Return from Israel

As many of you know, I was in Israel for the past two weeks or so. I am working on getting some more content specific reflections up about the trip as I process through it, but I wanted to go ahead and start the posts with a brief synopsis of some of the key insights I gained on the trip and a few pictures. There is more to come, consider this an appetizer.

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This trip was full of wonderful experiences that can best be described under three headings: pilgrimage, Christian fellowship, and challenge to faithful living. The pilgrimage sites were all that I hoped they would be. During my time in Israel, I was able to visit many of the places Jesus walked that have been visited by Christian pilgrims for generations. I got to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane, take a boat ride along the stormy waters of the Sea of Galilee imagining how Jesus would have calmed the storm, and enter the tomb of the resurrection within the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. As I journeyed throughout the land, the stories of the Bible came alive in a new way and reinvigorated my passion to study the Bible. Moreover, I felt God working in my heart, opening my eyes to an even greater appreciation of the glory of the Incarnation, where God became man in Jesus Christ. How awesome is it that the very God of the universe walked on earth in so many of these places in Israel!

If all of those opportunities weren’t enough, I also was privileged to share in a 7 day conference with Methodist leaders from several nations across the world, getting to hear the story of what God is doing in their ministries. Whether in the conversation with several UK church planters who are finding ways to welcome atheists into their churches through food banks or learning about the ministry of an older woman from the Congo who now cares for the orphans and single mothers in her community, I was greatly encouraged to hear about all God is doing worldwide and blessed to be a part of such a great Christian fellowship. During the conference, we worshipped in several different languages and prayers were offered in every dialect, acting as a foretaste of the day when all nations will be gathered to Christ. One of the pictures is of the smaller discussion group I was in during the conference, where we shared our faith journeys and prayed for one another. I am sure I made friends that will last a lifetime!

Finally, my trip took me deep into the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as I heard the stories of the Jews during the tragedy of the Holocaust in the Yad Yeshem museum as well as the stories of Palestinian Christians who now live under the Israeli oppression. While the conflict is very complex, my trip to the Palestinian refugee camp in Bethlehem, where the bullet holes of Israeli soldiers were left in the doors and walls of UN schools and Christian organizations (see picture) reminded me of the need to work and pray for peace in this difficult land. Indeed, the conference brought in speakers who called Christians around the world to work for the good news of peace to all nations, whether that is the occupied Palestinians or the persecuted Nigerians (several of whom couldn’t come to the conference because of persecution).

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Am I Carrying the Mat?

I am sure I have mentioned this before, but I come from a pretty strong evangelistic background where someone’s relationship with Christ is very important. And I don’t regret this background at all, actually the opposite. I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world (as long as this evangelistic fervor is at least tamed by tact, poise, and love for the individual).

 

One of the things that is hard to shake about this background is that often wonder how I am sharing Christ with those around me. It even gets to the point where I get frustrated and want to simply right it off as their own personal decision, that it is something that I have no part in, other than giving them an invitation. Yes, that is clearly true, they must accept Christ on their own, but then I was challenged to rethink my role in others’ salvation when I read this story of the healing of a paralytic in Mark 2:

¹ A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. ² They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. ³ Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. ⁴ Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on.⁵ When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

 ⁶ Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, ⁷ “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

 ⁸ Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? ⁹ Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? ¹⁰ But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, ¹¹ “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” ¹² He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

While this is an awesome event, with lots going on, I really just want to focus on the first part. You see, some buddies are trying to get their friend to Jesus for healing. The can’t get through the ‘Justin Beiber’-esque fan club crowding Jesus, so instead they do what every normal person would do. They claw through the roof of the building.

That takes some dedication. I mean the whole scene is kind og like something out of Animal House or maybe something spawned from the desperation you often see at a car crash. Either way, there is some intense dedication and desire to get their friend to Jesus. I mean, the whole first paragraph isn’t really about the action of the paralytic at all, it is about the effort of those carrying him.

And what is the result? Jesus proclaims over the paralytic “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Some how, imbedded in the effort of the friends, there is salvation for the paralytic. Not salvation for the friends, salvation for the paralytic. And healing, which comes later in the story.

But do you see it yet. The men who carried him, his friends, were an active part in his salvation. They were the main actors in bringing him to presence of Jesus, so he could receive salvation.

So I leave you with some questions, and some challenges I place upon myself.

How am I actively involved in carrying the mat of the lost, in need of healing and salvation to Jesus? Not am I concerned about them, do I talk about where they are at with Jesus, but am I carrying the mat?

How am I tearing through the ceiling of building to get them to Jesus? Am I willing to avoid the hype, to sidestep the crowds, to look like a fool digging into a roof so they might meet Jesus? Am I working to let them meet JESUS, or am I satisfied with them seeing him from afar, from seeing people gathered around him, from seeing the building he resides in? Or am I truly trying to take them to Jesus himself?