Traveling to Israel

I’ll be leaving for Israel soon (1/18, returning 2/5). Here’s what I’m thinking about the trip:

What am I hoping for? First let me tell you what I’m not ‘hoping for’. I’m not hoping the experience will make the Bible ‘more real’ to me. That may sound odd, here’s what I mean. The Word of God is already real to me. It is the basis of my reality. That’s not to say I live up to it all the time (or even most of the time) but my life, my world-view, my belief system are established and defined by Scripture. I don’t think experiencing the physical space will make it more ‘real’ in that sense (“Wow, there’s the [traditional site of the] empty tomb. Now I really believe it’s empty.”). I’m thinking of Thomas here, to whom Jesus said “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed (John 20:29).” The touch of God sparked my belief many years ago. By His grace that faith comes from Him and does not depend on what I’ve seen or haven’t seen or where I’ve been or haven’t been.

Having said that, I can say what I am ‘hoping for’. A good student of history develops the ‘skill’ of projection into historical circumstance, the ability to feel what is was like within the situation. This is no small task, especially because, in the matter of history, we already know what happened. When living through history (as everyone has always done and we’re doing right now) you don’t know what’s going to happen. After it happens, everything seems simple. “This was smart. That was dumb. This should have been obvious. How on earth could you have thought that!?” It’s the Monday morning quarterback syndrome. But to really understand people in history requires an imaginative leap into the circumstances as if you didn’t know. That leap enables one to sympathize with those who were there. To feel the feelings and think the thoughts. Obviously there are limits to this, but (IMHO) this ability is what distinguishes a good historian from the crowd (who usually are out to prove their pet -ism [Marxism, Feminism, Environmentalism, whatever] is the explanation of and solution for the world’s problems).

I want to soak in the sense of space. The isolation of Masada, the wind and the waves of the Sea of Galilee, the heat of the desert, the feel of going ‘up to Jerusalem’, the view from Mt. Carmel, the weight of the Dead Sea. Imagination can only take you so far. To experience the walk, the view, the feel of these places — that’s what I’m after. I want the template of the space stamped on my consciousness. Then, whether reading about Joshua or David or Elisha or Jesus, there’ll be a physical orientation reinforcing the sympathetic understanding of their experience. It may sound a little airy-fairy, but that’s what I’m looking for. Of course, God is God, so I may be surprised.

It’s exciting to think about being in the actual place where such-and-such occurred. In these matters I’m more interested in hills and springs than I am in the Church of the Nativity (the traditional site of Jesus’ birth) or the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (the traditional site of Jesus’ tomb). Geographical landmarks can be identified with great confidence. “That is Mt. Carmel.” “That is the Mount of Olives.” Over the millennia they don’t move. Traditional sites are far less dependable. Most were ‘identified’ centuries after the events. Is that really the physical place where Mary gave birth to the Savior? Sure it’s in Bethlehem, it was probably a place like that. But is it really, actually that place? Maybe, but probably not.

Towering (figuratively if not literally) over it all is Temple Mount. That is the place. As I read Scripture it’s the place where Abraham offered Isaac (Gen. 22). It’s the threshing floor David bought from Araunah the Jebusite (1 Chron. 21), it’s where the glory of the Lord came as Solomon dedicated the temple (2 Chron. 7:1-3), it’s where the glory of the Lord departed in the days of Ezekiel (Ezek. 10). It’s where the glory of the Lord returned in the person of Jesus (John 1:14). And it’s ground zero for things to come. Yes, that is the place. Access is on a day to day basis so I’ll probably be able to go there but it’s not guaranteed. It’s the one thing I’ll be deeply disappointed if I don’t get to do.

I also want to take a walk from Jerusalem to Emmaus, it’s about seven miles (Luke 24:15) and it’s the scene of one of my favorite accounts in Scripture – the playfulness of Jesus with the suffering past, the disciples hearts burning within them. If He met me on the way, would I recognize Him?

On the way there we’ll be stopping for a day in Istanbul. This is frosting on the cake for me, and I’m not talking about shopping in the markets. What is now called Istanbul, was historically Constantinople. The city founded by Constantine, the first Christian emperor of the Rome. The Post-it note version of history has Rome falling in 476 and that’s accurate as far as it goes. The emperor was deposed and the governmental integrity of the Western Roman empire was never restored. But don’t tell the Byzantines Rome fell in 476. The Byzantine or Eastern Roman empire, based in Constantinople, lasted for another thousand years. The walls of that city guarded it for a millennium, until 1453 when people of the ‘religion of peace’ (who’d been hammering on them for 800 years) finally blew them down with a canon, the first use of one in Europe. I’ll get to see what’s left of those walls and I’ll go to church, to the Hagia Sophia. For a thousand years it was the largest cathedral in the world. When the Muslims conquered the city they made it into a mosque (it’s currently a museum), but for me it will be what its builders intended and what it was for the millennium of Byzantium, the Hagia Sophia, the Church of the Holy Wisdom.

Please pray for me and my family … the rigors of travel and the time of separation. Thanks to all and I’ll try to get one post up from ‘the Holy Land.’

Shalom,
Chris