Pilgrimage to the Holy Land II

Andrew Lloyd Webber is best known as the composer of such musical blockbusters as Phantom of the Opera, Evita and Cats. But when I was a college seminarian his most attention-getting creation was Jesus Christ Superstar.  In ways we cannot appreciate today, this "rock opera" shocked audiences with its sympathetic depiction of Judas, Mary Magdalene crooning "I don't know how to love you," and presentation of Jesus as a reluctant rock star.  When the movie version of the record came out, we seminarians eagerly went to see it.  We were worried, however, whether the seminary's priest leadership would criticize us for watching the movie.

I still remember how surprised I was when Father George Saladna, seminary vice rector and a true scholar of the Sacred Scriptures, calmly accepted the news that we saw the movie.  "It's a fifth Gospel," he said.  Noticing our puzzled looks, he explained, "The four Gospels are the church's official accounts of Christ.  But there are many ways of depicting who Jesus is." 

That phrase, "a fifth Gospel," was much on my mind as our Pittsburgh pilgrimage group recently (October 26--November 4) walked in the footsteps of Jesus in Israel.  For the geography of the Holy Land became for me a fifth Gospel, giving fresh insight into Jesus and his saving ministry.  Let me share five points.

Jesus was a country boy.  Jesus was raised by Joseph and Mary in Nazareth, a tiny village in "the Galilee," the region around the Sea of Galilee (also known as Genneseret, or the Sea of Tiberias), a freshwater lake five miles by 14 miles large.  Pilgrims looking for desert found green grass and many trees in the Galilee hills, fed by streams from Mount Hermon to the north.  Inhabitants of the Galilee region were disparaged as "hicks" with a funny accent by more sophisticated city dwellers in Jerusalem 60 miles south (see Luke 22:39).  Our group celebrated Mass outside of the Mount of Beatitudes Church overlooking the Sea of Galilee, on a sunny picture-perfect day.  One could easily imagine Jesus feeding the 5,000 on a nearby hill, and praying to his heavenly Father in such a beautiful place.

Jesus worked in cities.  The Gospel of Mark calls Jesus a tekton in Greek.  We've heard this usually translated as "carpenter"; a better translation would be "worker," whether in wood, stone or metal.  There would have been little available work in his tiny village for him and Joseph.  Scholars speculate that the two of them went to larger communities around the Sea of Galilee for employment, such as Tiberias or Sepphoris (which is, very interestingly, never mentioned in any of the four canonical Gospels).  In these cities Jesus would have likely picked up some knowledge of the Greek language, as he dealt with traders and travelers from the north and east. His native tongue was Aramaic, and he knew Hebrew which he employed when he prayed the Psalms in the synagogue.

Jesus walked everywhere.  The hills of the Galilee are similar to the hills of western Pennsylvania.  However, Jesus didn't have the privilege of riding in an air-conditioned motor coach like we 21st century pilgrims did!  When we went to Mount Tabor, to celebrate Mass in the Church of the Transfiguration, we marveled at Jesus's stamina to climb the steep path up the 1,500 foot mountain.  The gospels tells us that Jesus preached in cities we did not visit on our pilgrimage--Tyre and Sidon on the Mediterranean coast, and Caesarea Philippi to the north--which were 20 or more miles from his home base of Capernaum.

Jesus knew fishermen.    Matthew tells us that at the beginning of his ministry Jesus left his hometown of Nazareth and moved to Capernaum (4:13), a much larger town on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee.  Capernaum was wiped off the map by invaders in the 6th century, but archaeologists have found what they believe are the remains of Peter's house and a nearby synagogue where Jesus taught and did many healings.  On our pilgrimage we prayerfully visited the ruins, and a contemporary church which was cantilevered over the site ten years ago.  It gave us new appreciation of the close relationship Jesus had with the fishermen brothers Peter/Andrew and James/John.  

On my first pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1989, the Franciscan friar who was conducting the archaeological dig had only reached through the ruins of a 5th century church to a 4th century church.  I was amazed on this visit how much more the scientists had uncovered.  I was also startled to see the contemporary church, covering the ground, sitting like a flying saucer spaceship over the ruins.

The day after our group visited Capernaum, we saw the so-called "Jesus boat," a 27 foot fishing boat from the first century.  It was recovered during a drought three decades ago and is now nicely displayed in a museum on a kibbutz.  This one is probably not Peter's actual boat.  But viewing it allowed us to picture Jesus falling asleep in the stern during a storm, and Peter gathering a great catch of fish at the command of Jesus.  In my imagination whenever the stories of Peter and his boat were read, all I could see was a canoe.  I wondered, how could 153 fish, plus several co-workers of Peter, fit in such a tiny thing.  Now, seeing the 27 footer, it was far easier to picture those stories.

Jesus was a frequent pilgrim to the holy city of Jerusalem.  The four canonical gospels differ on how often Jesus walked to Jerusalem from Nazareth/Capernaum.  Mark and Matthew, once.  Luke, twice (once as a 12 year old with his parents, once as an adult).  John, at least three times.  Why?  Because John mentioned Jesus being in Jerusalem three times to celebrate the Feast of Passover.  

The church has never pronounced on which number is historically accurate.  I've tended to agree with the evangelist John, because of Jesus's seeming familiarity with the city, as well as his friendship with Mary, Martha and Lazarus of Bethany.  This also would mean that Jesus's ministry was at least 2 1/2 years in length, not one year.

The second half of our pilgrimage was in Jerusalem.  Our motor coach took the "Jordan road" south from the Galilee.  This is a modern two lane highway that paralleled the Jordan River, and was close to the probable route Jesus took.  We went to Jericho, the oldest known place of human continuous habitation in the world, and then turned up the 4,000 feet mountain to the holy city of Jerusalem.  

In Jerusalem, we prayed at the Western Wall of the Second Temple, walked the Way of the Cross ("Via Dolorosa") through crowded alleys, and celebrate the Eucharist (in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher) footsteps away from the hill of Golgotha on which Jesus was crucified.  We marveled at 2,000 year old olive trees in the Garden of Gethsemane, and the probable site of the prison where Jesus spent Holy Thursday night/Good Friday early morning after his arrest (the Church of St. Peter in Gallicantu).  We pilgrims prayed at holy sites where pilgrims from all over the world have prayed for two millennia.

When I returned home after my first pilgrimage to the Holy Land, I told people seeing the geography made reading the Gospels change for me, from black-and-white TV to color TV.  Now that I have returned home, the analogy is the same, just that it has been elevated to a 75 inch flat-screen 3D TV.  I continue to "see" new images when I read or pray or proclaim the Gospels, because of this pilgrimage.

The geography of the Holy Land is truly a fifth Gospel, which allowed us pilgrims to draw closer to the Jesus of the four Gospels and the Christ whom we worship and follow today.