WhereJesus Walked: Follow all the clues to his life

WhereJesus Walked: Follow all the clues to his life “The word of Jesus went forth first from Capernaum. Capernaum was not only the center of Jesus’ Galilean ministry, but it was also the place of his longest residence.” This is how authors Hershel Shanks and James F. Strange set the stage for the tantalizing discoveries described in the Biblical Archaeology Review article “Has the House Where Jesus Stayed in Capernaum Been Found?” These compelling words lead the reader into a mystery within a mystery within a mystery. And as so often happens in biblical archaeology, although most clues to structures in antiquity have long since vanished, the ardent beliefs of Christians, and the buildingsthey reverently—and repeatedly—raised on top of the ancient ruins, point like arrows to places we’ve all longed to view. You can follow all the clues in this fascinating study, down through the many layers, the many years, and the many misdirections that humans bestow upon historical study. Follow clues like mysteriously plastered walls … disappearing domestic pottery sherds … early Christian graffiti. (Is that a sigma? Omicron? Even the authors don’t agree.) Discover a fourth-century tourist’s diary that explains her certainty about this structure. Could it really be the Apostle Peter’s house, where Jesus stayed for so long and where he preached? Could the house-church discovered beneath a later octagonal church actually have been created from this home? We still don’t know for sure, but the tantalizing evidence is on full display in “Has the House Where Jesus Stayed in Capernaum Been Found? How much proof will satisfy you in your quest to know the truth? Whereelse did Jesus walk? If Capernaum is one of the most important places where Jesus walked, it’s not the only one that archaeologists study. You might think that Nazareth, where Jesus was raised, would be a hotbed of archaeological activity—but you’d be wrong. Although very little archaeological work has been done in Nazareth, recent excavations within the Sisters of Nazareth Convent have offered some intriguing evidence about what the town would have been like when Jesus lived there. Archaeologists uncovered a “courtyardhouse” from the time of Jesus. The house was later overbuilt with churches from the Byzantine and Crusader periods, suggesting its significance. Could this have been Jesus’ boyhood home? Read testimony from a seventh-century pilgrim who had visited the site, and explore the archaeological finds that indicate the town Jesus grew up in was a conservative Jewish community that had little contact with nearby Hellenistic or Roman culture. There are still more places associated with Jesus that archaeologists and scholars are studying, and you’re invited to join in. Picture yourself making a pilgrimage to the site of the Swine Miracle, or imagine gazing upon Herod the Great’s Temple when Jesusdrove out the merchants and money-changers. And consider for yourself: According to archaeological evidence, the supposed site of Jesus’ tomb beneath today’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre would have seemed unlikely, even bizarre, when Emperor Constantine and his mother were pointed toward it in the fourthcentury. Could this very strangeness make it more likely that it truly does mark Jesus’ burial place, than if a more obvious spot was identified as the tomb? VISIT: PROPHECY WATCHER WEEKLY NEWS: HTTP://PROPHECY-WATCHER-WEEKLY-NEWS.BLOGSPOT.COM