John's Update, Part 2

As Najati lead us down interesting paths from one ruin to the next (and possibly paths Jesus and Joseph walked down, see picture), Fr Andrew lead us down some interesting mental paths. He challenged us to think about our ideas of Joseph, Jesus' earthly father as well as Jesus Himself. Imagine your wife tells you she is pregnant with the Son of God, better yet, imagine an angel tells you that you are about to be the father of the Son of God. I think I'd probably tell a few folks. Yet Joseph remains humble and accepts his duty like a true man and father. Fr then suggested to us that our idea of what Jesus did for work may have a different translation, that instead of "carpenter" could be "craftsman" and what's more likely in an area without much lumber is that Jesus was a stoneworker, like his father. So as we gazed out over the verdant plains of the valleys of Galilee and looked across to see the hills of Nazareth just a few miles away, it begins to illuminate a very real picture of the man Jesus.

Waking up in the caves that were home to the Nazarenes, Jesus and His father Joseph could have walked the four miles to Sepphoris where the affluent Romans were taking advantage of the local indigenous people who would work for very little wages to build their palatial estates. While there are obvious social connections with today's world (think about the groups of day laborers you see at the local Home Depot), we focused mainly on the day to day relationship between father and son.
Walking for an hour or two to work, mentoring Jesus in his craft, teaching Him the value of service and hardwork, explaining the politics and social structure of their world and that Caesar is their earthly ruler and ultimately their earthly employer (e.g. "Give Caesar what is due Caesar.") these are the years where God truly was human. During this time Jesus was just a boy learning what it meant to be a man. He learned these things from a father that was fully present in His life and took his responsibility seriously. Humble Joseph took on a new image for me at Sepphoris and made me once again thankful for both of my Fathers and their very intentional role in my life.
More to come...