Well, today has been far from disappointing and almost a
little overwhelming by the time the day draw to a close. I’ve heard the various stories from the Bible
probably from the time when someone could first read to me and I was able to
remember what was said and it was at times a touch emotional to think that we
were in the places where these things are said to have taken place.
And little did I imagine when the day began
that I would read to our travel group the bible story of Jesus being baptised
in the Jordan while standing by the very spot where it is said to have
occurred. And even more so, I never
thought I might read the bible account of the Sermon of the Mount to our group
on the very spot where Christ is said to have delivered the ‘sermon’ himself.
We were duly in the ship’s theatre by 7.30am and it took a
little while to get to the bus. Israeli security staff were checking everyone
against passports and their landing cards and all our belongings had to go
through the scanner.
And then we were off.
Israel looks very much as you might expect it to look after a long, hot
summer. The rains are due in December
and January, but the overall look is what you might expect it to be if you
think back to the pictures you’ve seen of the Bible stories.
The weather has been lovely all day, calm and sunny and
around 75˚F
/ 25˚C.
‘Fake News’ Warning!
You may choose to believe all, some or none of what follows,
so here goes.
First of all, we drove east from Haifa towards Nazareth and
the Church of the Annunciation.
Luke 1:26-38 – “In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s
pregnancy, God sent the Angel Gabriel to
Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named
Joseph, a descendant of David. The
virgin’s name was Mary.”
 |
| They get everywhere! |
 |
| Can't believe I'm seeing this on the signs |
 |
| The West Door depicting scenes from Christ's life |
 |
| The site of the house where Mary lived when the angel appeared to her |
 |
| Upstairs is the church for locals |
Nazareth
It’s one thing to be walking in the footsteps of Jesus, but
in his time most of these places were some metres below today’s surface. On the Church of the Annunciation complex,
they’ve excavated small patches of ground to reveal the Nazareth of Jesus’s day. While we gathered there as others were having
a toilet break, our guide, Aminadav explained some more generalities of where
we were.
By the way, all toilets in
Israel which are not in hotels or restaurants serving us food or drink are
payable. Here the rate was 2 New Israeli Shekels (around 45p) but at the River Jordan site it was NIS 2 or USD 2 or €2,
so an interesting – and for foreigners expensive - exchange rate!
We moved up the hill in the complex to see the house where
Joseph lived. They’ve excavated where it was believed to be and, as always,
have built a church over the site! The whole
complex was designed by an Italian architect in 1969 and funded by donations
from churches all over the world. None
of the main religious sites are state-owned or owned by the equivalent of such as our
National Trust, but by one or more religious interest groups and in some cases,
the joint ownership aspects of these places can get very fraught, restrictive
and petty, especially in Jerusalem.
After Joseph’s house we moved back down the hill to find the
coach.
 |
| Old Nazareth beneath our feet |
 |
| Our guide |
 |
| Joseph's house is below us |
 |
| Well |
 |
| A rare sculpture of Christ as child. We normally only see him as a baby or as an adult |
 |
| The Church of the Annunciation is on the right and Joseph's house s on the left |
 |
| Going down the hill to find th coach |
 |
| Central Nazareth! |
 |
| "Nice dresses", says Mum |
 |
| No, Jesus didn't get a takeaway here! |
No comments:
Post a Comment