Today was so full. We spent almost all of it in the areas around which
Jesus would have grown up. Nazareth was in sight for many of the miles
we hiked, and we saw and discussed many things that
helped shape Jesus
as "fully man" One highlight was spending time around a 1st century
quarry out of which came the stones uses to build Herod Antipas'
palace. Since Jesus was a Tekton and knew how to work with stone, it is
very likely he spent time in that very place. I know a statement like
that blows every image you've ever had of woodworking Jesus. I'm not
saying he never worked with wood, but this is a country of rocks and
stone. Lots of rocks and stone, and precious little timber. Especially
near where Jesus grew up.
The hike to that quarry was especially remarkable. We added another to
our list of "Firsts" on this trip when we hikes through a rain storm.
And I do mean storm. Today's rain was the first September rain in over
60 years! It was a great blessing.
After lunch we headed into Sepphoris (or Zippori). This was the
location of Herod's palace and the main
city of the Herodian Jews. The
archaeologists from Duke have uncovered some amazing mosaics and
uncovered what is clearly a Greek influenced city. It is at once
impressive and disturbing. One can see in the art and construction that
the Herodians had bought completely into the Hellenistic world view.
The progression is obvious and it is sobering. Sobering because their
history is anear mirror of our own.
The day ended with another hike up a mountain. This one is named "The
Horns of Hittin". The view of
the Galilee is stunning and it was a
marvelous place to try and process the past three days. We said goodbye
to the Galilee this evening and will be leaving tomorrow for Jerusalem.
I saved the first stop of the morning for the end because it was the
most insightful of the day. As we
stood in a two thousand year old
field Ray began to give some insight into the Parable the Sower. The
first piece was that know Jew would call it that. Instead they would
call it The Parable of the Soil. The main question to them and the
disciples is, "What kind of soil are you?" Thia teaching of Jesus is
simply brilliant. We learned there are several Hebrew Bible (Old
Testament) passages refrenced in this teaching and that all of it is
amazingly visual. This is especially true when standing in a field
which Jesus himself could easily have seen. We closed this Faith Lesson
with a
powerful symbolic rock stacking ceremony. Everyone placing a
stone on the pile did so with the commitment to be "good soil".
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