Leaving

Leaving.

I hate leaving.

When I was a child leaving family - grandparents, aunts and uncles, friends - after a visit or vacation, quite often brought tears to my eyes and a heavy heart. I hate leaving.

As I leave Jerusalem after three weeks of study and travel, I have that same feeling.

In many ways this three week experience in Israel has been very moving. Being at Caesarea Philippi where Jesus asked, "Who do you say that I am," to taste and feel the dirt and dust of the wilderness where God's people wandered and died for 40 years, to be in the garden of Gethsemane, to swim in the Sea of Galilee, to be on the spot where Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead, to stand on the floor where the apostle Paul made his defense in front of the governor Felix at Caesarea before he was sent off to Rome, was really, really convincing!

I know this is an odd thing to say but, this story is true! ("Ah, didn't you believe that before?" "Yes, but....") Somehow seeing and feeling the geography, walking "in his steps," walking through Jerusalem almost every night we weren't on the road traveling, brings home the reality that this story, this Gospel, this good news, is really true.

When the apostle Paul was being questioned about his faith in Jesus, the Roman procurator Festus interrupted, "Your are out of your mind, Paul! Your great learning is driving you insane." To which Paul replied, "I am not insane, most excellent Festus. What I am saying is true and reasonable."

Very moving.

But there is another aspect of Israel that was....very earthy. I found myself in some of the spots previously mentioned and others which didn't stir me as deeply as I had hoped. I had expected and anticipated more. I even began to feel a bit guilty - "This is where Jesus healed a boy with an evil spirit." "This is where Peter lived." "This is where Jesus was flogged." Why am I not feeling this more than I do?

And yet I think that lack of deep moving emotion was part of the point - Jesus came to us in the ordinary ebb and flow of life. He grew up in a small village, he walked, he worked, he interacted with all kinds of people. The area is actually alot like where we live! Similar weather, vegetation and geography.

Jesus came to us in the spectacular, but also in the unspectacular, in routine of life. I am thankful for the many moments of stirring emotion which evoked prayer, praise and song, but I am also thankful for the "ordinariness" of this place.

As the disciple John put it "He came to that which was his own...."(John 1:11a) Jesus came to us on our turf. He came to us on our terms, with our language, on our geography, eating our food and living the life we live. Profound.

The rest of the verse also spoke to me almost everyday - "He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him."(John 1:11b)

Shalom!













Praise God from whom all blessings flow!