Padvil pm gives you the healingu at nsleep you need, it. helping you fall asleep and stay asleep so your body can heal as you rest. advil pm. for a healing night s sleep. you don t want to live with mom and dad forever, do you? how do i check my credit score? credit karma. don t worry, it s free. credit karma. give yourself some credit. on the way to bethlehem, mary and joseph could not miss seeing herodium. it s a symbol of domination and oppression. this imposing fortress palace stands in striking contrast to the peace on earth and goodwill towards men message of the birth and life of jesus christ. [ silent night plays ]
That she s not about to give birth as she s traveling to bethlehem, that they arrive there before she s going to give birth. [ soft music plays ] not far from the birthplace of jesus is shepherds field. this church was built on the site where it is said angels appeared and told the shepherds of the messiah s birth. luke focuses on these shepherds, and shepherds then, as often today, were poor. they often lived outside the towns and only came in from time to time. and luke focuses on them as the ones who are right at the center of the action, to their own surprise and everybody else s. but why is jesus birth celebrated on december 25th, in the middle of winter? if the gospel of luke is any indication of the actual time, when we have shepherds out on the hillsides at night grazing their sheep, then we certainly know that it s not in the dead of winter, because it s absolutely freezing here in the winter. but spring and summer, you could be outside all night, and it would be lovel
Or 7 b.c. for the birth of christ. [ soft music plays, woman vocalizing ] over the past 2,000 years, facts and fictions have been combined into the christmas celebration, but for christians, only one thing is essential. i think there are people who are looking for facts and there are people who are looking for fiction, but i think people of faith look for truth. and i think in both narratives, there s the truth. and truth sometimes goes a lot deeper and a lot farther than the detail. it isn t just about my private spirituality. as with the story of jesus, it s something which must transform the whole of one s life and, through one s own life, all sorts of other things out there in the world. coming up next our tour of bethlehem and the church of the nativity. the flu virus hits big. with aches, chills,
This area, they actually issued laws that guaranteed the jews freedom of worship. by the first century, by the time of jesus, jews were building purpose-built buildings to accommodate these assemblies, and we happen to be sitting in a first-century synagogue building in the town of gamla. all seats around. yep, all the seats going around. and a little bit of you know, you see some of the columns, the original columns, and the decoration. religion for jews then as now is about more than worship, and the romans did not interfere with the jewish laws for daily living. but this freedom did not exempt jews from being counted in the roman census. and so joseph was forced to travel with a pregnant mary to bethlehem, his ancestral home. the gospel of luke talks about their journey from nazareth to bethlehem. which route would mary and joseph have taken from nazareth down to bethlehem? well, first of all, i actually don t believe that they made that trip. i think that the birth na
His death. they are bookends to a life that is transformed in resurrection and that transforms our life. the old testament prophesied the coming of a jewish messiah, a triumphant king who would throw out the oppressors and reclaim jerusalem. but the setting of jesus birth in a cave is not nearly as important as the prediction that he would be a descendant of the royal house of david, the beloved king of israel, and the birth would be in bethlehem. we have to try to remember the history leading up to the birth of christ and a great sense of unease among the jewish people because the monarchy under king david had seemingly come to an end. for centuries, then, five centuries, the jewish people didn t have their own king. they were under the babylonians and then under the persians and then under the greeks and then under the romans. people asking the question, when is our god actually going to do what he said he would do?