Although I have been privileged to travel in the Holy Land three times, I have been to Nazareth only once, and that was a hurried visit. Now and then I tell myself that I want to go to Israel again some day, and that when I do, I will decide (not the travel agent) how long I will stay in each place. If that ever happens, I will spend more time in Nazareth.

If you go to Nazareth today, you will find a city of nearly 30,000 people. It was much, much smaller in Jesus’ day, of course, but around 600 A.D., pilgrims built a large basilica there, and soon the town became a place of both pilgrimage and conflict. Arabs took the city later that century. The Crusaders built several churches there, but in 1517 Ottoman Turks drove out all Christians. Today Nazareth has a variety of churches and shrine…