Page 32 - Holyland Magazine - 2016 Edition

A rendering of the synagogue from
The World of Jesus of Nazareth
exhibit, designed by Jonathan
Martin Creative, which will be
housed on the fourth floor of
Museum of the Bible

Visitors will also be able to learn about “But,” Summers says, “as good as we hope in any way interested in the life of Jesus of
the more ordinary aspects of first-century our exhibit will be, nothing beats the real Nazareth to visit Nazareth Village.”
Jewish life: the religious practices associated thing. Jesus’ hometown wasn’t Washington, The Gospels report that when people heard
with the synagogue and maintaining ritual D.C., it was Nazareth. You can only get that Jesus was from Nazareth, they sighed
purity; the various theological sources which the full experience there: what the weather and groaned. “Can anything good come
informed the Jewish worldview in the time was like, the sky, the vegetation, and the from Nazareth?” they asked.
of Jesus, and the differences between the geography of the area. You’re truly walking As Jesus’ disciple Philip beckoned 2,000
Temple in Jerusalem and synagogues; how in the steps of Jesus there. Which is why years ago, so Israel beckons today: “Come
houses were built; how people with no the Museum is not only re-creating its own and see.”
internal plumbing were able to collect and version in Washington, D.C., but more
preserve water in a warm climate; the nature importantly encourages everyone who is A crowd of visitors
of family life (including marriage and divorce); listens to a presentation
the first-century equivalent of harvesting and in an authentic replica
“processing” olives to make olive oil and of an early synagogue
other products; dining rituals around the in Nazareth Village
“family table”; what sorts of clothing Jesus
would have worn; and much, much more.
There will even be fun activities for children
so they can learn as well.

In short, visitors will be immersed in the
first-century world of Jesus and will be able
to hear the words of Jesus anew, through
first-century ears. There will even be a live
actor who will impersonate Herod Antipas
(a Roman client king who ruled Galilee,
where Nazareth was located, during the
time of Jesus) interacting with modern
archaeologists by comparing and contrasting
his first-century perspective with theirs.

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