Good evening from the Holy Land. It is currently 8:30 in the evening in Jerusalem and today was exhausting. We visited the sites of Old Testament and New Testament Jericho, Gezer on the coast, and the wilderness Jesus was tempted in. It rained a little but the view from the wilderness was glorious. Jericho was magnificent and Gezer had lots of ruins for a couple college guys to run around on.
I’ve seen mountains before so I wasn’t sure that I would be too impressed with hills. Yet, the moment we walked out on the hills overlooking the wilderness where Jesus was tempted all I could say was, “Wow.” The account in Matthew 4:1-11 has a very mystical feel to it. After Jesus fasted forty days the Devil comes. The first temptation is food, obviously. But then the Devil takes Him to the temple, which is not necessarily just around the corner. And then Jesus goes to a mountain overlooking the kingdoms of the world. It all has an ephemeral feeling to it, but as I stood there overlooking the wilderness I saw it. Among the Bedouin homes and flocks of sheep and goats that were out there I imagined Jesus walking among the hills. It was treacherous and it was unforgiving. He wasn’t eating anything and as my stomach growls now I remember Hebrews 4:15. He has been tempted as we are and was without sin. By the grace of God we have a High Priest who can sympathize with us!
I’ve written earlier that I’m really only impressed with the places that Jesus had been at and it held true today. We went to Jericho and though we had class in another one of Herod’s extravagant palaces all that I thought was cool was the story of Zacchaeus in Luke 19. A Jewish tax collector for the Romans, Zacchaeus, as Aubrey explained, was a paradox to say the least. Tax collecting worked like this: Caesar set the taxes that were to be collected and his officials collected them from officials who collected them in smaller regions who collected them from officials who collected in various towns and villages. You bought into the business of tax collecting because Rome was only interested in what they required, whatever you charged above that was yours to keep, so if you don’t mind being hated by the entire town you were collecting from you could make a lot of money. Now add a Jewish man into the mix and you produce a very lonely and wealthy man. Zacchaeus was hated by his people as a traitor and a cheat and was disregarded as a lowly Jewish man by the Romans. Jesus comes into town and sees the desperation in his eyes as he is watching in the Sycamore tree (which has delicious sycamore nuts by the way). He calls him down and goes to his house to have dinner. This so moved the heart of Zacchaeus that he repented and Jesus proclaimed salvation upon his house. I had never read that story with Zacchaeus in mind. I didn’t see what Jesus did for him in coming to his house. The compassion that Jesus had is absolutely remarkable and unfortunately I missed it until I actually sat in Jericho and imagined what was going on.
We saw a gate that Solomon built in Gezer and, like I mentioned earlier, another Herodian palace. I wonder if I’m the only one that feels like after a while it’s just a bunch of rocks. The only thing that brings the ruins we visit alive to me is when we read stories in the scriptures that connect to what we are seeing. Another highlight of seeing all those ruins is when we climb all over the ruins, including the Canaanite standing stones. I am excited about going to other places without boundary lines so that we can explore even more. I am very glad that our group is the adventurous type and that the guys are gung-ho about climbing on the ruins and exploring.
My insights today are few. The temptation as well as the compassion of Jesus stood out to me as we were engaging in our field study today. I saw my Savior agonize and I remember the agony that racks me when I am tempted. I remember the shame I feel when I give in and I am reminded of the price He endured because of my sin. I remember the place He has brought me from and the compassion He has had on me. I remember the times I feel alone and I am overwhelmed by His presence as I pray. It is in those times where I see the compassion and loving kindness of God that I cannot find the words to describe the love I have for Him. If I had a singing voice I would sing to Him, but I write much better than I sing so I’ll continue to express my devotion to Daddy by attempting to contain all that He is with inadequate words.
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