Jerusalem Bound. Rodney Aist

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ Mount Sion, and the Jordan River, assume spiritual meanings that transcend their physical dimensions. The Bible contains perspectives on time, hope, and memory, on compassion and hospitality, on the Other and the earthly life. When its themes are collectively considered, pilgrimage is one of the dominant images of the Bible.

How does the Bible resource the modern-day pilgrim? While the Bible contains recognized expressions of the pilgrim life, pilgrimage is never defined.13 There is neither a Greek nor a Hebrew word that specifically or consistently means pilgrimage, and the word “pilgrimage” only occasionally appears in English translations of the Bible.14 Instead of focusing upon specific terms, our interest is in biblical content that contains pilgrim themes.

      The Biblical Prototype

      Christian pilgrimage is implicitly governed by a biblical prototype, or metatemplate, that envisions the Christian life as a journey to New Jerusalem. The prototype is an amalgamation of biblical images, stories, concepts, and teachings that depict our relationship with God as a movement from sin to salvation, or, in pilgrim language, from being lost to being found, from being out of place to spiritual arrival, from alienation to union with God. The spiritual life is one of change, transition, and progress; destination represents wholeness, completion, and fulfillment. The prototype presents the human condition as being lost, depicts a pathway to God full of assistance, choices, and challenges, and conveys destinational images of banqueting tables, the kingdom of God, and New Jerusalem. To repent is to change direction, to make a u-turn, to find the right path. Grace is the strength to act in the first place and includes times of being carried. The metatemplate is also informed by the Mosaic narrative: wilderness wandering, the Jordan River crossing, and arrival in the promised land. The prototype is not a concrete blueprint of the Christian life; rather, it governs as a composite ideal. While the prototype contains a number of indelible images, it has a kaleidoscopic quality that is open to interpretation, as evidenced by the spectrum of Christian traditions.

      Even so, the prototype has a fundamental influence on our understanding of the Christian life. To begin with, it depicts the Christian faith as a journey to God—Paul describes it as a race. Secondly, Christian pilgrimage is not about any or every journey but those that appeal in some way to the prototype, which distinguishes Christian pilgrimage from non-Christian expressions. Third, the character of pilgrimage as incarnational, metaphorical, autobiographical, and corporate, and pilgrim virtues, such as patience and perseverance, are grounded in the prototype. Fourth, providing an unparalleled context for examining the pilgrim’s relationship with God, Holy Land travel metaphorically patterns the New Jerusalem destination of the Christian prototype.

      The Journey of the Magi

      We begin our survey of the biblical material with a favorite Christmas story: the magi’s journey to Bethlehem (Matt 2). The magi left their country, traveled a long distance, worshipped the Christ Child, and returned home. The story provides a narrative template for Holy Land pilgrims, who likewise leave home on a long-distance journey to see the places of Christ. Focusing on the key elements of the story, the narrative lends itself to a series of reflective questions.

      The Star: What are the signs and indications that you should go to the Holy Land? What is calling you, and how will you be guided along the way?

      Herod: What are possible obstacles, dangers, and fears? What could compromise your purpose, deceive you along the way, or threaten the well-being of others?

      The Dreams of the Magi: Similar to the role of the star, how will God communicate with you throughout the journey to direct your thoughts and actions? What will warn and guide you? What will be the source of revelation and insight?

      The Christ Child: What does it mean to search for the Christ Child in the Holy Land? How and where will you locate him, and what may surprise you when you do? How will you worship Christ on the journey?

      Gifts: What does it mean to bear gifts to the Holy Land? What gifts are you taking, and how will you use them? Are there good and not-so-good gifts to offer? What are the gifts and contributions of other foreign pilgrims?

      Home by Another Way: How will you return home differently? How will your Holy Land encounter change your life back home?

      The magi’s journey to Bethlehem offers a surprisingly robust narrative for ordering the Holy Land experience.

      Remembering Abraham

      Abrahamic applications have largely escaped the attention of Holy Land pilgrims. God called Abraham to go to the land that God would show him (Gen 12:1). Abraham obeyed, leaving his country, his kindred, and his father’s house, and followed God to the land of Canaan, which was subsequently promised to Abraham’s offspring (Gen 17:8). Throughout his years in Canaan, Abraham’s faith was frequently tested, most poignantly in the divine command to sacrifice his son, Isaac, the heir of God’s promise. Abraham is often regarded as the first biblical pilgrim, and the trials of the earthly life, a popular image of pilgrimage, is exemplified in the patriarch’s story.

      What makes Abraham the quintessential pilgrim, however, is his foreign identity. The Bible describes Abraham and his descendents as aliens (Gen 15:13; 17:8; 21:23). Upon the death of Sarah, Abraham told the Hittites at Hebron: “I am a stranger and an alien residing among you” (Gen 23:4), and Abraham’s descendents would remain “resident aliens in a country belonging to others” (Acts 7:6). Abraham’s foreign status is emphasized in Hebrews: “by faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents” (Heb 11:8–9). To be a pilgrim in the mold of Abraham is to experience God in a foreign place.

      To reiterate the point, personal trials, obeying God, and life as a journey of faith are important aspects of Abraham’s legacy. So, too, is the virtue of hospitality. We lose key applications of the story, however, if we overlook the literal nature of Abraham’s foreign status. Abrahamic pilgrimage is about being away from home, living in a place that is not our own, and following God as strangers in a foreign land.

Holy Land pilgrims identify with the Abraham story. Called beyond the familiarity of home, the Holy Land traveler experiences foreign cultures, currencies, and languages. They feel the disorientation, confusion, and anxiety of being aliens in a distant land and are dependent upon the hospitality of strangers. Holy Land pilgrims are called to follow God in a strange land, to overcome trials and challenges, and to live faithfully out of place. To be a Holy Land pilgrim is to walk in Abraham’s footsteps.15

      Entering the Promised Land

      Commingling confusion and rebellion with God’s guidance and protection, the Israelite wilderness experience was a journey from bondage and slavery to the brink of the promised land, which culminated in the crossing of the Jordan River. The river was a physical and symbolic boundary, a limen, or threshold, from the old to the new, from journey to arrival, from promise to attainment. Crossing the Jordan River was an act of transformation: to cross was to change. Life was different on the other side.

      The narrative reminds us that we arrive in the Holy Land with a personal, social, and religious past, sometimes after years of wandering. God has been faithfully present, but we have wandered in circles. We arrive at the banks of the Jordan—or stand before the gates of Jerusalem—with mixed histories and personal baggage. To enter the Holy Land is to consider how we leave the wilderness behind in permanent, life-changing ways. What is the meaning of the promised land? How does Holy Land arrival represent a new beginning? How is the Jordan River a threshold of transformation? Where, on the journey, are the points of personal change? Engaging the metaphorical qualities of the Holy Land, Christian pilgrims are in step with the Israelite experience.

      Erecting СКАЧАТЬ