Jesus was a carpenter…or not?

Our entire group is realizing that it’s okay to talk about going home.

Today we went to a place that was the home of Jesus during his childhood, Nazareth.

We went to the synagogue where He read Luke 4 and then received a not-so-hot reception for His exegesis of the scripture.

We had a lunch here in Nazareth that may surprise you.  It was spaghetti - pretty good, actually, and chased by an amazing macaroon. 

Our first stop of the day was Sepphoris, which is also known as Zippori.  This was once a Hellenistic, yet Jewish community (with signs of wealth).  The Crusaders built a fortress here YEARS later.  There are signs still today from a Moslem cemetery that was lost during 1948 when that community fled to save their lives.  There’s a lot of history there – layers and layers.

Every place we go is like this.  There has been so much time for so many people to live and to die.  Our trip is peeling back every story.  It’s so impossible.  I certainly could never remember everything I’ve been told on this trip.

I do have some nice nuggets to share with you that I found interesting today.

I always thought Jesus was a carpenter.  But he was actually a “Tekne”.  This is the Greek word for “artisan” or “builder”.  And, trust me, there is really not wood over here unless you’re counting on olive trees.  He was most likely using stone.  (A good guess would be limestone.)  If he was working with wood, it was for smaller items.

Second nugget:  Ever wonder why we celebrate the Sabbath on Sunday?  After Jesus’ death and after the Romans destroyed the second temple (70 AD), there were two groups in Judaism.  (Although they weren’t called under that name.)  These groups were the Pharisees and the Christians.  The Jewish groups starting cursing the Christians at the end of their worship together on Shabbot , which would have been Saturday.  So, the Christians moved their worship to Sunday mornings.  Christians also justified this move because Jesus was raised on a Sunday.

Something I’ve enjoyed about this trip is getting to know clergy as people instead of church leaders.  So often clergy are placed on a pedestal.  They have so much pressure on them to be perfect, to not mess up, to always say the right thing, to never be upset, to never curse, to never drink, to always be praying, to have no bad habits……. to not be sinners.

It has been refreshing to meet the people on this trip because they ARE sinners.  I think about approaching my pastor with problems or concerns I may have.  I think about how I used to worry about him/her judging me.  But now that I can view this person as I view myself, I am more willing to ask the difficult questions, the embarrassing ones, and to share the hard truths.  This liberation all comes with knowing that clergy also carry these burdens, these mistakes, these dilemmas.  

Knowing all of this, instead of not asking, I will ask.  And because I will ask, I will receive. 

Love to you all!