If you go to Israel, you’ll be shown all kinds of sites where Jesus allegedly walked. The site where his mother is said to have seen the angel Gabriel. The site where he is said to have been born. The site where he’s said to have been baptized. Two sites where he’s said to have fed the 5,000. Two sites where he was arrested. The site where he was tried. And executed. A couple of sites where he was buried. Many of these have churches to mark the “exact location.” There’s a church on the site where he’s said to …
synagogue
The Synagogue at Nazareth
Homecomings don’t always work out the way you expect. Three of the gospels tell accounts of Jesus returning to his hometown, Nazareth, where he got a rather rude welcome. The earliest account appears in Mark 6:1-6. Jesus teaches in the synagogue on Shabbat, and his friends and neighbors are, to say the least, unimpressed. Jesus responds by saying that a prophet is not without honor, except in his own country. The townspeople take offense at him. The end result is that, aside from healing a few sick people, Jesus doesn’t make much of a splash. The next-oldest account comes …