(One of the inscirptions from the documents found with the community rules of the Essenes. This is from the National Park at Qumram, the location of origin of the Dead Sea Scrolls).
Today was an emotional and spiritual whirlwind for me. It all happened so fast. I must have taken 10 pages of notes, 80 pictures, and had 1,000 thoughts. My guess is that you could ask every member of our group and they would say the same thing.
In order, we visited Massada, Qumram, Jericho, the Mountain of Temptation, and the Jordan River. I write at this hour only a stones throw from the historical location of Magdala (think Mary Magdalene) as I overlook the Sea of Galilee or the Sea of Tiberias (and it is known by two other names as well). The moon is full and its reflection on the water brings a peace to the mind.
The challenge tonight is to keep it brief. I think I have failed.
(Tony, our guide for this part of the journey, shows us the Roman bath house at Massada. The black line on the wall represents what was found by the archaeologists when they began excavating and restoring in the 1950's. Everything below the line is "original." It is worth nothing the terra cotta on the left - it is the way that the Romans heated the air and the walls to make the sauna hot.)
Massada was a truly fantastic experience. It brought back so many memories. The first time I read Josephus Flavius. The first time my mother told me the story of Massada. It brought forward so many feelings about the deep meaning of Massada and its psychological role in the complexity of the Middle East. Even during our visit the site was overrunn by hundreds of young Israeli soldiers who still hike to the top to remember the Jewish resistance to the Romans. Our group heard our guide recite parts of Psalm 121 in a small church that once had stood upon the site - for about 300 years from the 300's - the 600's AD. Hearing about God's goodness in the hills while standing upon the hill that was and is Massada? The first of many unforgettable moments from today.
(This picture is - admittedly - here for my children to see. These are believed to be actual boulders hewn by Romans which they catapulted in their nine month assault on Massada. If you have no interest in seiges, catapults, or 1st century battlements, simple skip this and move on. P, G, and A - what do you think? Actual projectiles!)
(Yes, that is Gloria Johnson who is on sabbatical right now, and happens to be travelling in Israel with a Columbia Seminary group. The odds on us seeing her were very small. But there she was, entering Massada as we were leaving. How about that?)
Then we visited Qumran and like Massada, there is also something singular about Qumran. If you google it you can see all you want to know about Qumran and why the Dead Sea Scrolls ushered in whole new eras of Biblical scholarship as well as new understandings of the Essenes. Beginning in 1952, and continuing until today, it also revolutionized biblical archaeology and helped to rewrite the history of this area.
More than anything else, both sights, Qumran and Massada bring into full light the age old conflict between idealism and realism. Both the Zealots who lost their lives at Massada to the Romans, and the Essenes who hid their great works from the Romans as they fled their homes, were idealists in the strictest sense of the word. Neither group would survive the Roman suppression of the Jewish revolt in Palestine during the late first century. As far as 1st century world events go, none casts the shadow this suppression does. As part of this suppression, in 70 AD the Romans destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem. A Temple many of the Jewish people lament to this very hour. The realists? While the Romans certainly altered their lives and caused great suffering, many of them managed to survive and many of their descendents surely are among those who populate this land today.
North from Qumran we ate lunch in Jericho. Yes, that Jericho. Zaccheus. Bartimaeus. Jesus on the way to Jerusalem. The Israelites and Rahab and the walls tumbling down. Elisha and salt in the well.
Jericho is among the handful of cities which claim to be the oldest in the world. It is the lowest city in the world. Like the Dead Sea, it is hundreds and hundres of feet below sea level. It is towered over by the Mountain of Temptation. Where Jesus (according to legend) went for the 40 days in the wilderness after his baptism.
(Icons in the monastery on the Mountain of the Temptation. The entire monastery is built around the rock where, according to tradition, Jesus was tempted for 40 days.)
The Orthodox Church has a monastery high upon the montain and the mysticism and sacredness of the place certainly felt foreign to this rational man of faith. But I also can sense "holy" and know it when I feel it. As I recited the story of the temptation to myself, and as I prayed the Lord's prayer ("lead us not into temptation") in that place, two men from Russia came into the room and completely prostrated themselves in the space beofre the rock. They poured their whole selves into the prayers they prayed. Each word was critical and important. Their tears were real. As I prayed my prayer near them I could not help but wonder if we in the rational West have lost something along the way? No, we are not likely to be snookered by a religious charlatan, but sometimes in our "head first" dedication to our methods I think we miss the mystical. And sometimes when we miss the mystical we dismiss the holy. I was reminded once again (perhaps by the Spirit?) of the danger in neglecting the holy when it is in our midst.
About the distance from White Memorial to the N C State Veternary School is about how far it is from Jericho to the banks of the Jordan where "our" best guess suggests Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist.
(Members of our group visit the Jordan River on the westside, the Israeli side, of the river. While difficult to describe, I will try to explain what you are seeing in this photo. The water is high and full of sediment as it rained very hard earlier in the week. Many scholars think that Jesus actually entered the water from the east side, the Jordanian side of the river, directly across from us. The church in the background is the Roman Catholic Church constructed on the sight in 2000 or so. There is also a Lutheran Church and an Orthodox Church, all on the Jordanian side. Behind us is a large pavillion that is wide open. All around us were people reading and studying scripture - Christians and Jews. People going well into the water, praying, singing. The group across from us had drawn water from the river, and using the huge font in the center of the screen, were baptizing people there.)
I don't think I can really articulate what it meant to me to be there. I gathered our group closely and we shared the story of Jesus' baptism. I encouraged them to touch the water, remember their baptisms, to pray or recite whatever they desired to pray or recite. Each person embraced the experience in a very personal way, and that felt right. After I shared the story of Jesus and his Baptism, which was somewhere in the general vicinity of this spot some 2000 years ago, I touched the water with my left hand, and then my right hand, and I thanked God for my baptism and for the gift of forgiving and saving grace. I then asked The Lord to bless my family and our church and I once again recited The Lord's Prayer. I didn't take any water. Instead I left my prayers with the water. That felt right.
My overall feeling there was joy. Being there made my incredibly joyful. I pray I will be slower to anger, and more able to give myself to joy when it arrives. I was able to do so today, and for this I am grateful.
For as long as I have read scripture, I have always felt drawn to Luke's gospel. In Luke 18 and 19 we get the back to back stories of Bartimaeus and Zacchaeus. Bartimaeus is blind, poor, a beggar. Zacchaeus is rich, rich, rich - a tax collector. They both need to see. Bartimaeus because of his blindness and Zacchaeus because of his short stature. They both need to see the new thing God is doing, to behold God's goodness in the world around them. Both in Jericho, though different, they have a similar need. And it is in Jericho they both gained their sight and saw clearly.
What did they see?
I cannot know. But I trust that it was grace. Grace abundant at that. Grace in a loving God and loving Savior who would touch them and direct them to the fruits of the Spirit.
I think that is why people come here. I saw people catching a glimpse of that today. Praying in a shrine. Stepping into a river. Looking into the water. Standing near the story of our faith in order that they might see more clearly.
"God of all sight - that of the eyes and that of the soul - fill us anew with wonder ever day. That in the Jordan or in our homes, we might see, see, see. See clearly the wonder of your love, the beauty of your Spirit, and the mercy of your Son. Amen."
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