Israel Trip Day 5: Nazareth on the Lord’s Day
This morning we headed into Nazareth to gather with Sarah and Bashara’s congregation. Their church is a Baptist church that was started several decades ago by missionaries from the Southern Baptist Convention, who also started a Christian school that is still there. In fact, one of the elders I spoke with came to know the Lord through those same missionaries and has been ministering in that church ever since. But the church became independent some time ago, and there is a loving congregation there today who worship the Lord and are concerned about holiness and about reaching their Jewish and Muslim neighbors.
Always they live with the imminent threat of the nations around them in this escalating political situation, and always the Scripture comes alive with hope when it is read. Today the elder who preached read words from Psalm 27.
The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?
2 When evildoers assail me
to eat up my flesh,
my adversaries and foes,
it is they who stumble and fall.
3 Though an army encamp against me,
my heart shall not fear;
though war arise against me,
yet I will be confident.
4 One thing have I asked of the Lord,
that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
and to inquire in his temple.
5 For he will hide me in his shelter
in the day of trouble;
he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;
he will lift me high upon a rock.
6 And now my head shall be lifted up
above my enemies all around me,
and I will offer in his tent
sacrifices with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make melody to the Lord (Ps 27:1–6).
We sat in that service with the knowledge that we were worshiping with the Lord’s people in Jesus’s actual home town. Near where we were worshiping is the place where Jesus walked and played and went to the Yeshiva for school as a boy. A monastery was built over that old city of Nazareth where I was told today that you can still see the streets and walls of the first-century city. But it is closed right now to outsiders because of the war. Still, Jesus spent the majority of his time on earth in this very city. We also remembered that Jesus was rejected by his brothers and the other people of his home town, prompting him to exclaim, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household” (Mark 6:4). They even led Jesus to a high precipice on the edge of the hill outside of Nazareth in order to throw him down (Luke 4:29). Yet, this morning there were about 100 people in this service praising and worship Jesus, not casting him down but lifting him up.
We also participated in the same service that you did today as a congregation–the Lord’s Table. The elder who preached took us through an excellent biblical theology of the significance of the Table, encouraging the congregation here to do the same thing that we ourselves are encouraged to do at Gateway: to identify with Jesus in his death for our sins and resurrection, and to identify with our brothers and sisters who have been saved by him also, as family.
After the service, we decided to drive to the edge of the city and see this place where the people of Nazareth wanted to cast Jesus down from. There is a drop-off onto rugged rocks on the edge of the town overlooking the Valley of Jezreel, and many believe that where we stood today is at or near the place where they led Jesus to cast him off. We reflected for a while as we stood there and listened to a passage from Isaiah 49, where Jehovah’s Servant is rejected by the masses, but Jehovah promises:
“I will make you as a light for the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth” (Isa 49:6).
We made only one other excursion today, after coming back to the house and sharing another meal with Bashara and Sarah and their sons. But first I should tell you that we all got our hair cut–Judah and Bryan and I. As it turns out, Bashara is a celebrity barber. He studied in places like France and managed a high-end salon and has won numerous awards. Last night at dinner he looked at Judah and Bryan and said, “I can help you with your hair. I can help.” I asked him what about my hair. He said, “Ehh … you are okay. But I will help them.” Well, it was obvious when he got out his equipment today that he was a master barber. He explained to Judah and Bryan how their hair lays and what he could do for them, and gave them these amazing haircuts.
So I asked him if he had advice for me and he started looking closely at my hair and changed his mind about me. “Sit down. I will help you too.” So we all ended up getting 1000 ₪ (1000 shekels) haircuts on the house.
After that we drove to Mt. Gilboa to watch the sunset. It was a beautiful scene, yet a little forlorn as we thought about the fact that here is where a wounded Saul made his last stand, calling upon his armor bearer to kill him before he ended up taking his own life. The sunset was appropriate for the mood.
From there we drove a little ways further along a mountain road looking down at the Valleys of Jezreel and Jordan. We were really near the Jordan River now, and looking down we could see how the Jordan Valley runs into the Jezreel Valley. At the point they meet is a city called Beth-Shan. This is the city where the Philistines carried the beheaded bodies of Saul and his sons, displaying them on the walls after they died in the battle on Gilboa (1 Samuel 30:8–10). But the fierce and noble men of Jabesh-Gilead, beyond the Jordan, came and took the bodies down. Once again, it was really instructive to look out at these valleys and get a clearer perspective on the biblical stories.
We ended the day with a rousing gave of “Catan,” the Hebrew version. Played like regular Catan but the instructions and cards are in Hebrew. It’s really fun talking to these young men who speak Arabic, Hebrew, and English. What we discovered today is that even if they know the words for certain things in all three languages, they’re not always sure which language they are speaking. So they might be speaking in English and refer to an object in a Hebrew or Arabic word. This makes for a lot of interesting conversations. Of course, Bryan and I, having studied the Hebrew Bible in our degree programs, are always trying to make out what Hebrew words appear on the signs wherever we drive. But Judah has been taking conversational Hebrew classes in his medical program, so he is way ahead of us already.
We ended the day with prayer for safety through the night. Even though we are having a great time of learning and fellowship with our new friends, the imminent threat of Iran’s attack is always in the back of our minds, and we realize that our plans for tomorrow may not go forward. We feel confident that we are not in harm’s way because we are near the West Bank in an area that is not targeted. The last time Iran fired missiles into the country this area never saw any, and those other places under attack never had any missiles actually reach the ground. They were all taken out by the Iron Dome or by allied military forces. Still, we never know what may actually take place and we ask that you please pray for us!
My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food,
and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,
6 when I remember you upon my bed,
and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
7 for you have been my help,
and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.
8 My soul clings to you;
your right hand upholds me (Ps 63:5–8).