(This is Zippori. Actually, me in Zippori. I'll write more on Zippori later in this blog. I am never sure how many picutres of myself to include in these posts...)
Today we went to Zippori. Dan (the other organizer of this trip and honestly the person who has done the vast majority of the work for it) and I really wanted to come here. In the picture above I am in Zippori, now an Israeli National Park. Zippori was the "capital of Galilee," next to the major Roman highway the Via Maris. And it is only 2 or so miles from Nazareth. At the time of Jesus' boyhood, Nazareth would have been a village of 200 or so people, most of whom lived in caves.
Caves like this one, preseved by the Roman Catholic Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth.
Zippori was cosmopolitan, Roman, and a major center for Jewish learning. Along the Via Maris, it is a place where Jesus would have been exposed to the cutting edge Jewish thought of his day and to hours on end of Old Testament commentary and discussion. It was also, as a Roman city where Herod built a palace/fortress a place where Jesus would have seen many, many gentiles. Thus, many scholars think most of Jesus' formal education took place in Zippori. It is impossible to know. What we do know is that when he arrived in Capernaum after that long period in his life between his visit to Jerusalem at 12 and the time when he called his disciples, he became wise and learned and grew in his understanding (see Luke 2:52).
So Zippori is an important, and often overlooked stop when visiting the Holy Land.
(Zippori was a Roman city, and reached its apex in the 2nd century. The Israeli's call it the jewel of Galilee, in part because after the destruction of the temple in 70 AD, the Jewish leaders resettled there in Zippori. This means that Zippori was integral to the formation of the Talmud and the Mishnah, critical texts for Judaism even until today. Above are chariot tracks -- this is for my kids: P, G, and A these are real chariot tracks on the Cordo Maximo in Zippori! -- which is evidence of its value as a commercial center.)
As we pulled into Nazareth, one of our group members (I'll call him "J") started singing The Band's song, "The Weight." You may know it: "I pulled into Nazareth, I was feeling about half past dead."
Nazareth in the days of Jesus was a little village. Today it has 100,000 or so people. It is bustling and crowded. Cars going every which way. Vendors selling everything under the sun. Noisy, smelly, and, especially when counting the pilgrims here, international. At our hotel, which seems to be owned and managed by Palestinian Christians, we have met Palestinians who were born in Georgia, who live here but travel to Europe monthly, or who have family currently in the U.S.. Nazareth (google this phrase, "what good can come from Nazareth?") is not overlooked town anymore.
(Members of our group on the bus headed to Nazareth today.)
(The streets of the old city are crammed and covered. Here is our guide, Tony, with members of the group milling around and shopping in the crammed streets.)
(Here we are walking to our hotel in Nazareth. The streets are so tight the bus has to drop us off and we walked the rest of the way.)
Nazareth has Christians, Jews, and Muslims -- native Palestinians and people who have moved here from around the world. There is graffiti. There is Western Music -- I heard "Thrit Shop" by Maclemore booming from the health club and the aerobics class on one side of the hotel. On the other side middle-school boys with Premire League team shirts played soccer on the playground at the Greek Orthodox Church and school (P,G, and A - I have a video!).
The annunciation is, of course, the announcement from Gabriel to Mary, in Nazareth, that her child would be Jesus. And that is kind of a big deal. And people - Catholics, Pentecostals, Europeans, Africans, Arabs, people speaking Chinese, and at least 19 North Carolinians -- people stream from all over the world to pray here and gaze upon the church. Here is what you need to know: the church is built over 2 or 3 other churches which had occupied the site before. And on the bottom floor of the church is the cave where many believe that Gabriel spoke to Mary (though this is contested). The architecture is stunning. My pictures do not do it justice.
I will share this:
And this:
Incarnation. It doesn't start in Bethlehem. It starts in Nazareth. That is why Mary is so venerated and why the church is so important here.
There are people who have a mystical experience when they come here. I get that.
As we sat in the Basilica, an English speaking priest read the anunciation story from Luke in English to the people he had brought here. To hear that story, Gabriel saying to Mary, "greetings favored one!" in this church over that cave! A moment! And I get that.
But beyond the mystical is this. Jesus was not invented. He was real. Flesh and bone like you. Like me. He had a history and place. And it is all around. And no the history since then is not clean or easy or simple. Yes it is contested and debated. There are points, counterpoints, and everything in between. To many of my friends the church must seem more like crossfire than peacemaking.
Even in light of all of that, it is a claim we can make becaue the Savior was real and he was here. Blocks from where I sit. At some point in time, he walked this hill as we do today.
And the real-ness of that claim cannot be undone. Even the simplest person has a real history and a real claim.
And this claim about Jesus? Well, as I said yesterday, it is available for any. And if we listen to what he said, and give witness to who he was? My goodness...
My goodness...
My goodness. That is grace abundant.
"And now our God, grant us peace for the night. That here in Nazareth we might see something of the story of our Savior that we have never seen before. And seeing it, we might ever seek to share, that others might hear of your love, your peace, your grace, your forgiveness..... Amen."
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