2008年9月3日

 

    两年前，借去以色列开科学会议之便，我做了一次圣地之旅，沿着耶稣当年居住，漫游过的地方，了解他的生活，传教经历。这使我将过去的许多有关基督教的林林总总连串起来，对有关耶稣圣经的传说，历史，哲学思想，有了更深一层的认识。 基督教对西方科学，思想，文化有着深远的影响。 作为科学家，我想也有必要对它有所了解。

 

    天使报喜堂   第一站是拿撒勒。如今的拿撒勒是以色列最大的阿拉伯城市（80%的居民为阿拉伯人）。 当年则曾是玛利亚被圣灵感孕之地。据《圣经》记载，天使加百列受天主差遣在此第二次（第一次是在圣山北部的水井附近）向玛利亚报知她将怀孕生子，并要给他起名叫耶稣——将来的至高者之子。拿撒勒有一座较新的教堂叫天使报喜堂，是中东最大的教堂。天使报喜堂位于一个古老的犹太人村庄中，玛利亚与约瑟夫的住所（现在地下）的上方。教堂里面，拜占庭风格和十字军东征时期的马赛克地面遗迹，展示着历史的斑痕。最引人注目的是各个国家赠送的圣母玛利亚的马赛克镶嵌画：韩国版的玛利亚有着蓝白色的传统韩式长裙，中国版的看似一位皇后，美国版的是一幅现代抽象艺术展示的女神，西班牙则赠送了三幅不同的圣母…… 我想，之所以如此，是因为玛利亚属于全世界每个人，她在不同文化中有着不同的形象。

 

    迦南   这是耶稣施行第一个奇迹——将水变酒的地方。相传耶稣和母亲玛利亚以及众门徒去参加婚宴。婚宴即将结束时，酒用尽了，玛利亚执意要耶稣帮忙。耶稣并不愿暴露自己是神，但母意难违，最后还是将水变成了美酒。当时，主人在宴席上通常都是先摆上好酒，等客人喝足了才上次酒。因此，这让众人很是吃惊。有两座教堂，三藩教堂和希腊东正教教堂，都声称自己是耶稣将水变酒的真实所在地。在科学界，经常有多位科学家声称他（她）是首先做出某项重大发现的人。另一个与科学相似处，基督教徒们也在寻找证据，以证实圣经记载的事情的存在。我的朋友，神经科学家比尔.莫布利也是位基督徒。 他问道：“是什么证据能证明这里是水变酒奇迹发生的真实所在地？”答案有些令人惊讶。是君士坦丁（公元300年左右拜占庭时期东罗马的统治者）的母亲。 她在耶稣遇难后300多年后，走访了许多圣地，声称证实了大多数奇迹发生地点的真实性。 其主要依据是当时一些口口相传的故事。可见，“只要是人们所相信的，便是事实”是条一般原则。

 

    约旦河    约旦河发源于加利利海（其实是一个小湖）的南端，最后注入死海。尽管这是耶稣接受约翰洗礼的地方，却毫不起眼。正如中文所言，“山不在高, 有仙则灵”。

 

    迦百农    迦百农位于加利利海西北岸。那里共有三座犹太人村庄，迦百农是其中之一。由于这些村庄远离耶路撒冷，耶稣最初便是在此传教。耶稣在迦百农所施行的传教和神迹比其他任何地方都多。由于这是犹太人村庄，耶稣多是在犹太教堂传教，当然，这些教堂已遭破坏。村庄尽头建有一座2世纪的犹太教堂，其设计令人难忘：教堂地基是火山岩似的黑色，教堂本身却是石灰石似的白色。教堂很大，有三张门（中间一张大门，侧边两张小门）。残断的柱子看似希腊风格，但当时已经是拜占庭时期。在这座教堂附近有一座新的较为现代的教堂，建于彼得（渔夫，耶稣弟子）住所的上方。据说耶稣和彼得在这座房子里生活了多年。

 

    塔布加    这又是一座相对现代的教堂，却是经典的拜占庭风格：外面是一个院子，然后才是一座由三部分组成的长方形教堂。中间部分很高，有着高高的天花板和侧窗，以便阳光能够照进来。两侧部分天花板较低，几根柱子将两侧与中间部分分开，这样人们进入教堂时不会影响到已经在教堂中部的人了。

 

    八福山    耶稣一生讲道无数次。据说只有在耶稣坐着时，门徒们方可记录其宣讲的道理，这些记录后来被整理成了《圣经》。因此，有人说坐着的人可能比站着的人更有力量。据《圣经》记载，耶稣听说他的第一批门徒之一——也是他的堂弟——约翰入狱被害后，决定前往耶路撒冷使更多的人皈依基督教。他和门徒们到达那里时身上只有五饼二鱼。耶稣将五饼二鱼变成了足够多的食物，分给五千名饥饿的跟随者吃。据传约翰讲道时比耶稣更具感召力，他有力地宣传了基督教思想。这就是为什么他早在耶稣之前被捕、遇害。耶稣正是在八福山论述了著名的“八福真谛”。八福山上有一座较新的教堂叫八福教堂（名字并不令人意外），坐落于美丽的花园之中。教堂很小，不太适合讲道。但是耶稣并不需要大的教堂，人们在教堂外便能清楚地听他讲道。

 

感谢杨柳帮助翻译

 

Trip to Israel: Nazareth and the Sea of Galilee

 

Basilica of the Annunciation This trip has been quite biblical. Our first stop was Nazareth, which is now an “Arab” city (meaning around 80% residents are Arabs) within Israel. But this was the place Jesus was conceived. According to the Bible, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to inform the Virgin Mary the second time (the first time was near the well up in the mountain) that she will be pregnant and bear a son Jesus, who will be called the Son of the most High. There is a relatively new church called Basilica of the Annunciation, which is the biggest church in the Middle East. It was built on top of Mary and Joseph’s house in an ancient Jewish village. Inside, the footsteps of history are revealed by mosaic floors of Byzantine church remains and those of the Crusaders' time. The most remarkable are the mosaic paintings of Mary sent by different countries: the Korean painted Mary with the blue-white traditional Korean lobes; the Chinese Mary looks like an Emperor's concubine; the American's is a modern abstract; Spain sent three different paintings, etc. I guess the point is that Mary belongs to everyone around the world, and takes the shapes and sizes of that culture.

Cana This was the place where Jesus performed the first miracle: transforming water to wine. Legend says that Jesus attended a wedding with his mother Mary and his disciples. Towards the end, they ran out of wine. Mary insisted that Jesus should help while Jesus was a little reluctant to reveal himself. In the end, he did turn water into wine. Back then people usually serve good wine before bad ones. So this was quite a surprise. There are two churches commemorating this event, a Franciscan one and a Greek-Orthodox one, both claim they are the authentic site. I guess it is not just in science; even in Christianity people fought for credit. Bill Mobley asked “what is the nature of evidence that the miracle site is actually here”. The answer was a bit surprising: it was the mother of Constantine (the Eastern Roman ruler in the Byzantine time, around 300 AC) who authenticated most of these sites, based largely on word of mouth around that time. The universal principle is that “whatever people believe is the truth”.

 

Jordanian River The River originates from the south end of the Sea of Galilee, and runs towards the Dead Sea. This was where Jesus was baptized by John. It is completely unremarkable. As the Chinese saying: 山不在高, 有仙则灵.

Capernaum This is located in the northern tip of the Sea of Galilee. There are all together three Jewish villages, and Capernaum is one of them. Because they are pretty far from Jerusalem, Jesus started his preaching activity here. In Capernaum Jesus did more sermons and performed more miracles than any other place. Because this was a Jewish village, Jesus did most of this preaching in the synagogue, which was of course destroyed. A 2^nd century synagogue was built on top. The architecture was very impressive: volcano rocks colored black were used to build the foundation, and the church itself was built by limestone colored white. It is very large, with three doors (a big one in the center and two small ones other side). The column remains looked Greek, but it was already the era of Byzantine. Nearby there is a new church, which is built on top of Peter (a fishman)’s house. Jesus was said to have lived in this house with Peter for many years. There is a fairly modern church built on top of what was known to be Peter’s house.

 

Ein Tabgha Here again is a relatively modern church, but it was built in a classic Byzantine style: a courtyard outside, followed by a three-section rectangular church. The middle one is tall, with high ceiling and side windows so that sunlight could come in. The two side ones have low ceilings and are separated from the middle one by columns, so that people can come in without disturbing those already in the middle.

 

Mountain of Beatitude In his life Jesus gave many speeches. I learned that in only those he gave while he was sitting, his disciples were allowed to take notes, which later were developed into the Bible. Thus, words uttered out while sitting could be more powerful than those while standing. According to the Bible, Jesus heard the news that John, one of his first disciples and his cousin, was killed after being in prison. He decided to go to Jerusalem to inspire many more people to Christianity. He and his disciples came here with only five loafs of bread and two fish. Jesus turned one of the loaves to enough food to feed the 5000 hungry following him. The legend says that John was a much more charismatic speaker than Jesus, and he forcefully delivered Christian thoughts and ideology. That was why he arrested and killed much earlier than Jesus. It was here that Jesus gave the famous 8 Beatitudes. There is a relatively new church built on this site called, not surprisingly, the Church of Beatitudes. This octagonal church, set in a well-maintained garden, is not a practical church because it is fairly small.  But Jesus did not need a big church, and people can hear him well from outside.

 

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