Nazareth

View from our hotel room window

I’m looking out my 9th floor hotel window as I type this at 7:00pm (noon Saturday in Pflugerville). The entire city of Nazareth is lit up below. We had a full day visiting Cana, Sepphoris, and Nazareth Village. At Cana the leader of our group surprised us by asking Sandy and I to renew our vows in the small church. It was a great moment, although I was a bit disappointed that Jesus didn’t show up to turn the water into wine.

Renewing our Vows in Cana
Sepphoris is not mentioned in the NT, which is odd since it is a 40 minute walk from Nazareth and was the capital of the province. It was a much larger city than Nazareth when Jesus lived here and most likely employed most of the men of Nazareth in the extensive building projects. Joseph probably relocated to Nazareth to work as a carpenter in Sepphoris.
Mozaic in Sepphors
After Sepphoris we visited Nazareth Village, a recreation of a portion of Nazareth as it was 2000 years ago. It was very well done. Every thing from the synagogue to the threshing floor were authentic in the way they were created. The young Arab Christian who was our guide through the village was a deeply committed Christian who told the story of Jesus as he explained each part of the village. We had lunch there, and the pastor of a local Baptist church joined us. The most inspiring part of the day was hearing him talk about what God is doing in this place 2000 years after Jesus lived here. Tomorrow we are worshipping at his church and then each one in our group is going home with a church member for to have lunch. I can’t wait!

Reading the scroll in the synagogue of Nazareth