Skip to main content

Day Four: From Nazareth to Mount Tabor (February 2, 2012)

Behind me is a first century home in Nazareth. Jesus lived here or walked here.  What an honor to stand right here.
I was amazed to notice the shape of the cross in the rock formation of the wall that stands near Jesus' home! It wasn't put there on purpose by the builder, did Jesus ever notice it?

Jesus' favorite time to pray is while it is still dark!


Sunrise on Lake Galilee is a moving experience.  The light is purer here.

     Nazareth stands out among the places of Galilee that one would look for Jesus. In fact, Isaiah 9:1-2 prophesies that the light will come to Galilee. ”But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.” Nazareth and Capernaum are the same geographical places for the cities to which Isaiah refers. Why was a devout Jew like Joseph living in Nazareth? It was because of this scripture in Isaiah. Sadly, the people of Nazareth who worshiped in the Synagogue to whom Jesus revealed His true identity (through Isaiah’s prophesy no less—Isaiah 61) did not believe Him and tried to throw Him off the cliff here. Jesus explained that a prophet is never accepted in His hometown (Luke 4:14-30).
     The spiritual journey always makes great strides through humility. Nazareth of Jesus’ day was known as a humble place. Mary said it (Luke 1:48, 51-52); Nathaniel said it (John 1:46). It is also a place of surrender to God’s will. Mary made her monumental statement agreeing to her part in God’s plan to turn the world right-side up! (And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her. Luke1:38). It is such a humble town and so small that I imagine, since Jesus lived here for 30 years of His life, at least one of the steps I took today was in the exact footsteps of Jesus. The spiritual journey is undertaken from the starting point of humility. This truth was reinforced in every experience I had in Nazareth.
     Waking up near the shore of Galilee is a blessing. I can't explain the wonder of going out on my balcony at Jesus favorite time to pray, just before dark then watching the world transform as the sun peaks through the clouds.  The fish jump, the birds sing.  The world stops to praise God. My Sea of Galilee experince was so full of joy.  You won't believe what happened when I walked down to the beach! I ran into a Tea Time reader who saw my name tag. What a small world and another confirmation of God's goodness to me.
     The Nazareth Village tour is so informational I got writers cramp taking notes. What moved my soul was looking at a historically accurate cross. The small size is humbling and it helped me realize the intimacy of the cross. I will never imagine the cross the same.

The Mount of Transfigeration was an amazing experience. May I be transformed to live like Him!
Dr. Deborah Newman

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Pilgrimage that Started with Tears

                Who would think I would shed tears deciding to set out on a wonderful journey that I have longed to take for many years?   Before I was ready to fully accept God’s invitation for a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, I had to journey to a place of agreement between what my soul wanted and what the Lord wanted for me.   For years I have been declining opportunities to travel to Israel—not because I didn’t want to go but because I wanted to go with my husband by my side.   I know that God could have arranged that for me, but instead He asked me to accept that He wanted me to be willing to go and leave everything behind.   When I was asked to make a decision about going on a Pilgrimage to Jerusalem, God gave me this verse in answer to my prayer -- Debi, observe therefore all the commands I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to go in and take over the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess (Deuteronomy 11:8).   I decided through tears that I would go on
2 comments
Read more

Day Nine - Journey's End

    I didn't think I could write today, but do to bad weather we now have extra time at the airport. Today we looked over the model city and I can't believe all I have learned. Some of the excavations since the model was completed reveal differences in what they built in the model. What amazed me was that I could see what wasn't where I expected based on what I experienced. Here is a wide view of the Model City which is 1:5 scale.  It was created by a Jewish man who wanted his son to understand what Jerusalem was once like.  Someone said that if you didn't see Jerusalem during the time of Herod the Great, you have never seen a beautiful city.  Do you understand what I mean about how grand this Temple was?            Next we saw the Dead Sea Scrolls.  I learned a lot about the Essenes.  They lived like monks today.  Like Jesus, they were not happy with the way the Temple was being run and they came to the desert to offer truly holy sacrifices, untainted by the mismanage
2 comments
Read more

Not Treating Others as Their Sins Deserve

            Turning the other cheek has become a Christian cliché.   These beautiful and penetrating words of Jesus are minimized when we humans try to apply them without God.   The best we can do to achieve Jesus’ description in our power is repress our anger about the way someone sins against us.   This only serves to make us look stupid to the world, creates ulcers, or causes an unplanned, embarrassing, public explosion of anger.   Jesus spoke these words and many others like them to invoke the spiritual understanding that it is impossible to live out His directions for our lives without Him.   He has no intention of our trying to take His work on in our flesh.             It happens all the time in marriages and other relationships where one person who thinks they need to be a certain way to please God centers his or her relationships around keeping peace.   I don’t believe that kind of turning the other cheek is very pleasing to God.               No, God is inviting us
2 comments
Read more