Day 02 - Sepphoris, Church of Annunciation, Mt. Precipice

Shalom, Shalom! We left Tel Aviv this morning to make our way north to Galilee.

Our first stop was Sepphoris (or, in the Hebrew, Zippori). Sepphoris began to develop during the Greek period, but when Herod Antipas (one of the three sons of Herod the Great) took governance over the region, he set out to make Sepphoris “the ornament of Galilee” and served, for a time, as the capitol of his domain.

Nazareth is situational just four miles away from Zippori so it’s likely that Joseph (a "tekton", or craftsman) and Jesus would have been involved in its construction.

Interestingly, Zippori is not mentioned in the Bible, but it was the largest Greco-Roman city around when Jesus was growing up just across the valley.

Zippori was, in many ways, the epitome of the intermingling of worlds. It was situated among all of these predominantly Jewish towns, so there was a synagogue at Zippori. However, the mosaic floor was adorned with the signs of the Zodiac. There was a Jewish Quarter, but it was just a stones throw away from a home decorated with images of Dionysus - the Greco-Roman god of pleasure and revelry.

The point is that it was a place of fluid convictions and relativistic truth.

Here’s the point.

The Roman world was enticing. It was beautiful and ornate. It offered luxuries and comforts previously inaccessible to those little Jewish towns. The temptation, then, was to merge two cultures, two sets of values, two ways of seeing the world, into something that was wholly neither.

We face a similar temptation in our world, don’t we? We don’t want to abandon our faith, but we have these worldly desires - for status, success, appearance, pleasure, whatever it may be - and, so often, we try to have both. But the truth is that we just can’t. We must choose. We must declare our allegiance.

“Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. (1 John 2:15-16, NLT)

So, what do you choose? Where is your allegiance?

We then moved on to the Church of Annunciation - the traditional place where Gabriel appeared to Mary to proclaim the coming of Jesus. It is a first-century home and Nazareth was not a large town, so it’s certainly possible.

The Christmas story is, of course, a familiar one. We know about Gabriel and Mary and we, understandably, take for granted that she was Jesus’ mother. But we can often miss the gravity of what Mary was being asked to do.

See, ancient Israel was an honor and shame culture. Your honor (or your shame) had to do with your standing before the community. It went beyond mere reputation. It determined your involvement (or lack thereof) within that community. It affected familial relationships. It influenced your marriage prospects.

And to be pregnant out of wedlock - as Mary was going to be - was immensely shameful. Mary hadn’t done anything shameful, but who was going to believe her? I mean, who ever heard of a pregnant virgin?

So, this declaration made by Gabriel meant Mary had to risk everything - her community, her family, and, likely, her engagement to Joseph.

And her response was beautiful.

“Mary responded, ‘I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.’” (Luke 1:38, NLT)

Mary didn’t become the Lord’s servant in that moment. She already was the Lord’s servant and she responded as every servant should - with obedience.

So, here’s something to consider.

Are you the Lord’s servant? If you are, how do you respond? Does it depend on what it will cost you, what you might have to risk? Or do you respond as Mary did - with humble, trusting obedience?

We wrapped up talking about Mount Precipice – the traditional site where the crowd from Nazareth wanted to throw Jesus off a cliff. However, due to circumstances beyond our control, we instead did that lesson in Cana.

Jesus spent most of his life in Nazareth. He grew up there, studied there, and worked there until beginning His public ministry, at which point Capernaum became His base.

In other words, these are His people! These are His neighbors and friends! But when He started making teaching and performing miracles, those neighbors and friends turned on Him.

“Who did He think He was? He’s just the son of Joseph the tekton, after all! He’s nothing special and we’re offended He seems to think He is, going around teaching and performing miracles…”

The truth is that Jesus told us that if we follow Him we should expect to experience rejection from the world (cue reminder from Zippori that the way of Jesus and the way of the world are incompatible). But it’s particularly wounding when we experience rejection from our people, isn’t it?

A disheartening number of Christians have been hurt by their own faith communities and, too often, it’s taken them out of the game. It’s relegated them to the sidelines.

But while there may be a deep need for healing, for a chance to rest and recover, we have been called into the game. We weren’t meant to live on the bench. The stakes are too high and the Kingdom too important.

So, to sum up today…

We were made to live differently than the world, obediently to Christ, and purposefully participate in building His kingdom.

It’s good to be back in Galilee and we can’t wait to see what God has for us in the coming days.