Day 5: Sepphoris/Caesarea Philippi

The entrance to the tomb

I think this has been the most intense day of this pilgrimage which has been very intense.

There's an awful lot of information, most of which simply shatters all of my assumptions and the information I thought I knew as fact.

I mean, I went into debt to go to seminary and I always thought I had gotten an excellent education so it was worth every penny.

And then, I came to the Holy Land.

I've now got a much better sense of the geography. It made such an amazing difference to stand in the dessert and see Jerusalem on my left and Jericho on my right and realize that it was about 25.6 km or about 79 miles.

So, if the average, strong, young person is able to walk about 20 miles in one day, it's about a three-day journey for Jesus - or the Good Samaritan - to go "from Jerusalem down to Jericho".  You begin to understand why hospitality is so important.

I also understand a bit more about the lives of people who lived in the first century. First of all, there were no houses made of wood. People either lived in caves or they lived in stone houses.

A proper manger to fed animals - or for a newborn babe

I've now been in three cave dwellings in Jerusalem and Nazareth and I have a much better sense of where Mary gave birth to Jesus. The "inn" may have been an upright stone building or it may have been a cave-dwelling.  I'm told that people in this area were still living in caves 100-150 years ago.

Some of the folks I've spoken with remember visiting their grandparents in their caves.

So, the place where Jesus was born was probably a cave-dwelling, in the "upper room" where the animals stayed the night so it would be warmer there.

I've learned that Jesus wasn't placed in a lovely V-shaped manger made out of wood and straw. Well, no doubt the straw was there, but the manger was carved out of stone.

The babe was probably wrapped in "swaddling cloth" because that's what would have been available for newborn lambs.

I don't think I'm going to be able to look at another Nativity Set again without having to turn off and silence my interior critic.

And, don't even get me started about Christmas Pageants. It's a good thing I'm not rector of a church because we'd either have to do a LOT of educational work with the adults and children to re-educate them to the story or we'd just have fun and riff on it with modern characters playing the ancient roles and storyline. 

I mean, scholars have known this for YEARS! I didn't learn this in my fancy-schmancy seminary education which placed me in debt for ten years. And, I want to know why.

Stone stairs leading to the street

I've also learned that "teckton" is the Greek word used to describe Joseph. Somehow, somewhere, that got translated as "carpenter". Actually? It is best translated as an artisan or craftsman or master builder. In many countries, like Greece, that can mean either a stonemason or a carpenter.

It's pretty clear after hanging around Israel and Palestine that chances are very high Joseph was more of a stonemason than a carpenter. It just makes a whole lot more sense.

Does that challenge or change my faith? No. But it does make a difference in terms of my sense of biblical literacy.

I've also learned a lot more about the importance of water in a land which includes a large swath of desert.

Mount Hermon is a majestic mountain range that sits in the north between Israel, Syria and Lebanon.

Israel's sources of water include underground water from the mountain and coastal plain aquifers, groundwater from Lake Kinneret, rivers, the Sea of Galilee (which is a freshwater lake), floodwaters and now, water reservoirs. 

It's important to know this, not only in terms of ancient cultures and their dependence on wells and water for a nomadic people, but also in terms of geopolitical considerations in terms of how boundaries are drawn and who gets access to water. 

I didn't realize that Israel is really only slightly bigger than the state of New Jersey. But, within that relatively small area lie all three of the Abrahamic religions: Muslims, Jews and Christians, and all of the varieties of each of those three main categories. 

It's important to know because each of those religions also claim the right of divine providence over the land. Each one points to something in scripture as proof of evidence that God wants the land for them and not for anyone else. 

The entrance to the cave-dwelling

The bible becomes their "deed" and they own the "mortgage" free and clear. 

When all of that happens in a nation that is just slightly bigger than the state of New Jersey, you begin to understand that tensions can go from zero to 100 in less than ten seconds. 

I could go on and on but I want to tell you about something that happened tonight that just simply knocked off my socks.

So, we've been staying at the Convent of the Sisters of Nazareth. The sisters came here from France in 1855 and opened a school. That was their primary apostolate. 

They bought the land and built the school and the convent and were very successful and active for many years. 

A few years ago and for a variety of reasons, they decided to switch their mission from education to hospitality and began to renovate and upgrade their property, putting in new electrical and plumbing system and an elevator, and changing the rooms into guest rooms with one floor dedicated for their residence.

In the process, they were amazed to find a cave-dwelling right underneath their school and convent. It has several large rooms which were used as common areas ("living rooms") a section for animals which included a double feeding manger (see above), as well as rooms to sleep. 

As they continued to excavate and dig around, they also found a loose stone on the floor. When they rolled the stone away, they discovered below a crypt with an ante-room where the body would be washed and prepared with spices and then wrapped in bands. 

The dead bodies would then be wrapped and bound and stored in a catacomb that would be sealed shut. I'm told that it takes a dead body approximately two years to decompose, at which point the tomb would be opened and the bones removed and placed in an ossuary, freeing the tomb for another body to be stored. 

A sarcophagus fit for a bishop

There is an Anglican Church right next door to the Convent which also started to check out what was under the church. Turns out there was a tunnel that ran from the Convent to the Church. 

They discovered a sarcophagus in that room and when they opened it up, the body and bones had disintegrated to dust but there was a pretty impressive ring in the coffin. 

This has lead folks to think it was the body of a bishop who was buried under the church, as was often the custom in the early days of the church. 

Other speculation includes the inhabitants of this particular cave dwelling. 

Could this have been the home of Mary and Joseph and Jesus? We know that they lived in Nazareth and this particular cave-dwelling shows evidence of having been inhabited in the first century through the fourth century. 

Could it have been the home of The Holy Family? Or, might it have been a relative of them? Might Jesus have lived or played here as a child?

There is no way to know for certain, of course, but the possibilities are tantalizing.

Here's the thing: We've been staying at this Convent for two nights and we did not know any of this until tonight. Our pilgrimage guide brought us downstairs as a special surprise. 

I actually took the pictures you see here.  

I can hardly believe I captured what I saw, but I'm more amazed that I saw what I did. 

The catacombs where the dead were kept

And, that it's been right below my feet the whole time. 

And, the dining room abuts the place where the bishop's sarcophagus lies in state. 

I wonder how many other treasures lie hidden under these ancient streets. 

I wonder how much more I don't know that I thought I knew.

I really can't put words to how I feel, but here are a few:

Privileged.

Grateful.

Amazed.

Awed. 

Curious. 

Deeply, deeply moved.

Those are the ones I can most easily and readily identify and name. 

We're heading back to Jerusalem tomorrow, stopping by Burquin where Jesus was passing by on his way to Jerusalem from Nazareth and healed ten lepers who were isolated and in quarantine in a cave

We're also going to visit St. Photini the Greek Orthodox Monastery. St. Photini is said to have been the Samaritan woman who Christ visited at the well when he asked her for a drink. We'll visit Jacob's well there, where the Samaritan woman met Jesus. 

The living area of the dwelling

We're also going to stop by Taybeh, the only 100% Christian town in the Palestinian Authority where we'll visit St. George's church in the village. 

We still have 5 more days left on this pilgrimage. 

I feel as though I've learned so much and yet there's so much more to learn. 

My faith is strengthened and renewed by everything I've seen and every conversation I've had.

This is such a blessing.

There's lots more to explore and learn, including Sunday at the Western Wall and worship at St. George's Cathedral 

Thanks for joining me on this pilgrimage. 

I've felt lifted and supported by every one of your prayers.

Palm Fronds and Olive Branches: Palestinian Pilgrimage Day I

Question: How can three distinct and different forms of monotheistic religion, all part of the legacy of Abraham and Sarah, co-exist in one Holy Place?

Answer: They can't. And yet, they do.

Muslims, Jews, and Christians all hold claim to Jerusalem. The balance of power has shifted wildly over the centuries, with Christians claiming the largest portion of the spirituality of the place because of Jesus, while the Muslims and Jews have fought over the ownership of the land for centuries.

One can not escape the political climate here. It's in the ether. It's worse than the political climate in America. Much worse. And yet, when you drive through the streets of Jerusalem, you would never know that tensions are often like dry kindling that any spark, or even just some intense heat, could set off into an uncontrollable blaze.

Muslim men and women wait for the bus standing next to Jewish men and women. There aren't many Palestinian Christians left in this place but they are noted by the gold crosses 'round their necks.

In the West Bank, Palestinians and Israelis use different colored license plates. Palestinian vehicles have green or white plates; Israeli vehicles have yellow plates. This makes it easy to see from afar whether a vehicle is carrying Palestinians or Israelis. 

The Israeli army uses this to monitor which kind of person is using which kind of road, and to determine which cars to pull over. Since the only Israelis living in the West Bank are Jewish, and the Palestinians enclosed in the West Bank are Muslim & Christian, this amounts to one color for Jews and one for Christians & Muslims: segregated license plates depending on religion and ethnic background. 

No one is made to wear a special color patch on their coat, but there is absolutely no doubt who is in control and who is  . . . "occupied".  

And then, there's the wall. 

It's there and under construction. Palestinians who live in East Jerusalem in the West Bank but have family or work or business in Bethlehem - a seven-mile journey - can spend several hours between the curve of the wall and whether or not there are a lot of detentions at the checkpoints. 

I heard one Israeli say, "Yes, for them it is an inconvenience. For us, it is our safety."

While it is true that violence had decreased 90% after Israel instituted all of these control measures, it is also true that Palestine, or what is left of it, is best described as the world's largest open-air prison. 

I heard another Palestinian woman describe it as an "incubator for terrorism."

My stomach did a backflip when her words resonated with a place of truth in me.

When the Romans occupied Israel, the symbol they used on their coinage was a palm frond. It is a symbol for power.

On the Israel sheckel, the image on the coinage is an olive branch. It is the symbol for peace. 

Palm fronds and olive branches. 

Power and Peace. 

Can the two co-exist? 

Palestinian Christians are doing their best to broker peace but even they are being forced out, slowly squeezed by regulations and . . .  "inconveniences".

And, any words of challenge or cries of protest are met with a charge of antisemitism. 

As I've moved about East Jerusalem, on the West Bank, I've been thinking about Sarah and Hagar and their sons Isaac and Ishmael.

As we passed Mt. Moriah (where Isaac was almost sacrificed), I thought about what must have happened to Isaac after his father tried to sacrifice him. 

If you remember the backstory, Sarah was unable to bear a child, so she gave her servant Hagar to her husband as the first recorded surrogate birth. She had a son, the firstborn son of Abraham, and named him Ishmael. 

Later, Sarah conceived in her old age. She, too, bore a son and named him Isaac. (One Rabbi with whom I studied Torah says that the name Isaac translates to mean "He laughs/will laugh" which is what Sarah did when she learned she was pregnant. My friend says that when the name Isaac is pronounced properly it even sounds like a chortle of laughter.)

Ishmael and Isaac grew up together, As Sarah watched the boys, she began to wonder about which of these boys would have Abraham's inheritance - the firstborn son or the first "legitimately" born son. 

Not taking any chances, she convinced Abraham to order Hagar and Ishmael into exile where they would surely perish.  

Indeed, they almost did, but "God heard the cry of the child" and rescued them from certain death by providing an oasis of water.

God also promised Hagar that God would make of Ishmael a great nation because he was of the seed of Abraham. However, God also told Hagar that her son would be living in conflict with his relatives. (Genesis 16:7-16)

Indeed. 

I needed to tell you all that background narrative in order to tell you what I think happened to Isaac after his father tried to sacrifice him (and, maybe even provide a bit of conjecture on why Abraham might have thought he heard an angel telling him to sacrifice his son Isaac. I can't imagine he wasn't beset by grief and guilt over the loss of his son Ishmael.)

Isaac is never again mentioned in scripture until after his mother dies. That leaves me to wonder where he might have gone. I imagine he was very angry with his father. I imagine he might have even been suffering from what we now know as PTSD.

A clue comes in Genesis 24 when Isaac appears to greet Rebekah, the woman his father has chosen for him to marry. We learn that Isaac "had come from Beer Lahai Roi, for he was living in the Negev." (Genesis 24:62)

When Hagar ran away from Sarah because she was being abused, an angel found her
"near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur." The angel told Hagar that she was pregnant and convinced Hagar to return to her mistress, telling her, "“I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.” (Genesis 16:10)

And, guess what the name of that well was? 

". . . .  the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered." (Gen 16:14)

It's just my conjecture - but when you do it with scripture it's called eisegesis - but I love the thought that Isaac ran to the other mother figure in his life, Hagar and found refuge there with her and his brother Ishmael. 

I imagine that Isaac stayed there with them and only came out to meet Rebekah and then only went back after his mother died. He lived in his mother's tent with his wife. 

He never saw his mother or father alive again. 

Such a mixed-up, dysfunctional family, right? 

So unlike the rest of us.

But, here's my thought: If the two brothers from different mothers in a wildly dysfunctional family could provide solace and comfort and companionship for each other, I'm thinking that there just might be hope that somewhere in the DNA of Muslims and Jews, there is a small thread of possibility for hope and reconciliation and peace. 

Palm Fronds and Olive Branches. 

They grow together in the same soil all over Israel. 

Maybe it's a sign?

We can only hope.