In November, Brian took a trip to Israel for about 3 weeks. It was a very interesting trip and here are some of the highlights.
Make no mistake, Israel is a very small country in a very large desert. There are big cities and small settlements in the middle of nowhere as you see here.
The first weekend, Brian went to Nazareth, Jesus' hometown. In all of Israel, the signs are written in Hebrew, Arabic, and English.
First some history. As you probably know, ancient Rome was famous for its persecution of the followers of the newest religion on earth, Christians. In 313 A.D. the Roman Emperor Constantine issued the Edict of Milan that announced the toleration of Christians. Later Constantine declared himself a Christian shortly before he died and is responsible for giving us term Roman Catholic Church. Constantine's mother, Helena was a Christian well before her son converted and made a trip to the Holy Land to find relics of Jesus. So in present day, if there is a church around a relic from Jesus' life, it was first found by Helena about 250 years after Jesus.
In Nazareth, Helena was believed to have found the childhood home of Mary, Jesus' mother, and built a church on it. After several centuries of war and rebuilding, the Basilica of the Annuciation stands there now. In the picture is the supposed cave where Mary was visited by the Angel Gabriel who told her she would bear a son.
Next, Brian went to the northern coast of the Sea of Galilee (where Jesus calmed the storm and walked on water) to the Church of the Beatitudes. It was on this hillside that Jesus gave his Sermon on the Mount from which we get the Beatitudes ("the meek shall inherit the earth, etc.), the Lord's Prayer, "turn the other cheek," "salt of the earth," and "judge not lest ye be judged."
And here is the church.
Also in this area was when Jesus fed the crowd of 5000 men with 5 loaves and 2 fish. Supposedly it was on this rock that the miracle happened.
Sunset at the Sea of Galilee.
1 comment:
amazing trip and stories!
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