inn was established just after Jesus' time along the road from Jericho to Jerusalem, where the parable took place. This provided rest and refreshment for the many travelers and pilgrims who were on their way to Jerusalem.

Second stop was the archeological park of Beit Shean. Here excavations have unearthed an entire city. 6,000 years ago it is mentioned in scripture as King Saul is defeated on nearby Mt. Gilboa (2 Samuel 21:11-12 "Beth-Shan") 2,300 years ago it was rebuilt and thrived for 1,000 years until an earthquake destroyed it in 749 so it was an active city in Jesus' time.

Our final stop before Nazareth was Mt. Tabor, also known as the place of Jesus' transfiguration. It was hard enough to drive up this mountain, much less imagine Jesus and three of his disciples climbing it. Jesus was in shape! The view was spectacular. There is a church commemorating the event recorded in scripture (Matthew 17:1-13)

When we arrived in Nazareth we saw quite a few sites. Nazareth was where Mary and Joseph were living before getting married and where they returned after coming out of exile in Egypt.  This is Jesus' hometown.  The Greek Orthodox faith believe Mary was at a well when the angel came to announce her unexpected pregnancy. We saw "Mary's Well" where that event is remembered.

There is also a church that has "Mary's Spring" running through it, a small stream that passes through the front of the church. How would you like to hear a babbling brook during worship. I guess that's better than a babbling preacher!

Another site we saw was an ancient Roman bathhouse, quite likely where Joseph, Mary, and Jesus went to take their baths. We actually got to crawl underneath and see the tunnels where the hot air of the furnace heated up the water to steam to create a sauna and the pipes that carried the water to the different chambers. Pretty neat to be in the same bathhouse dated back to Jesus time in the village where he grew up.

But the highlight of Nazareth today was the Nazareth Village. Christians have re-created an entire village of what life was like in Jesus' day. Volunteers (including children when they are not in school) dress up in appropriate clothing for that time and do the work people did back then. There is the vineyard where grapes are grown and the rocks where the village would gather and smash the grapes with their feet while the juice ran into small channels and collected at the bottom. No, we didn't try any of that wine. The watchman stands guard to protect the crops.

We saw an ancient oil press, where olives were put and then a donkey pushed the wheel around to smash them and created the oil collected in the cloth baskets and then strained and pressed to get the oil out of the baskets.  Guess who the donkey is!

We saw the herbs and spices of the day - lavendar, rosemary, and others.

We witnessed wood workers using replicated ancient tools and fixing the cart that had broken a few days earlier. The actors are real wood workers who own a store in Nazareth so they knew what they were doing.

A woman was spinning cotton into thread and then weaving it to make beautiful blankets. Back then, different dyes cost different amounts of money, purple being the most expensive and blue being the second most expensive.  That's why only royalty wore purple (no wonder purple is my favorite color) and wealthy people wore blue.

Overall we were thrilled to be in the city where Jesus grew up and learning his way of life. Maybe he resembled this picture.