Places visited: Sepphoris, Nazareth, Mt. Precipice, En Harod, Beth-Shan
Today we sadly left our temporary home in Galilee and returned to our less temporary home base in Jerusalem. (It is amazing how a little bit of familiarity can begin to feel like "home" when you are away from home!) Before we left the region we spent the day at a number of key sites, most of which had to do with the time and ministry of Jesus. That made them especially interesting.
Our first stop was the city of Sepphoris which had been burned down by the Romans in 4 BC and was in the process of being rebuilt by Herod Antipas (son of Herod the Great) in the time of Jesus. The city of Tiberias on the nearby shores of the Sea of Galilee was also being built at that same time. It was interesting to think about what role Joseph might have played in those building projects as a carpenter. Perhaps he was part of one of these massive building projects. Perhaps Jesus helped him. We will never know, but it provides another possible perspective.
Most of the places we visited today were later period cities which had heavy Greek and Roman influences on them. The question of how the Jews were to either fit into or stand firm against the influence of this Greek and Roman culture with is competing values and priorities jumps right out. Do they conform or do they transform? That pressure would have been familiar to Jesus' listeners. And it is into that pressure that Jesus calls them to be "the light of the world" and told them that they "are not of this world" and that Paul urged them not to conform to this world but to be transformed instead. That calling is still ours in the face of a culture that is not only ambivolent toward Jesus Christ and Christianity, but is more and more anti-Jesus and anti-Christian. We are faced with the same dilema...will we conform or will we dare to be different and be transformed by Jesus (which will then transform the culture around us)? Those are our only two options. Jesus told us plainly that he didn't come to take us out of the world. So, either we are conforming or transforming. Which will we choose? Which are we choosing?
One impressive feature of the Greek and Roman construction is the intricate mosaics that they placed everywhere...they couldn't stand open space! These mosaic are true works of art. Millions of tiny squares of stone of all different colors and hues are works of art that often tell a story. They were very impressive in the faded (and often dusty) state that they are now. I can only imagine how impressive they must have been when their colors were fresh and new and vibrant.
It was meaningful to stop for lunch at En-Harod where the spring of Gideon is located. As I knelt by the water and scooped it up with my hand I could imagine being one of Gideon's 300 men going against the thousands of Midianites. I was able to look across the Jezreel Valley and see where that hoard of Midianite soldiers would have been camped and waiting for battle. I was thankful that my moment at the spring was followed by a picnic lunch and not a bloody battle!
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