Reflections on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land

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By Lesley Cohen 28th April 2011

Colossians 3: 12-17;Therefore as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with one another and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the father through him.

Luke 2: 33-35
The child’s mother and father marvelled at what was said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother. “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own heart too.”

A group of us from St Martin’s and some friends recently went with Sylvia our Vicar on pilgrimage to the Holy Land. On our return, we had the above readings for services on our first Sunday back home. This sparked some reflections in me on what we had seen and experienced on our journey.I am glad to say that the group were able to experience the way of living and being with each other advocated in the reading from Colossians.

We all felt it was an enormous privilege to go to visit the land we have heard was given to God’s people from ancient times and where Jesus lived on earth. It was most moving to walk in Jesus’ footsteps, from the peaceful, beautiful lakeshore around Galilee, (which we heard in Jesus’ time was a busy trade thoroughfare) to the bustling old city of Jerusalem where Jesus last ate with his friends before his arrest, trial, being dragged through the crowded streets, being jeered at, to his final suffering and death on the cross. In a way I find hard to explain, it was very special to touch the very stones where Jesus walked. We felt the joy of being God’s chosen people, “holy and dearly loved”.
But it was a tough journey, too. Most of the group, if not all, were over 60 and a number of us had physical conditions with walking or stamina which meant the schedule of touring from 8.30am to 6.00pm, sometimes later, was quite arduous. Walking in Jesus’ footsteps literally involved a lot of steps, up and down, which challenged our knees, our balance and our endurance.

But it was a joy. We all helped each other, up and down the steps through busy streets in Jerusalem or in the rough paths of a village in Nazareth which had been reconstructed as a village would be in Jesus’ day. And everywhere we went we remembered God’s presence in that land over the millennia and especially in the person of Our Lord Jesus. We read about Him in each place and we prayed, had communion and sang lots of “psalms, hymns and spiritual songs”. And we had wonderful fellowship. It was great to be in every place and to know that you could be with any member of the group and enjoy their company and know they would enjoy being in yours.
We could really live the wonderful life of peace which we are called to as God’s people – for one week and among friends.

But in this pilgrimage we also experienced the reality of the words spoken by Simeon in today’s Gospel reading. To put this in context, Mary and Joseph, as devout Jews, have come to present the baby Jesus in the temple as required by the Law of Moses. Simeon first thanks God for the blessing of seeing Jesus, who is to be the “salvation promised by God, a light to the Gentiles and the glory of God’s people Israel.” But then he says the strange and dark words that Jesus will “cause the falling and rising of many in Israel and will be a sign that will be spoken against”. Jesus’ message will cause deep division in God’s people. And that deep division is greatly in evidence today.

In that the country has two names – Israel and Palestine
In that there are two peoples, Arabs and Israelis, living in the land
In that neighbouring lands are “occupied” for decades, such as Druze villages in the Golan heights, where people are split from their families and they are not allowed access to their own water resources
In that there are three major religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam who all see this land as their special home
In that even Christian special places, such as the places where Jesus was born, preached and was laid to rest after his death are divided among our many denominations
In that there are great differences in access to land, transport, education, health care, housing, the right to govern and –especially important in this agricultural economy- to water, among the peoples living in the land – Israelis and Palestinians
In that these differences cause violence and bloodshed and the loss of innocent life

So, as Christians, how are we to respond? I don’t think there is any doubt who Jesus would line himself up with. His standing up for the oppressed, the poor, the outcasts, the sinners, the mentally ill and his standing against those who oppressed them, the religious leaders who held power and authority in his day, were what led to His arrest, torture and execution on the cross as a sinner.
I think he’d be with those who are bulldozed out of their homes, those who can’t reach their land, their friends or their families because of the wall built through their land; those who have to pay high taxes to use water in their own lakes or collected in their own water tanks.

But He’d also be standing with the Jews of Europe, oppressed for thousands of years and culminating in Hitler’s attempt to wipe all Jews from the face of the earth. He would be with them as they sought a haven in the ancient land promised to them through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob- also known as Israel. He would understand their longing for a place of safety and their fear of being attacked, destroyed and cast out yet again.
So Jesus would stand up against sin and its effects, wherever He found it. And He would do this without hatred for any particular group. Remember, he called Matthew, tax collector for the hated occupying Romans, to be His disciple, and some religious leaders of his such as the Pharisees Nicodemus and Simon were among His followers.

So should we! It is easy to fall into hatred. At the airport on the way home we had a hard time getting through security as there had been two bombs in Israel on that day. I felt a sense of suspicion, bordering on hostility, towards me throughout the long process. I had a tiny taste of all we had heard is experienced, on a daily basis, throughout the lifetimes of Palestinians living in Israel/Palestine. I was personally shocked and ashamed to find feelings of anger and resentment welling up in me towards those in power. How would I be if this were for me a daily occurrence, affecting every aspect of my life, rather than simply causing me a little inconvenience and delay in getting on a plane?

Such challenges have been what have kept me from going to Israel/Palestine for many years. But going this time taught me how wrong I have been. Because there are people braver and stronger and more courageous and more loving than me, who stay and fight injustice with peaceful means without giving up and giving way to anger and hatred:

Educated Palestinians who could escape abroad but who stay to work for the welfare of their people
Israelis and Palestinians who have lost members of their families, killed by the other side, who join together to work for peace
Israeli women who go daily to checkpoints to try to see that security checks are carried out fairly
Jews, Moslems and Christians who live, learn and worship God together in a village near Jerusalem, “Neve Shalom/ Wahat al Salam,” running a school for peace for their compatriots
Our guide on our pilgrimage, Issa (meaning Jesus), a Christian, and driver Abe, a Muslim, who depend on our visits to their land and who gave us such great hospitality

Those we met on our journey told us what they need from our support. They do not want our money. They wanted us to be their witnesses. They wanted us to let people know what their lives are like. They didn’t want to be forgotten or ignored. I’ve tried to do that in these reflections. I don’t know what else I can do and to be honest I feel pretty helpless.

But I think of the model given to us by that young mother in the reading from Luke’s gospel, bringing her baby Jesus to the temple and hearing Simeon say that a sword of sorrow would pierce her soul. When I hear these words, I always see Mary standing at the foot of the cross where her son is bleeding to death. She will stand with her beloved son wherever it takes her. Whoever else abandons Him in weakness and fear, she will not.
As we come to the season when we especially remember Jesus’ death on the cross, let us stand with Mary in love and solidarity and ask her to stand with us as we pray for all for all who suffer oppression and injustice.

Let us pray with trust in the power of her son Jesus, who was raised from the dead, to bring about that true salvation which isn’t the vanquishing of our enemies but the redemption of all people into the perfect love and fellowship which his sacrificial death has made possible. Let us pray for the power of forgiveness, the casting out of fear and for peace with justice. Though it seems far off, let us pray and work for the time when all people will be “God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved”.