Second Lesson: The Nazareth Village

It's a simple lesson.

...about a simple life.

As the tiny group of us gathered in the area recreated as a first century home, our eyes were drawn to the little room. Everything about it, simplistic. Nothing there that couldn't be or wouldn't be used in everyday life.

But no television. No remote controls lying all over the place. No Wii. No overhead lighting or surround sound speakers. Not a single sofa setting with matching pillows. No fine art hanging on the walls...or family portraits...or proud displays of newborns in arms.

Just living.

So why were we drawn to it? I think I know. Because in spite of our comforts and guilty pleasures and in spite of our need to make our immediate world pretty...deep down we desire a different life. A simple life.

Have you ever heard someone say, "I can't hear God anymore. Wonder how they heard Him so much back in the Bible days."

Is it that God no longer speaks? No. But you see, it's easier to hear the whispers of God in the quiet than in the madness we call "everyday." Maybe that's why we work so hard to buy the "lake house" and the "mountain home" and the "beach condo." We need a place to get away. To find the quiet. We even tell our loved ones that what we like most about these 2nd homes is that they don't have cable for television, no satellite service, scarce cell phone coverage ... "I can barely get radio..."

Author and contemplative Robert Benson, who I admire with a vengeance, said to me many years ago, "Eva Marie, the only one who knows what God has whispered into your heart is you. But you won't hear him if you don't hush."

Those two sentences rocked me to the very fiber of my being. I have, since, learned to appreciate silence.

So, I dare you. Turn off the TV. Walk away from the cell phone. Find the simplest place in your part of the planet and sit quietly for a minute. Or a half hour. Try an hour (you probably won't make it...).

Okay. Now hush.

Do you hear Him?

Video Here: Nazareth Village

The Eye of the Needle/Nazareth Village

Today's Nazareth is a far cry from the little village Jesus grew up in. The city of Nazareth today is just that, a city.

Tucked away along one hillside, however, is an amazing stretch of land that, for years on end, was left untouched. Then a brain-child occurred. Take the land--complete with winepress and other natural elements of First Century Nazareth, and re-create the original.

The result: The Nazareth Village.

I'd never been to TNV, though I'd certainly heard about it. Videos featuring my beloved Miriam had been made here, teaching others about the life Jesus knew. The every day. Even the mundane...which, to my way of thinking, isn't so mundane.

My journalistic comrades and I entered into TNV and into another world. One of the first things we noted was a door. A door within a door (see photo). But it turns out this is no ordinary door. According to our guide, this is the eye of the needle.

Doors opened inward. If a friend came to visit, no problem. But what if a visitor was not a friend at all? This left the homeowner defenseless. However, having a small door within a larger door, gave the homeowner a method of preparation. In order for the visitor to enter, they had to stoop. It's difficult to be pushy when you're all bent over.

We were fascinated by this door. A sudden understanding as to the words of Jesus:

Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God" (Matthew 19:24)

A camel...stooping? There are those humps to deal with!

Have you ever watched a camel stand from a "kneeling" position? Once, while I was in Jerusalem, an acquaintance of Miriam's stood near the Mount of Olives Overlook with his camel. A ride was $2. When Miriam introduced me to her friend as a "true friend of Israel," the man wanted to give me a complimentary ride on "Kojak."

I wanted to ride the camel (but I also paid for it!) so I handed my camera to Kojak's owner (for the photo you see here) and then climbed on top of the kneeling animal. As Kojak stood, my mouth fell open (a moment Miriam caught on film. No doubt, she knew this was coming!). While the camel is somewhat graceful in the standing and sitting, he is without question ... awkward. Awkward grace. That's what he is!

Now, standing before the eye of the needle in TNV, I fully understand what Jesus is saying. I'm not so sure a camel can get through the eye of the needle.

So then why is it so difficult for a "rich man" to get into heaven?

I have rich friends and loved ones. Are they without hope? Can they not enter heaven?

No and yes. They are not without hope and they can enter heaven. Providing...

The problem with the rich young ruler was that he wasn't willing to let go of his possessions to follow Jesus, which Jesus knew and tested him with.

When this rich man came to Jesus, it was to ask, "What one thing must I do to inherit eternal life?" (Notice the words one thing and inherit.) Our very wise Jesus asked, "Why do you ask about one thing? Keep the commandments."

Now remember...there were a lot of laws to be kept but only ten had been set apart to be written in stone by the Finger of God (see Exodus 31:18). Ten. But Jesus only mentioned six:

1. do not murder

2. do not commit adultery

3. do not steal

4. do not give false testimony

5. honor your father and mother

6. love your neighbor as yourself

So why not all ten? What was so special about these six? Perhaps because, out of the ten, these six which deal with man-to-man (and/or woman-to-woman. I'm using man as in mankind). The other four deal with man-to-God.

1. have no other gods before Me

2. make no idols and worship them

3. keep God's name holy

4. keep the Sabbath holy

The rich man told Jesus straight up, "I keep all those![the six]" Oh, how excited he must have been. Not only was he rich on earth but he would also be inheriting eternal life. He really could have his cake and eat it too!

"But anything else," he wisely asked.

Well, here came the caveat. "Sell everything," Jesus said. "Give the money to the poor. Don't worry, you'll have treasures in heaven and--unhindered--you can follow me."

This now, was between the rich young man and God.

The Bible tells us that the young man went away sad. The price of following God was not as great as all his wealth. What a shame, what a stinkin' shame.

And so now Jesus makes his famous declaration about camels and needles (low doors).

In Nazareth Village, we have seen a life-lesson come to life.

VERSE/VIDEO OF THE DAY 10/11

VERSE OF THE DAY:http://www.thedailybibleverse.org/bible-verse-we-have-here-only-five-loaves-of-bread-and-two-fish/

VIDEO OF THE DAY: (A powerful song I dedicate to Mother and Daddy...) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbsBUf9VKyc&ob=av2e

Baghdad Prayer Patrol Assignment of the Day:http://baghdad.prayercentral.net/?page_id=7

The Church of the Annunciation

In spite of the fact that it towers over the city of Nazareth, I went to Israel twice before seeing the Church of the Annunciation. After being in the quiet holiness (even with the cranky overseer) of St. Gabriel's, I wasn't sure if I even wanted to go. But go I went ... and I found it to be an absolute "must see" when traveling to the Holy Land.

While the Church of the Nativity is the oldest church in Israel, the Church of the Annunciation is the largest. The outside is arranged with walkways -- both covered and not -- filled with paintings, statues, and other pieces of artwork, all created to honor Mary, the mother of the Christ. Inside, on the lower level, the Grotto of the Annunciation is the focal point below. This is the place where, tradition holds, Mary lived with her parents and where she received the words of her future from Gabriel. The upper level's focus is not only the dark wooden pews shining high with years of polish and patina, but also the continued memorials to Mary. The floors are marble, within them depictions of angels.

I looked forward to my friends coming to see what I'd seen years earlier. Together we walked among the pilgrims outside. Below the church, in the grotto, we sat quietly at thought of what it must have been like to have been the young girl -- her whole world ahead of her, a natural world, a world of marriage and children -- to be called to such a task. Above, as we walked under the lily dome and as we listened to visitors below singing "Hallelujah," we marveled at the gifts in honor of this woman/child.

When there was nothing left to do, we returned to the real world, where beneath the church is found remnants of 1st century Nazareth. A reminder, I suppose, that life truly existed here once upon a time, and that Mary's life -- and Joseph's and the little boy Jesus -- was not a fairytale in a book we call the Bible.

Inside the Grotto (video)

A new article posted at CBN.com

For the latest article written for CBN.com about Israel (The Fifth Gospel Chronicles), go to: http://www.cbn.com/spirituallife/inspirationalteaching/Everson_Israel_Capernaum.aspx

Going Back to Israel

It's official ... and in more ways than one. I'm returning "home" to Israel in 2011.

And, in 2010 ... as I am going to return to my journaling about the Land of the Bible, God's Holy Land. When last we spoke of Israel -- before my mother's untimely death -- I wrote to you of my adventure in St. Gabriel's in Nazareth. Now, I want to tell you about something completely (sort of) unrelated to the Bible but sooooo much fun for me.

In 2007, after Miriam and I had gone to St. Gabriel's, we stepped out into the open courtyard and I purchased some gift items from a kiosk vendor nearby. I then declared to Miriam that I was a little fatigued and wished we had time for a cup of coffee. It was now mid-afternoon, the winter air was pleasant, and we'd walked a good ways just to get to the church. Miriam pointed to a restaurant called Bayat (The House) and said, "How about over there?"

We were seated at a table outside, just beyond the front door. Miriam suggested cappuccino and I nodded in agreement. Minutes later, two cups of divine with adorable hearts swished into the foam along with little bisciottis were placed before us. I declared the coffee to be the best anywhere that I'd ever had in my whole life.

In 2009, with my fellow journalists along for the journey, I said to the group that after St. Gabriel's we had to go to the cafe for afternoon coffee. Everyone agreed. YES!

Bayat's was exactly as wonderful as I remembered it. This time we sat indoors, the eight of us around a long wooden table in a sunken dining room with old stone floors and walls, giving the aura of old world Israel. We ordered different things off the dessert menu -- our intent to share -- and individual desires for drinks such as cappuccino, hot tea, and Coke.

We laughed and told jokes, Ellie Kay entertaining us with more impersonations of her mother, who is from Spain. And then the food came ... and we nearly died right there on the floor! We ate. Oh, did we eat! We shared! Oh, did we share!

Too soon it was time to leave. To be full and happy, this is the way of travel in Israel. One taste and pilgrims know why so many of the Bible's stories happened around a table.

It All Happened So Fast...

...not just Mother's sudden illness and the passing on to Glory.

The last 53 years went by so fast.

Oh, if I'd only known! There would have never been a moment of disobedience from the five-year-old. I'd been a more gentle, appreciative teenager. I would have cherished every moment even more than I already did as an adult.

I would have written more letters. She loved letters.

Email had taken them away, really. She just wasn't that keen on the Internet.

We would have laughed more. She loved to laugh. And I would have recorded her telling stories as I'd done Daddy's mother. My mother also had some great stories to tell ... of growing up ... and of her mother and father and brothers and extended family. She grew up in a lot of love.

I never ended a conversation without "I love you" but I would have thrown it in to a few conversations as well. What would it have hurt?

If I had known ... on her last healthy day ... that it would be her last healthy day ... I would have never left her side. Or I would have taken her to the hospital right then and there. And told them what I somehow knew. And they would have made it all right again.

But it all happened so fast.