Was It a Vision, or Merely Imagination?
Standing on the brow of the hill outside Nazareth, looking out over the Jezreel Valley at the distant form of Mount Tabor, the Mount of Transfiguration, I saw something. I don’t want to overstate it, because it might have been mere imagination kindled by the intense sensory and emotional overload that happens to everyone who visits the Holy Land. But standing there amid rocks and scrub brush that had been there for two thousand years, it felt like a glimpse across time.
Time seems to be less defined in the Holy Land. Everywhere you look are remnants of the stories we were brought up hearing. You see everything with more than your eyes. It feels as though the veil between today and centuries past is very thin.
On the brow of the hill, I could see a young Jesus, dressed in the rough clothing of a carpenter, taking a moment away from the demands of providing for His mother, brothers, and sisters by working in the trade His Abba had left him. He had come up to that remote place to seek reassurance and guidance from His Father.
It was one of the most moving moments of my time in Israel. And most unexpected. It spawned the song, Hands of a Carpenter, and it inspired our current play, The Carpenter’s Son.
The image in my mind was jarring, if for no other reason that when you’re in the Holy Land it is the adult Jesus you envision in all those places…the Sea of Galilee, the synagogue in Capernaum, the Eastern Gate, the Garden of Gethsemane. At least it had been that way for me.
But suddenly I had this palpable image of a boy emerging into manhood. It seemed like a certainty in the moment, and as I’ve pondered it since the idea continues to resonate that the Son of God would live by the labor of His own hands, experiencing all manner of opportunities to exercise faith in God, as He was being prepared to face the challenges ahead. He would have been shaped and strengthened by living a normal life.
The Carpenter’s Son is based on the relationships that almost had to exist between Jesus, John and James, and arguably with Peter and Andrew as well, long before He began His ministry. The family connection and proximity suggests all but a certainty of familiarity. While that is not laid out plainly in the Bible, the evidence is there to be considered.
More than that, however, it is drawn from the comforting notion that in the confusion, anxiety, frustration, and even despair of our very commonplace problems, Jesus gets it. He has walked in our shoes, and faced those same challenges. And He had to do just what we all must do…place His faith firmly in His Father. He had to trust God.
I love your expression of your feelings as you stood and looked across the valley which led to your new production. I am sitting here imagining what it must have looked like for you. I am getting ready to go with a group from Southcrest Baptist Church to the Ho;y Land April 4 – 13. I am so excited and anxious to go to Jerusalem and Bethlehem and the other areas we will see. I have a feeling there can be some very emotional times during this trip. When I was a small child, I had seen slides that pastors would show when they took groups to the Holy Land and wanted to go back then. In recent years I had had no desire to go. I said I did not care about ever going back over to that area. Then my cousin called me saying she wanted to go but needed a roommate because of the expense for a single traveler and asked if I wanted to be her roommate. Well, I thought about it and prayed about it and had the most peaceful feeling come to me about going over there. God was telling me I would be fine. Other people think I am crazy to go because of all the turmoil over there now. I just tell them that I prayed about it and have had a peaceful feeling about it, so I think the peace is God’s answer to me about going. I have not had a chance to see your new production yet but plan to after I get back. Sorry to ramble on so much, but I am just so excited to get to see and share what you and others have seen and felt when in the Holy Land.
I love your expression of your feelings as you stood and looked across the valley which led to your new production. I am sitting here imagining what it must have looked like for you. I am getting ready to go with a group from Southcrest Baptist Church to the Holy Land April 4 – 13. I am so excited and anxious to go to Jerusalem and Bethlehem and the other areas we will see. I have a feeling there can be some very emotional times during this trip. When I was a small child, I had seen slides that pastors would show when they took groups to the Holy Land and wanted to go back then. In recent years I had had no desire to go. I said I did not care about ever going back over to that area. Then my cousin called me saying she wanted to go but needed a roommate because of the expense for a single traveler and asked if I wanted to be her roommate. Well, I thought about it and prayed about it and had the most peaceful feeling come to me about going over there. God was telling me I would be fine. Other people think I am crazy to go because of all the turmoil over there now. I just tell them that I prayed about it and have had a peaceful feeling about it, so I think the peace is God’s answer to me about going. I have not had a chance to see your new production yet but plan to after I get back. Sorry to ramble on so much, but I am just so excited to get to see and share what you and others have seen and felt when in the Holy Land.