Monday, February 3, 2014

Day 7; Cana, Nazareth, and Jacob's Well. Wow!

Today we left the Sea of Galilee. I got to see a good sunrise this time, huzzah!
The day it started out funny. No one was about to stay up to watch the Super Bowl as we all planned (it came on at 1:30am) except James Howell, and we were shocked over the score. For 30 minutes it's all we would talk about. That conversation ended, we boarded the bus and headed to Cana.

Cue the wine jokes! No one could resist. In all seriousness, this is where Jesus performed his 1st miracle, turning the water to wine. The town is actually called Kafr Kanna. 
See the wine shop in the last picture. See, the jokes have marketing relevance! Well we make it the Francisican Church that honors the Wedding of Cana at the traditional site. 
We happened to get there when they were holding Mass, and heard the hymns from underground in the ruins below. I'll upload it to Facebook later (I can't do that on the blogger app, so that's why). There were some old ruins underneath the church though containing ancient jars so that was cool.
We continued our journey this time to Nazareth. Now in Jesus' day it was probably barely 100 people. See if this looks like 100:
81,000 people today, and maybe 3% Christian. There is one cool spot here in Nazareth worth seeing, it's a replica living 1st Century Nazareth town located in the city. Now we feared it would be touristy, but it was amazing and felt quite real.
On the left is our guide Tali, who spoke perfect English and kept apologizing for it. Seriously she was awesome! This living town has volunteers who adopt the traditional dress and run the town, like a few places we have in the states. Here on the right is Simon, a shepherd who is wearing 1st century style clothing (guys have stripes like him, women adorn colors). His herd is made of sheep, goats, and one bossy rooster.
She explained that the goats are daring and love to lead and boss the sheep, which is common in herds this size. A good shepherd is needed. Sound familiar? I got to pet one. Pet the goats like at Carl Sandberg's!

Now when they bought the site, they found something interesting (this happens a lot here). On the limestone hill there was a pool looking thing and a flat area. What is it?
It's a wine press! The square area on the left would be filled with grapes and squashed with stomping of feet (feet are soft and perfect. If you used sticks or stones you would crush the seeds and make horrible wine), the juice would flow into the pool (see the channel?) be collected, ferment, and 40 days later da daa! The stomping of the grapes would be a time of celebration in Nazareth. Very cool!


We next met a carpenter. Now the Greek describing carpentry in the New Testament isn't about making furniture; they made tools, built houses, or were stone masons. Hard work. This one was making tools, and showed us how to work an ancient drill. It's like using a bow for spinning a stick with a drill bit you are pressing down (it's on the table). It's hard work living in Nazareth.
Next we met this lovely woman spinning sheared wool into yarn. Hard work again. What blew my mind was how to make the colors. When your ball is made you boil it to make colors. Easy materials make common colors, say orange peel for yellows to orange. What about blue or purple. Get this, they're from Mediterranean snails (okay, not just lying around), but they have to be kept alive for transport and dropped into the boiling water with the yarn to get the blues and purples. Yeah, poor snails, but doesn't it sound expensive? Thus blue and purple were for royalty or the extremely rich. 

Finally we reached a synagogue, much like the one that Jesus taught in and nearly got killed for it.
He read from the book of Isaiah (the scroll seen here), and it would freak out and confuse the people who knew him as a carpenter (1st century style). This would also serve as a meeting hall. Use this image in your mind if you like as you read Luke 4. 

Our pilgrimage continued through the West Bank as we entered Samaria. We entered the city of Jenin that has religious significance to scripture. In Luke 17 Jesus traveled to a border town between Galilee and Samaria and came across 10 lepers whom he healed (with the Samaritan who is the most thankful). Well here it is, Jenin!
We passed through to the outskirts to a steep mountain to a large mom & pop restaurant for lunch. As we start climbing we are passing all these Roman columns. Uh, okay. We get to the top, and there is the restaurant;
and this to the right;
What is this place?! Hang on they say, food is calling. Okay....and it's delicious. The owner also went to the University of Alabama and he shows it happily;
Okay, time for a short hike around this place. We find out this was first a big palace for the corrupt Israeli king Ahab and his wife Jezebel, and later a palace built by Herod the Great to impress his Roman bosses. It shows he tried hard;
Now there are the ruins of a Byzantine church here too. On Herod ruins. Why? Because it's a decent candidiate for the place where John the Baptist was beheaded, and the church was dedicated to him;

Our last official stop took us to Nablus, which is the captial of Samaria. It's huge, and full of people.
Why come here? Because Jacob's Well, THE WELL, is here!

Are we sure? Most towns and cities rely on springs (like Jerusalem), wells out here are very rare. So the odds are not completely certain but most clergy are convinced including the skeptical ones (like me). A giant Greek Orthodox Church covers the site;
Now photographs are rarely permitted inside, but our guide Deeb talked to the priest, explained our pilgrimage, and we were allowed. Now you are going to get mad at me, but I'm not going to post them here. It doesn't feel right. I may share them in worship, but that'll be as far as I go. I'll explain it though; 
You go into a giant cathedral filled with hundreds of images of Jesus, his mother Mary, the disciples, and a beautiful icon of Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at the well, Jacob's Well (John 4). So we go down into a very small room and there is the well, made of stone. The rope to the bucket is extremely long, and lowering it took forever. When it was drawn, the priest pointed at us and said, "Listen to the water fall." He poured a cup down; 3 1/2 Mississippi's later we heard the splash. Afterward we had the honor of drinking the cool lifegiving water. Remember what Jesus said, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of waterwelling up to eternal life." I think I've had a taste of that this day, and it's a peaceful feeling, holy, pure. I felt refreshed.
Here is the church at a distance as we left. 

Then we returned to Jerusalem at sunset. We're back again, following the footsteps of Christ, and they're going to be painful steps for sure (and it's literally spoken, 7 1/2 miles up and down tomorrow). But we had a detour of sorts. After supper Rev James Howell wanted to take a walk into the Old City. I'm not sure if he wanted to go alone, but a group of us sort of invited ourselves to tag along.

Here is where we ended up;
the Western Wall. It's normally a sea of people but not at this hour (7pm). I'll go into the logistics of the place tomorrow when we return, but know this is all that is left of the Temple (the one Herod the Great reconstructed). It's history, and legacy, and pain, such pain. And in the cracks there is grace. That's how God's grace works. It's in these cracks people leave prayers written on paper, folded, and placed in that crack. My prayer also came to rest in that broken but holy place, and I'll leave the rest to the One True God who loves me.

The remainder of our evening was more random and fun, we explored the street bazaars in the ancient Roman streets.
Most were closed, but a few were open. Some of my friends attempted to haggle (a skill I totally lack) and mostly struck out. I enjoyed watching though!

The evening is now night, but what a day. We followed Jesus, literally, and are back to the place where he warned, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing." (Matthew 23:37). What tomorrow holds, I don't know, but I feel it's going to be heavy. Pray for me, pray for us, and I shall remember you my friends in prayer. Peace be with you.
(Me in front of the ruins of Herod's Palace for Emperor Augustus).

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