Day 14: “This is a Covenant Poured Out in My Blood”

We started the day at the City of David, which was formerly Jebus. From Joshua to David, Israel conquered all the cities within the Promised Land except Jebus, because it was a well-fortified city on a hill. The Jebusites were arrogant about their stronghold, so much so that they taunted David.

“And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who said to David, ‘You will not come in here, but the blind and the lame will ward you off’—thinking, ‘David cannot come in here.’” – 2 Samuel 5:6

David found a way into the sewer to conquer the Jebusites, and he took the city for himself. Later, he donated this city, Jerusalem, to become the capital of Judah. Jesus’s two recorded miracles in Jerusalem – healing a blind man, then a lame man – would have furthered His case in people’s mind that He was the Son of David.

We then went to Hezekiah’s Tunnel, which is the ¾ mile tunnel that connects the underground spring outside of Jerusalem into the city at the Pool of Siloam. Hezekiah’s men built this tunnel (2 Kings 20:20) and buried it before the Assyrians attacked to make sure the Israelites had a protected water supply.

Though it was a miracle that the two sides of digging met to connect the tunnel, it appears that God had already protected the Israelites. As Sennacherib of Assyria was encamped around Jerusalem, God struck down over half of the Assyrian army in one night. Then, Sennacherib fled back to Assyria.

We spent the rest of our day next to the Temple Mount, which is the site of the original Temple to God on Mt. Moriah. This is also a holy site for Muslims, because Mohammed is said to have taken a “night flight” to heaven from this spot. This area is in constant religious and political turmoil between Jews, Muslims, and Christians.

When God called the Hebrews to Israel, Solomon built a Temple to God, which God’s glory lived in until the Babylonians conquered it in 563 BC. The Israelites spent 70 years in Babylon, and then some were allowed to return to Israel. Under Zerubabel, Ezra and Nehemiah rebuilt the Temple at the same location.

Fifty years before Jesus was born, the Temple had been expanded by Herod the Great to include a “mount” so that Mt. Moriah would be “flattened” and more people could worship in the Temple courts. All of the original Temple Mount stones were cut by priests at a quarry off-site, because they did not want to disrespect God with the sound of hammers.

Every stone was cut to fit an exact spot, and these stones were huge. The lower stones weighed as much as 24 tons. This was an incredible feat of construction, and to this day no one knows how they were able to carve with such precision and move such large stones this far.

Shavuot (“Weeks”) is the Jewish celebration of Moses receiving the 10 Commandments on Mt. Sinai. Every year, the Israelites would read passages from Exodus, Habakkuk, and Ezekiel about how God’s presence is symbolized by fire, wind, and thunder. Then, the book of Ruth would be read to illustrate that God presence is shown by His people in how they care about the poor.

Not coincidentally, God chose Shavuot (Greek: “Pentecost”) to be the day He gave His Holy Spirit to followers of Jesus. There was a sound of thunder, and wind filled the Temple (called the “House” in Luke 24:53), then tongues of fire came on the heads of the disciples. This must have been an impressive picture of God’s presence to those standing nearby.

Near the Temple, 48 mikvehs (“ritual cleansing baths”) have been found to date. Everyone who entered the Temple would have had to cleanse themselves in “living water” to be pure before God. When the Spirit of God came out of the Temple on Shavuot, the 3000 people that committed to following Jesus would have used these mikvehs to be baptized.

Further, the number of the church was added to everyday because Jesus’s followers cared for each other’s practical needs. This was always the mission of God’s people, and caring for the weak, poor, and oppressed is a sign of God’s presence.

“They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers … all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the Temple together … they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.” – Acts 2:42-47

RVL pointed out that God has chosen the main Jewish festivals as landmark events for His people, and especially Jesus. Jesus was killed on Passover (Israel’s redemption from slavery), buried on the Festival of Unleavened Bread (people prayed for bread from Heaven), and raised on the Festival of the First Fruits (dedicate first of the harvest). Jesus was (likely) born on Festival of Tabernacles (remember the 40 years in Israel where people lived in tents).

It is said that Jesus will probably return again on the Festival of Trumpets (celebrate the creation of Adam and Eve and the new year). In this case, He will judge the world on the Day of Atonement (judgment day). It is amazing to think that God’s sovereignty can set up time in this way so far in advance.

We then looked at the Sadducees, our last of the Jewish groups during the time of Jesus. When the Israelites came back from the Babylonian captivity, Tzadok of Aaron’s lineage was chosen as high priest. For the next 500 years, Tzadok’s line were high priests of Israel (plural Tzadokim). An English transliteration of this word is “Sadducee”, so we call this group the Sadducees.

By the time of Jesus, the Romans owned the Sadducees. Every year the high priest position was up for bribes, and seven Tzadok families controlled the high priesthood during Roman period in Israel (63 BC to 67 AD). They were known as mafia families and made their money by corrupt Temple merchant practices.

Jesus’s first action when entering Jerusalem was to turn over the tables of these corrupt merchants. He also would have (likely) lightly hit their faces with his tzitzit (called “cords” in Luke) as was the typical rabbinic practice to say that God will no longer protect you on account of your corruption.

Jesus threatened their corrupt economy, so the Sadducees had to get rid of Him. They (illegally) arrested Him and had a fake tribunal on a trumped up charge of Jesus being a zealot. We saw what was (likely) the high priest Anus’s house – where Jesus was arrested and brought to – and the house was extremely lavish for that era.

We saw the (likely) spot where Peter denied Jesus and Jesus and Peter’s eyes met. Peter was scared that identifying with Jesus would get him killed so he denied that he knew Jesus. The Sadducees were scared that Jesus would destroy their wealth, so they were trying to kill Jesus.

Jesus said: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven” – Matthew 19:24. The kingdom of heaven is doing God’s mission here on earth, and because the Sadducees were consumed with living a “good life” they didn’t have time, nor did they care to, join that mission.

This moment really hit home for everyone. We live in the same Hellenistic world that attracted the Sadducees. We chase money, pleasure, power, and fame. How much of our lives are we living for what our “eyes” want (like Adam and Eve did) rather than what our ears hear (God’s word)?

We talked during this trip about fulfilling God’s mission of bringing Shalom to the Chaos of this world. But bringing Shalom to an evil world will have a cost to anyone who wants to join God’s mission. This is why Jesus asked people to count the cost of discipleship. Are we willing to join God’s mission in spite of resistance from evil?

We concluded out trip by having a communion together to answer the previous question. When Jesus told the disciples (Luke 22:20), “This is a covenant poured out in my blood,” they probably would have looked at him astonished. This was the same language a man would use to ask his potential wife to marry him.

Jesus was inviting his disciples – and every future generation of His followers – into a marriage covenantal relationship with him. This is the same marriage covenant that God invited the people of Israel to join on Mt. Sinai. Are we willing to follow God at any cost? Many in the audience answered “yes” to this question by publicly making a renewed commitment to God and drinking a shared cup of wine.

In the evening, we went out for our first dinner together at a restaurant since we have been in Israel at an Arab restaurant. We got to share our “Top 10” lists with each other, which were hilarious. Then we went back to the hotel to share our highlights of the trip. Being with RVL and this group for 14 days has been life changing. I believe that many of us will never be the same.

Day 13: Jesus vs. Herod

We spent the first half of the day in Jerusalem. RVL laid out the city topographically and historically for us from the Mt. of Olives. We talked a great deal about Jesus’s last week before his crucifixion, and I got a very different feel about His passion week than I had before.

Jesus came into the city of Jerusalem on the 10^th day of Nissan (lamb selection day for Passover) and He was riding a donkey. Riding a horse would have been a sign of war, but Jesus walked 130 miles to Jerusalem, and then He got on a donkey at Bethpage (the Jerusalem city limit) to fulfill what Zechariah had written.

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” – Zechariah 9:9

However, the Jews didn’t understand Jesus’s message of peace. They took Him to be a warrior who was leading them to conquer their Roman oppressors, so they started to chant “Hosanna” (“God save us”) and lay down palm branches (a symbol of revolt). The Maccabees had won a similar revolt against the Greeks in 167 BC under similar chants and palm branches were used to commemorate this revolt.

Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.” This remark was probably made in reference to Habakkuk 2 and how the yelling might escalate if he tried to quiet them.

 “Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house, to set his nest on high, to be safe from the reach of harm! You have devised shame for your house by cutting off many peoples; you have forfeited your life. For the stone will cry out from the wall, and the beam from the woodwork respond. Woe to him who builds a town with blood and founds a city on iniquity!" – Habakkuk 2:9-12

The Jews – and especially the Zealots – still thought that violence against the Romans would bring the kingdom of God. Jesus wept aloud at their stubbornness.

“Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground." – Luke 19:42-44

As Jesus entered Jerusalem, He (likely) went through the Shepherd’s Gate to symbolize that He was the lamb of God. Again, Jesus’s humility is amazing. He had every right to enter through the King’s Gate and send judgment to the Romans – and everyone else – right then and there. But He did not. Jesus came to save.

As a side note, the King’s Gate is now walled in, because the Muslims believe that the Jewish Messiah will return through this gate. I find it entertaining that anyone believes a few bricks will hold Jesus back from His second coming, but I guess they can give it their best shot. The Second Coming will likely be different than the first.

After Palm Sunday, Jesus and His disciples stayed in the Gethsemane  (“olive press”) at the foot of the Mt. of Olives. We visited the (probable) Gethsemane and talked through the evening of Leyl Shimorim (“night of watching”). God asked the Israelites to stay up all night to commemorate the night God protected the Israelites from the Angel of Death (Exodus 12:42).

In addition to wanting fellowship, asking His disciples to follow Torah is why Jesus asks His disciples to stay up praying for Him. Being next to a Gethsemane is a picture of Jesus being squeezed like an olive in a press as He sweat drops of blood at the realization that He would have to drink the cup of God’s wrath (Jeremiah 25:15).

Jesus was then arrested, tried, and crucified. We visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which houses the sites where Jesus was (possibly) killed and buried. People would have been crucified at street level, so the passers-by would be warned not to do whatever the dying victim did. I imagine people looking into Jesus’s eyes during His six hours on the cross and wondering what He must have done.

During the life of a Jew, it is common to consider a Bible passage, which you will meditate on during your last day of life if you know you are dying. As He was dying, Jesus appears to have been meditating on Psalm 22 among other passages.

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest. Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them.

“To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame. But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads; ‘He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!’” – Psalm 22:1-8

After considering Jesus’s passion week, we also went to the Pool of Bethesda where Jesus healed a paralyzed man. Next to this pool is the Church of St. Anne (mother of Mary), which has excellent acoustics. We sang “Amazing Grace” as a choir in front of a self-assembled audience, which was a moving experience.

We then drove to the Herodian, Herod the Great’s main palace to watch over Jerusalem. Herod may have been the greatest builder of his era and possibly was the wealthiest man to ever live, so this palace was impressive. The Herodian also houses Herod’s tomb, which the Zealots destroyed once they determined it was Herod’s.

Yet for all of Herod’s “greatness”, He was an evil man. He is a picture of a “successful” life by the world’s standard, yet He had nothing but despair at the end of His life. He had palaces, fame, and money. He also had subjects who hated him, no friends, bad health, and wives plotting to kill him. Jesus asked, “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet lose his soul?”

On the other hand, Jesus had no money, no writings (that we know of), no home, and nothing He built was ever credited to Him. Yet his kingdom is still expanding, and there are millions of people alive today who would die for Him. But to live for Jesus has a cost. It will cost you your whole life, but you will find that what you gave up was nothing but selfishness and pride in the end.

Though Herod was the king of the Jews, he was appointed king by Caesar. He knew that a baby born king of the Jews would be dangerous to his throne. He was right. It is so interesting that God put Jesus and Herod on the world’s stage at the same time in history, and that Jesus was born three miles away from where Herod died.

We closed the day by visiting an Olive Wood shop in Bethlehem, owned by an Arab-Christian who was a friend of RVL. Bethlehem has become a big city, so it has grown way beyond the town of 150 that Jesus was born in. But it was still cool to be able to visit so many sites that Jesus lived this week. Tomorrow will be our last day.

Day 12: The Fire of Elijah

We started our day by visiting the supposed (though unlikely) site of Jesus almost being stoned near Nazareth (Luke 4). The cliffside has a beautiful outlook of the whole Nazareth area, and it would have been a view Jesus grew up with. One of the major takeaways of this trip for me has been the humanness of Jesus. Consider that Jesus stood in this same spot overlooking the city and felt for these lost.

We then drove to the foot Mt. Carmel in preparation for our daily hike. RVL used this moment as a teaching point about fig trees. Fig trees are people’s favorite trees in Israel because they are so sweet. Apparently fig trees take a lot of work to care for. Jews call their rabbi a fig tree, which yields sweet fruit but needs to be cared for.

“Whoever tends a fig tree will eat its fruit, and he who guards his master will be honored.” – Proverbs 27:18

This makes the interaction between Jesus and Nathaniel come alive. Nathaniel was probably studying Psalm 32:2 with his rabbi, which states: “Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.” And Jesus had a vision of Nathaniel studying with his rabbi.

“Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, ‘Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!’ Nathanael said to him, ‘How do you know me?’ Jesus answered him, ‘Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.’ Nathanael answered him, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!’ – John 1:47-49

It made me think about the importance of tending my own fruit tree(s), meaning caring in practical ways for those who invest in my spiritual growth. In America, we tend to think that all people need is money. Not true. The Jews have this one right. Pastors and rabbis need to be cared for in all kinds of practical ways to succeed.

The main point of today was considering the life of Elijah. Elijah was a fiery prophet of God during the reign of an evil ruling couple, Ahab and Jezebel. He threatened Ahab and Jezebel that their idolatry would lead to a nationwide drought based on Deuteronomy 11, and the drought did pick up in full force. Elijah had a confrontational relationship with God.

He went back and forth between preaching God’s word and allowing his own temper get the best of him. Elijah called down fire from heaven three times and killed hundreds of people – prophets of Ba’al and Ahab’s soldiers. Elijah was so frustrated that he asked God to kill him. Through it all, God taught Elijah that violence is not the best answer, as God visits Elijah with a kol d'mama de kah (“whisper”).

Elijah’s passion for God was legendary. In one day, Elijah climbed up and down Mt. Carmel twice and then ran 18+ miles to Jezreel. To get a small taste of the difficulty, we hiked Mt. Carmel. Even one hike up was quite difficult, with a 2400 ft. incline. Upon Elijah’s leaving the world, his disciple Elisha asked for twice the fire of Elisha, which he granted. I want to have twice the fire of Elijah.

On our hike, RVL pointed to a bushy thorn called “seerim”, which is the same word as prophet (interestingly). Hosea 2:6 says that God will put seerim to block your path when you fall away from Him. RVL asked us to walk in the seerim and feel how difficult it was to keep walking. These weren’t as bad as the thistles from yesterday, but it definitely hurt. May God put seerim in my path to help steer me.

We walked by an area with a bunch of rocks. RVL asked us all to pick up smaller rocks and start hammering the larger rocks. He said, this is what happens to the rocks in our ears when we immerse ourselves in God’s word. The sound of 60 rocks being hammered was an object lesson that was loud and clear. Often I blame God for not allowing me to hear, when it is I who have put God’s word on the backburner.

“God awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.” – Isaiah 50:4

“In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have chiseled my ears.” – Psalm 40:6

Near the top of Mt. Carmel, there is a grove of olive trees, so we learned more about the strange growth patterns of olive trees. Apparently, olive trees do not have a life expectancy and are very resilient. There are some olive trees in Israel that are 2000+ years old. But every 400 years or so, they become dormant and stop producing fruit. At this point, the farmer cut off the trunk of the olive tree.

You think the tree is dead, but new shoots start growing on the tree. Olive trees have two types of shoots: NZR and HTR. NZR are shoots that grow higher on the tree which bear fruit, but will not grow a new tree if planted. HTR are shoots that grow from roots that can grow new trees if planted in soil, but will not bear fruit.

Jesus was a NZR from the stump of Jesse. He asks us to bear fruit by being alive in Him. The Gentiles are grafted wild olive branches – which an olive farmer would never do because that would weaken the tree – but Gentiles are able to bear fruit because they are in Jesus’s shoot. The imagery was so rich when we were looking at these olive trees. We really can’t bear fruit outside of Jesus or our Jewish roots.

After hiking Mt. Carmel, we went to Caesarea. Paul was held captive there in prison and would make his appeal to Caesar before King Herod Agrippa II at Caesarea. Caesarea also happens to be the most naturally beautiful site in Israel, as it is a Roman city built on the edge of the Mediterranean Sea. Herod the Great built this city to gain a port for his spices, but basically just to say how great he was.

RVL made the point that God was at work throughout the generations of the Herod family. Herod the Great met the wise men and tried to kill Jesus as a baby. His son, Herod Antipas, met and killed John the Baptist. Herod Agrippa I imprisoned Peter and killed James, son of Zebedee. Herod Agrippa II met Paul and kept him imprisoned for two years. Hopefully someone in that family ended up believing.

Our last stop was Jerusalem, where we will be for the next two days. Like many pilgrims, our first stop was the Western (“Wailing”) Wall of the Temple Mount. In the original Temple of Jerusalem, God’s glory lived in the Holy of Holies, which would have been on the West side. It became a tradition for people to pray on the West side of the Temple Mount. Praying to God at this ancient site was quite moving. If you are reading this, I hope to have prayed for you today.

Day 11: God’s Word is a Fire

Much like Jesus’s life prepared Him for his final descent into Jerusalem, today was our final preparation day before Jerusalem. We visited Bethsaida on the journey. This was the small town that Jesus called five disciples from: Peter, Andrew, James, John, and Phillip. RVL made the point that these five guys were nobodies from a small town, but they and six other guys changed the world.

Bethsaida was built (probably unknowingly) on the remains of Geshur. Absalom fled from David after he killed his half-brother Amnon and lived in Geshur for three years. Geshur was a prominent city of Ba’al worship during Biblical times, and probably had a mix of worshiping God and Ba’al together. The people of the day wanted to hedge their bets on both gods just in case. People haven’t changed much.

Outside of Bethsaida, RVL took us to a nahala (“field of inheritance”). He told the parable of the sower and four soils. God is the sower, His Word is the seed, and the listener is the soil. He describes four types of soil (a common learning parable style):

 “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty." – Matthew 13:3-8

Immediately thereafter, Jesus says, “He who has ears, let him hear” meaning if you are listening to this, do what I say. We often wonder why our lives don’t change. Why do we struggle with the same immaturity and selfishness year after year?

“Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?” – Jeremiah 23:29

RVL became animated about how we don’t take God’s word seriously and that is the cause of soil being wrong. If we immersed ourselves in God’s word, we would find that God’s fire would burn the thistles (cares of this world) and his word would break the rocks (addictions to sin).

He then led us out into the field to remove large rocks from the field by hand for 30 minutes. RVL is all about object lessons, so we have become prepared to do whatever he asks, but this was a new level of painful. Sifting through vicious thistles to pick up large rocks and move them to the side of the field was a new experience for me. About half our group – including me – drew blood during this experience.

We learned the problem of thistles and rocks in our soil! And we learned the value of having a community that would assist us in keeping our soil healthy and fertile for God’s seeds to grow. “For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: “Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the Lord; remove the foreskin of your hearts … lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds.” – Jeremiah 4:3-4

Jesus grew up in Nazareth (“shoot-ville”), named because the people believed the Messiah would be a Nazarene (shoot of the lineage of Jesse & David). We visited a nahala and threshing floor in Nazareth and discussed the story of Boaz and Ruth and how Boaz redeemed Ruth. We discussed Jesus’s disciples “threshing” wheat with their hands on the Shabbat and how frustrated that made the Pharisees.

RVL has been continually going back to the concept of pikuach nefesh (“save a life”), which Jesus weaves into “love your neighbor” and upholds this law above all other laws. Many religious groups of the day put other laws above this one – like idolatry or Shabbat – but Jesus was setting the ranking of laws with pikuach nefesh as a priority for us to follow.

We went into a rock quarry near Nazareth, which Joseph and Jesus probably worked in. Then we went to the location that many of those rocks were sent to: Herod Antipas’s Palace at Sepphoris (“little bird” on a hill). It is ironic that Jesus’s early working experience was on Herod’s Palace, given that Herod would later play a role in sentencing Him to death.

Sepphoris would have been Jesus’s local city, so His family probably spent a great deal of time there. It was a Roman-style city with Hellenistic culture as the dominant theme. Jesus would have become acquainted with Greek and Roman ideas and pop culture, as we see him use a number of Hellenistic ideas in His teaching. Jesus describes the synagogue teachers as hypocrites (“actors”) who are seeking the praise of men and not God (Matthew 6).

In Matthew 11, Jesus quotes two Aesop’s fables to the crowd. RVL discussed the second fable called “The Fisherman and his Flute” in which the fisherman plays a song for the fish in the hopes that they will gladly dance into his net, but they do not. Jesus weaved this imagery into how He had tried to reach the people.

Jesus said: “But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’” – Matthew 11:16-17

After a discussion with the Pharisees, Jesus gives this lament from “The Trojan Women” a play by Euripides: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling.” – Luke 13:34

So often we miss Jesus trying to engage people where they are with their life experience. Paul does the same thing, where He tries to reach people within their culture. Neither Jesus nor Paul sacrifices the truth or God’s holiness, but they are willing to go to tremendous lengths to be inclusive. In many ways, the inclusion of Gentiles was what (practically) cost Jesus His life. May I be willing to be so inclusive.