Meditations on Israel: Neighbor

Karen and I have been in Israel for almost a week. It is difficult to decide what to blog about. Today we drove from Galilee to Jerusalem. Our road ran parallel to the ancient Roman road connecting Jericho and Jerusalem. It is a desolate and dangerous road that winds through a landscape similar to the Badlands of North Dakota. It is that road Jesus referred to when he told the parable of the Good Samaritan. The question was “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus responded with a story about a man traveling the road to Jericho where he fell among thieves. That part was easy to picture. In the story a Levite walks by and doesn’t stop. Then a priest walks by and doesn’t stop. Then finally a Samaritan walked by and stopped and helped the poor man paying for his housing and care out of his own pocket. The stories of Jesus always had surprises and were nearly always offensive to some. After listening to our guide talk about the trouble with the Palestinians and the Syrians, the Jordanians, and the Egyptians, it is not hard to imagine the reaction of Jesus’ audience. The idea of loving your neighbor when your neighbor is of a different race is as foreign an idea as ever in this land. Maybe it is still foreign to us as well. I hope not. Two kids from church who are studying here in Jerusalem told us about Palm Sunday in the Holy City. They said there was a huge throng of people shouting and singing up and down the road into the Old City of Jerusalem. They said there were people from every tongue and tribe and people and nation. Danny looked at me and said it was as close to seeing what heaven was going to be like as he had ever seen. I think he is right. Yesterday I baptized some people in the Jordan River. There were people getting baptized all over the place. There was a Filipino congregation baptizing near us. There was an Indian couple who asked if we could baptize them since their pastor was not there. Several other ethnic groups whose language I could not recognize were singing and baptizing just down the river. Here in this land of deep history and even deeper scars and pain there flows a power that is deeper still. Jesus came to give people a life different than what most people have. He came to unleash a power where we really could love our neighbor no matter how different, no matter what the history. The power Jesus unleashed was bought at a tremendous price. Tomorrow we will walk into the Garden of Gethsemane. Tomorrow evening we will hear from a couple who are serving Jesus together. One is Jewish and the other is Palestinian. They are bound together by a Savior who gave himself for them and filled them with a love for the people of this land. They are two who have learned to love their neighbor. In this place, there is only One who can give that kind of love. His name is Yeshua.