Tourists or Pilgrims?

 

“Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage. 

As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools.
 They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion.” *

Carefully stored away in our file cabinet is a special memento from a trip to Israel in May, 2010. I had always wanted to visit the Holy Land; so, when our friends, the Paynes, signed up for a special tour led by a highly respected Bible teacher, Dr. George Wood, Al and I decided to go along with them.

This was Dr. Wood’s thirtieth trip to the country from the United States. His role was to give the Biblical background of each place we visited, and lead the group in worship and prayer.

Dr. Wood and the tour guide, David Assael, made a strong team. David, an Israeli, had an extensive of knowledge of Jewish culture, Bible history, archaeology and the geography of the region.

At our first meeting after arriving in Tel Aviv, the two men welcomed the group to a pilgrimage from Galilee to Jerusalem, following the footsteps of Jesus and His disciples. It was the first time I had considered this adventure a pilgrimage, or myself as a pilgrim.

At the time the above psalm was written, pilgrims traveled by foot or donkey to the Holy City, certainly not in air-conditioned buses. Rather than going to deluxe hotels, they had to find shelter each night. Food supplies and water were unpredictable. In spite of hardships and tears, their hearts were set on reaching Jerusalem.

The only thing we shared in common with the pilgrims of long ago was that we all had to travel long distances to reach Jerusalem. To my mind, we were tourists rather than pilgrims.

After spending the night in Tel Aviv, our journey to Jerusalem took a clockwise route, by driving north along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, stopping to explore ruins from the time of King Herod, and also from the time of the Apostle Paul at Caesarea.

As the bus drove inland toward Tiberias, located along the Sea of Galilee,

it seemed like every square foot of land had great historical significance. Places and accounts from both the Old and New Testaments came alive!

We visited Mt. Carmel where Elijah the prophet confronted the prophets of Baal; sites of excavated cities dating from the reign of King Solomon at Megiddo; the “Mount of Precipice” near Nazareth, where an angry mob threatened to push Jesus over the edge of a cliff; and viewed the Valley of Armageddon, mentioned in Revelations.

Once in Tiberias, the next four days were spent exploring the area around the Sea of Galilee, where most of Jesus’ public ministry took place.  Sailing to Capernaum in a replica of an ancient fishing boat brought to life  many of the stories in the Gospels of the Lord’s travels back and forth across the lake along with his disciples, some of whom were fisherman. I felt pure joy when our group formed a tight circle, sang “Hava Nagila,” (“Let Us Rejoice”) and danced on the deck of the boat!

Late in the afternoon of the sixth day of our adventure, we made the ascent to Jerusalem along the same road used in Jesus’ day. The first view of the city from across the valley was awesome. Perhaps the pilgrims felt the same sense of awe at the end of their long trek.

The next five days of our tour were packed with sight-seeing, beginning by retracing Jesus’ steps from the Mount of Olives down to the Garden of Gethsemane. On the day before departure, we visited Bethlehem, Christ’s birthplace, and once back in Jerusalem, the Garden Tomb, a possible location of His burial and resurrection. Birth, death and resurrection, all in one day!

My special memento? A certificate, “Testimony of Pilgrimage,” given to each of us on our last evening in Israel. The trip was a life-changing experience, and I left the Holy Land, not as a tourist but as a pilgrim!

Followers of Jesus are also Heaven-bound pilgrims as they journey through this world, longing to be face to face with the Lord, and finding strength and hope in Him along the way.

Oh, that we might always have our eyes and hearts centered on Jesus.

Keep on, dear Pilgrim, keep on!

  

*Psalm 84: 5-7 NIV