MUSINGS FROM ISRAEL

I am on my way back by bus from Ashquelon to Jerusalem—a good moment to write a blog. It’s my third trip to Israel, but ten years since the last one. Some things are the same—the traffic, the starlings making music every morning, shop keepers haggling for your shekels. But lots of things have changed. Here are my ten immediate impressions:

1.   Things seem relatively calm, and yet the evidence that there is an underlying tension is everywhere. In two separate conversations, one with a Jewish shop keeper and one with an Arab cab driver, they both are convinced a significant war is looming and could come by summer. Young people everywhere are in uniform—a rite of passage almost. It’s common place to see rifles and handguns. People seem pretty casual, but there is a vigilant spirit for sure. An act of violence is anticipated—it’s just a matter of when. One scene sort of captured it all. I mentioned to my guide that an Israeli police car had its lights flashing, and yet it was waiting at the stop light like all the other cars. But she was unfazed for, as she put it, their lights are always on.

2.   Looking from a mount over the area south of Bethlehem, where any semblance of green is quickly passing away under a scorching sun, or walking through a Judean wilderness, as our group did yesterday, one comes away with a distinct impression that God brought Israel into this land to say—the only way you will survive is to trust in Me. A land flowing with milk and honey is simply saying it is a land of goat’s milk and dates, and all can dry up in a moment. It is a harsh, rugged place—and I realize this is as God intended for all of us. Desperate for Him, who wonderfully provides—but close to the edge, so that we dare not depend on ourselves. The sad side of Israel’s history is that it has often depended—and continues to depend—on itself.

3.   The wall being built to divide Palestinians and Israelis has decreased the incidence of terrorism. But it has also imposed a deep ugliness on the land. To me, it symbolizes everything that is wrong here. Rather than build a bridge, it is a way of saying—stay on your side and we will stay on ours. But what is yours and what is ours is determined by who has the power, and those with the power seem to impose injustice all too often.

4.   I have met Palestinians and Israelis who both want peace, want a future. Who simply want a family, a home, a life, but are often overshadowed by extremists who want neither peace nor a future. And neither government has served the people well, whether it is the radical Hamas or an Israeli government that seems all too corrupt.

5.   I wonder if a day is coming it will no longer be so attractive to visit the holy land. That where there once was a vast wilderness, or a hill country, or a shephelah, where one could imagine the parable of the good Samaritan, Jonathan in battle, or David meeting Goliath, one will have to look past the new developments, the malls, and even the McDonalds. It is much harder to get the picture I want, that does not include the modern with the ancient. And the rush to build, to secure rights to a land, is surely going to soon face the tension—at what cost to people on a pilgrimage to go back to their spiritual roots?

6.   I wish religious institutions had not got hold of the holy sights. Though they may feel they have protected something as sacred, their ornaments and rituals have defaced so much of it. I could do without visiting the sight of Jesus’ birth, or entering the Holy Sepulcher. The layers of gaudiness detract from what should have been—a simple trough and dirt, a simple cross and rock.

7.   I always have to prepare myself spiritually for this experience. I am drawn to a certain  intimacy with God that comes from walking in the footsteps of Jesus. And yet, because this is a place where major religions converge, it can be perplexing. I meet Muslim and Jew who speak of the same love for God I do, who are every bit as devoted as I am—and more so—and just as convinced that what they believe is true. Not that it causes me to doubt John 14:6—but it is something I experience and wrestle through each time I come here.

8.   There is a romanticism about the land—a Mideast charm. But maybe we in the west romanticize it too much. Today I watched a shepherd tend his sheep. He was maybe in his early twenties, with a boombox in one hand, a cigarette in the other, and a baseball cap rather than a head scarf. The sheep were their usual dumb self, smelly, foraging off a rather barren landscape. Not the Scottish highlands I imagine, not the rugged, fierce shepherd that has often been portrayed. Could it be God chose a metaphor of great low regard and earthiness to underscore His humility, as well as our desperate condition?

9.   Walking through Hezekiah’s tunnel was a profound experience—how they built this to bring water into the city was an amazing achievement. And then I read the words of Isaiah, what God had to say when they were finished-“You built a reservoir between the two walls…but you did not look to the One who made the water, or have regard for the One who planned it” (22:11). Our best achievements are meaningless if God is not in it.

10.  There is only one hope for this place—and every place—Jesus.

Comments

[Christine B.]

Nice. Thank you for the insights.

[carl]

Hi John,
Your comments are very near to a lot of what I experienced while in Israel in 2004. Regarding the milk, and honey I look to the promise that God will be their God, and with them in a land flowing with milk and honey - hard times, and good times, God promises to be with them and he promises to be with us as well in both the hard times and the good times.

Thanks for reminding me of a time that I never want to forget.
Carl

[Sarah Probst]

Hi John,
I hear what you mean about the devotion of other people in other religions. What makes them so devout? God has shown me that they strive to be more and more devout in hopes that the sprinkles of truths will somehow manifest as whole and complete truth. I imagine if I didn't have the whole story but just distorted glimses of God, I would do everything in my power out of desperation to connect with Him the way He hard-wired me to connect with Him. I believe these people are seekers. Desperately seeking complete truth. They are not familiar with grace so often they are driven by an "action based" response from God. I think they have met God and just want more. I am praying that God will reveal the truth about their devotion to you so your confusion will turn into a great blessing and furtherance of your faith in the God of COMPLETE truth and Grace.
Blessings to you!
Sarah