The Village of Nazareth...where Jesus played as a little boy

The last 5 days we traveled north of Jerusalem to Galilee. This region surrounds the Sea of Galilee or sometimes called the Sea of Tiberius or even Lake Genesaret. It is beautiful; the Sea is really a big lake about 3 times the size of Lake Tarpon with a few differences: much, much deeper, much colder and no alligators! This makes for great swimming! And we did every evening after we got back to the hotel. It was very refreshing to be in the cool water after spending the day in the hot sun.

But I have to tell you there are these little fish. They are very brave and try to nibble on you while you swim. They don’t hurt, but they can tickle! Well, unless you get a bigger fish with a bigger mouth….


Our second day in Galilee we traveled southeast from the lake to the town of Nazareth. Today it is a rather large city where Christians, Jews and Muslims live. But 2000 years ago this village only had a rather small population of about 400 Jewish people. Everyone knew everyone and most likely they were all related to each other. Think of it as a big family reunion.


Being in Galilee lets us experience the daily life and ministry of Jesus – he lived here. Nazareth is the village where Mary and Joseph lived. It was here that Mary was visited by the Angel Gabriel and where she said yes to God’s amazing plan to give His Son to the world so that we would know how deeply we are loved. We mark this place with a beautiful church called the Church of the Annunciation. It is built over and around an ancient house we believe is Mary’s house. That’s pretty cool.


Before I go on you might want to see the pictures from that church. You can copy or click on this link to see my pictures of the Church of the Annunciation.


http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=103524862080258650375&target=ALBUM&id=5494779950516856433&authkey=Gv1sRgCIjS3uOApLHpogE&invite=CObbmZUL&feat=email


Our day in Nazareth took us to a very special place. It is actually a YMCA project they call Nazareth Village. We have toured a lot of excavations some of which go back 1200 years BEFORE Jesus. This site is a little different. They have put the flesh back on the old ruins to let us see, touch and hear what it was like to live in Nazareth 2000 years ago. It was a very special morning. But it also felt good to financially support the local Christians who struggle to keep their way of life and at times even rights to their homes. They are beautiful people. You have to let your heart see, because they speak a different language and they look different. If all I see is the differences I will never see the beauty of their hearts. I hope you can see that in my pictures.


We began inside with an introduction. You will see pictures of a cross and then pictures of a carpenter’s work room. Remember, St. Joseph was a carpenter and would have taught Jesus how to do the same work.


GOOD SHEPHERD

We moved outside and were greeted by sheep, goats and shepherds. There was much to learn here. You will see a pen with sheep in it. Notice that the shepherd stands at the entrance to the pen. At night he would sleep at the entrance; he is literally the sheep gate, putting his life between the sheep that want to wander off and the animals that would want to kill them for food.


Listen to these words from the 10th chapter of John’s Gospel:


"Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers."


Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. So again Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.


The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away--and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.




Jesus used the everyday language of the people he knew to teach them. The image of shepherds and sheep gates wasn’t foreign to them. They saw this all the time. Have you ever even touched a sheep?


From there we saw a vine pressing area and then a room where olives were pressed for their oil. It was fascinating to see the process.

Next we visited a carpenter’s workshop. The tools looked familiar just handmade instead of something bought from Home Depot. The man had made small stools for sitting on. They were short, very good for me. We actually used similar stools later in the day when we visited with a family who has 2000 year old Roman Bath House under their gift store.



We saw what a kitchen might look like. There were large pots for boiling water. They didn’t have stoves; they cooked over a small fire on the floor. We saw wooden spoons and wine skins which were made from the hides of animals. You can see these in my pictures. Again, using everyday language Jesus speaks of wineskins.




”Neither is new wine put into old wineskins; otherwise, the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins are destroyed; but new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved." – Matthew 9:17


The wineskins harden as they age, the wine is actually part of preserving the skins and the skins are part of preserving the wine. Today we bottle wine to store it conveniently.




We met a woman who takes the wool from the sheep, cleans it, dyes it pretty colors, then spins it into yarn so that it can be made into clothing, blankets, and other fabric article for around the house.




It was a fun morning. And we learned a lot about how Jesus, Mary and Joseph lived.

You can see all of my pictures from Nazareth Village at this link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=103524862080258650375&target=ALBUM&id=5494770117999269489&authkey=Gv1sRgCMPp4KzakYD5PA&invite=COGU2uwF&feat=email