Israel during Lent – Day 5

Day 5

Departed Tiberius on the Sea of Galilee for Gideon’s Spring, where Gideon wondered out loud, if God is supposed to be with us where is he since we’re hopelessly surrounded by Midianites?  God’s response?   I’m here, I’m with you and YOU Gideon are now going to switch from complaining to becoming the solution with God’s direction and God’s power. 

How about you.  Where might God be calling you out of reticence and complaint to becoming part of the deliverance from whatever problem you’re facing?

We drove route 90 south along the Jordanian border, observing the reality of life surrounded by those who want the elimination of your existence.  The battle between Ishmael and Isaac, between Jacob and Esau, between the Israelites and Canaanites perseveres.  Zionist’s see Jericho still standing as a Muslim Palestinian city right in the middle of Israel as an impediment to God’s will!   Palestinians refuse to surrender to the Zionist invaders.  What now?  It will be wonderful to behold what the Prince of Peace has up his sleeve!!

Back on the bus to ascend  from the lowest place on earth, the Dead Sea, climbing one full Kilometer in elevation up to Jerusalem!   From quite warm to really chilly.  Doing so brought to life the Psalms of ascent, Psalms 120 to 134, which the Jewish believers in Yahweh would sing on their way up to worship at Passover, Pentecost And the Feast of Tabernacles. This trip is bringing the Bible alive to all of us!!!

Jerusalem!!!! A Jewish Cristian who worships in Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke, prayed the Lord’s Prayer with us in Aramaic! 

Walked the Palm Sunday path from the Mount of Olives thru Gethsemane to the Kidron Valley.  Imagine Jesus weeping over Jerusalem, walking or riding that route, entering the East Gate, approaching the opulence of Herod’s temple and seeing the seduction of his people by power, wealth, empty ritual, and materialism.  No wonder Jesus ‘trashed’ the place.  Some of us wonder if Jesus feels the same way about us Christians who have been co-opted by the empty promises of the materialism that captures our hearts.  

One clue to how Jesus might feel about us is that he wept. He knew that the empty promise of Herodian wealth was a trap and that 70 AD was inevitable. 

Can we learn from that?

Tomorrow we play!   We’ll float in the Dead Sea!  No fish nipping at our heels!!