Jerusalem to Nazareth

We spent our last full day in Jerusalem at a restaurant doing school.  The kids did well with this, but it was unfortunate because it was a nice day and our previous two days of tours had been really chilly and rainy.  We also still had places we would’ve liked to have visited in Jerusalem, but school has taken an unintended back-seat and we felt it was just as important to have a bit of a down day and catch up on writing and journaling to process all that we’ve been able to see.  Our time in Jerusalem was faster and fuller than we’d desired, we realized we’d pushed the kids a bit too hard and we’ve struggled to be patient and grace-filled as these sites are high on our list.  The reality is that everyone’s just been having a rough time getting by and processing and dealing with the reality of what we are seeing first-hand has been a struggle.

On our way to dinner we were so excited to pass an outdoor-gear-type shop and were able to get our daughter some badly needed new Keens.  Not only did hers put out an odor that could wilt flowers but they were too small as well. Mom and our son were also thrilled to get new water bottles as we have one son who seems to lose any water bottle he touches on this trip (including those he borrows)!

We met up with the sister of the people whose home we visited for the Shabbat of a Lifetime.  Mom had really enjoyed visiting with Rachel and our daughter was excited to have kids to be with, so when Rachel invited our family to join her family for dinner, we were thrilled!  We had a fun night of getting to know each other and enjoyed learning about their life in Jerusalem and getting their perspective on some of the circumstances we’d learned about while here.  Rachel and her husband Jonny have been curious about traveling abroad with their kids, so we hope that we were able to inspire them that it’s doable and totally worth it.  Once the kids warmed up to each other they had a great time playing together and were hard to separate when it came time to go.  They were even so gracious as to pick up the check.  We continue to be astounded by the kindness of strangers as we travel. 

Fun dinner with new friends who dream of traveling with their family

Bedtime that night was rough and we decided to let everyone sleep in and dad could pick up our rental vehicle and we would just have to see what all we were able to accomplish on our drive to Tiberius, The Sea of Gallilee.

It was about noon the following day when we pulled into Nazareth and learned that we were supposed to have a reservation to tour the Nazareth Village.  They were able to fit us in a couple of hours, which actually ended up working out well as we were able to walk to the market street and grab schwarma and visit the Church of the Annunciation.  This is the church that was built over the area where the angel appeared to the Virgin Mary and told her that she was going to have a child.

An entrance to the Church of the Annunciation with a statue of the young Mary above

The cave where the angel Gabriel visited Mary to tell her she would be with child (Luke 1:26-38)

Beautiful ceiling/window at the Church of the Annunciation

In front of the Church of the Annunciation with its Latin :)

Many countries have artwork of the Virgin Mary and Child displayed,
we found it interesting to see how different nationalities depict how they might have looked

Upon returning to the Nazareth Village we joined our tour group and immediately connected with a fun couple from New Zealand that were traveling the world for 2 years serving with different missionary organizations.  We had a great guide and were able to experience and learn what life might have been like in Nazareth during the days of Jesus when there were estimated only about 400 people living there.  Today there are more than 70,000 people living in Nazareth, 100% are Arab and 30% of them are Arab Christian.  The Nazareth Village is as much a tourist attraction as it is a place to educate the locals about who Jesus is and be a witness.

Original well in the top left corner and place where grapes would've been crushed and the juice
dripped down the small ravine into the well in the shadow at the bottom.  Sandals were not words when
they crushed grapes to prevent the seeds from being crushed and causing bitterness

Kids with an "actor" and donkey at the Nazareth Village

The most interesting take away we had from this tour was learning about the olive press and how it related to several of Jesus' teachings.  Olive trees are abundant in this area of the world and black olives are considered ripe and the oil is in these, while green olives don't have much oil so they are used for eating.  The olive press is actually a huge wheel powered by a donkey that spins and turns olives into a paste. Our youngest son was able to power the wheel around and show our group just how turns.  The paste is then placed in baskets with a hole in the bottom and crushed with a lever to to squeeze the oil out.  The first squeeze is oil used for the temple while the second is for eating and the third is for lamps. The significance of the olives being pressed and then squeezed again 3 times is insightful when one considers that Gethsemane is translated "oil press," and on the Mount of Olives, Jesus prayed three times regarding God's salvation plan to press and crush him for our iniquities.

G working the olive press that would make paste

From there learned about how tools and clothes were made during Christ's time and the tour wrapped up in a synagogue similar to the type of building Jesus would have read the scroll of Isaiah in (Luke 4:16-30).

G using a tool that caused the piece of wood in his hand to act like a drill

Our guide showing the naturally dyed yarns in his left hand with the shell that
created the unique and exquisite purple dye in his right hand.  Referring to Isaiah 1:18 and
how people would've understood when Isaiah said that our sins are as scarlet but will be
washed as white as snow, that this is impossible with man but that it is possible with God.

Our guide holding a scroll in the "synagogue" building

By the time we parted ways with our New Zealand friends, we decided to head straight to the Sea of Galilee.  Our Airbnb host had contacted us before we arrived and gave us the option of being upgraded to an apartment that was closer to the center of town, so we were curious what this was going to be like.  Unfortunately the place was cramped beyond belief, two people couldn’t pass each other anywhere in the tiny apartment and we didn’t even have room to unpack our backpacks during our 3 nights there.  The day having gotten off to a slow start and everyone doing the best they could do have patience and good attitudes, we adapted the goofy sayings on the walls of our new apartment as our go to moto and tried to keep a good sense of humor and perspective about our situation.

Well thought out saying on the wall of our tight apartment - ha!

At dinner when asked what’s been learned about life in the Bible days that’s brought depth to your understanding of Scripture, here were our answers:

Dad – words applied to local times but we can still relate

Mom – Example of olives being pressed three times related to Jesus being pressed and crushed, praying 3x at Gethsemane

C- Nazareth was a bad place, need to listen to our Youth Pastor Terry’s sermon “Straight Out of Nazareth”

CB – from our family devotions of Jesus’s parables, knowing that the mustard seed wasn’t the smallest seed people knew but it grew to be one of the biggest trees

G – The olive press was interesting

SJ – I just listen to what everyone says