Day 4 of Immersion: Holy Sites

Above:  Today’s first activity. #jolieneinthemiddleeast (at City Of Nazareth)

After a conversation at Sabeel, we began our tour of holy sites in the Nazareth and Galilee region.

One of the first places we went had uncovered a first century Jewish home.  Perhaps it was similar to the home Jesus grew up in or homes that he played in as a child.

Above:  A home from the time of Jesus in his hometown. (at City Of Nazareth)

Above: Some believe this is the site of the Annunciation. (at Basilica of the Annunciation)

Here are some more views of the Church of the Annunciation:

Church of St. Joseph. (at St. Joseph’s Church, Nazareth)

We continued in Nazareth to the Synagogue Church, a church built atop a synagogue that some think may have been where Jesus worshiped while living in Nazareth:

Above:  Some believe this site was that of Jesus’ synagogue. (at The Synagogue Church)

 After this, we went to the Wedding Church of Cana at Galilee.  This spot is supposed to have been the site of the miracle in which Jesus turned water into wine.  This is the jug which they believe Jesus used:

Above:  (at Wedding Church in Cana of Galillee)

Believed to be the site at which the wedding at Cana took place. The Franciscan church believes this is the jug. You may be able to tell that the jug is HUGE.  It's much bigger than I'd imagined it would be.  Apparently first century Jews enjoyed their wine.  There is an Orthodox church across the street that has a jug, too. Somewhat surprisingly, there is a lot of graffiti here.

Above:  Beautiful art in Cana of Galilee. (at Wedding Church in Cana of Galillee)

When we went to the Wedding Church at Cana of Galilee, a group was singing inside:

We next went to Mt. Tabor, the site where Jesus' transfiguration took place and is now where the Church of the Transfiguration stands.  We got there close to sunset, which meant the views were beautiful.

Above: View from Mt. Tabor, believed to be the site of the transfiguration. (at Church of the Transfiguration)

Above: (at Mount Tabor) Church of the Transfiguration

Above: Inside the Church of the Transfiguration

Some of the church dates back to at least the year 427:

Above:  (at Church of the Transfiguration)  Mosaic floor that predates 427, when the emperor outlawed putting crosses on floors. 

Walking the ground of the holy sites brought the stories alive.  To breathe in spirit while gazing through cold air into a shaking sunset, glistening on the horizon is to breathe in God.

Video of a day in Nazareth, although Google mistakenly threw in a few from Jordan.

Good explanation of the Israel/Palestine history:

Someone who films colonist attacks.

This below video is of an Israeli settler (who is living illegally in Palestine with the protection and support of the Israeli government-- effectively taking more land from Palestinians and exacerbating relations between Israelis and Palestinians).  He is climbing a wall that appears to divide the settlement from a Palestinian building, which flies a Palestinian flag.  This video is of an Israeli settler in Palestine trying to remove the Palestinian flag from Palestinian property.  In a different video that uses a clip of this encounter, subtitles show that the settler is saying that the land is "his."  This is the mentality of Israeli settlers: Palestinian territories belong to them, by virtue of their Jewish identity.