Today I found myself a lot more engaged in field study than I was yesterday. I think it was mostly because I was feeling a lot better and therefore a lot more able to focus and with more energy to participate. Anyways, it made for a much better day.
Starting at Nazareth Ridge gave us a good horizon line. I never realized both the isolated nature of Nazareth itself and its relative nearness to the Jezreel Valley and other major areas. It was a very interesting idea for me to consider the various cultural influences that could have been a part of Jesus' life. A lot of the stuff that we talked about both on the Nazareth Ridge and at Sepphoris were ideas that I had never encountered before.
One idea that I had not recognized before was all of the similarities between Jonah and Jesus. First, I never realized that even though the towns did not exist together, Nazareth and Gath-Hefer (Jonah's hometown) are actually very close to each other. Interestingly, when the Sanhedrin in John 7 criticizes Nicodemus (for wanting to give Jesus a fair hearing) and claims that no prophet has ever come out of Galilee, they conveniently forgot Jonah. His message, like Jesus', went beyond the realm of Israel's national interests. And like Jesus, this probably did not make him very popular, either in his own day or with Israelites afterwards. If he had never preached to Nineveh perhaps they would have been destroyed and that would have crippled Assyria so much they would not have been able to wipe out Israel a generation later. Certainly this idea may have occurred to some among Israel. Both Jonah and Jesus preached messages of God's mercy in the face of repentance (Jew or Gentile) but his wrath in response to stubborn opposition.
I was fascinated to think about Jesus growing up in that area. He must have known the stories and rich history of all the places he could see from the top of the ridge. I wonder what he thought about each of them. Additionally he must have seen and felt the Roman and Hellenistic influence on a place like the Jezreel Valley. It begs the question of exactly what influences played most prominantly into Jesus' life.
At Sepphoris I saw this idea continued. As Jesus was a tecton (builder with local materials), it is entirely possible he could have gone looking for work in a place like this site of Roman construction. In which case, he may have frequently engaged in a Hellenistic world. He certainly would have learned Greek along with Aramaic and Hebrew if this were true. It at least offers the possibility that Jesus may not have been quite the backwoods Jewish peasant most Evengelicals grew up with. Having never been exposed to these ideas, I found the whole discussion fascinating. Did Jesus learn the word hypocrite by building a Roman theater?
Sepphoris also raised the intertesting question of the Hellenistic influence on Judaism. The site itself is impressive, especially the mosaics. Additionally, the mosaics within the synagogue begged some good questions and discussions. What was a Jewish synagogue doing with human and animal forms represented in a mosaic? Clearly this breaks the prohibition against such pictures. While other answers have been proposed, I find it hard to get around the idea that they may have simply relaxed on this point during that time period.
The Cliffs of Arbel gave us another great view of the area, especially places right in and around the Sea of Galilee. Interesting side note, I learned that the Hebrew word for this is Knarret, and most Israelis still call it this. Anyways, while we have no mention of it, Jesus most likely would have walked by these cliffs on his way from Nazareth to Capernaum. Josephus also talks about the cliffs during the time when Herod took Galilee. Rebels fled here to escape, but soldiers were lowered in baskets in order to kill the rebels still in the caves. Josephus again recounts a suicide story, but one still has to wonder if this is truth or literary license to impress his Roman audience with the spirit of his people.
Ending the day at the wadi was also interesting. Climbing part way up the sides of the cliff gave several of us a first-hand lesson in how challenging and tough they could be. Watching the descent of those who went all the way up also showed me the ruggedness of the terrain in many places here. Thankfully everyone came safely back down, but I realized how difficult it might be to travel through some of these places without trail maps or a guide. Some of the terrain can be downright treacherous.
Finally, while not exactly a part of field study, swimming in the Sea of Galilee tonight was awesome. Partly it was just a lot of fun to goof off and hang out. Shortly after the sun went down, I was standing on the shore with Emily and it suddenly just struck us both how much happened on and around this lake. Watching the waves I realized that one day Jesus just stood up, said, "Peace, be still," and everything went calm. He walked on water here. He met the disciples after his resurrection and restored Peter. It is pretty cool to be standing looking at this place where so much happened. Basically, it was a good day.
No comments:
Post a Comment