new testament narrative: israel

As the Global Immersion Project team prepared to explore the historic Old City of Jerusalem we selected the lens of the New Testament to guide our day. This meant that as we would walk on the outside wall around the Old City, pray at the Wailing wall alongside the Orthodox Jews and thousands of others, climb the Mount of Olives to see Jerusalem from Jesus' perspective and visit the Church of the Holy Seplechure (site of Jesus' tomb and where His cross laid at Golgatha), we would not only be walking in Jesus' steps, but we would be diving into the coinciding scripture in such a way that would promote worship. On top of that, it turned out that the Old City was celebrating the culmination of both Ramadan and the Shabbat. So rad!

It did not take long for my worship with the Father to begin. We made our way through the Damascus gate and directly into the Palestinian quarter of the Old City. Here the smell of freshly made laffa bread, the sounds of vendors selling their goods and visions of ethnic cultures colliding all led to a heightened sense of God's presence. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite what I anticipated it to be. I quickly found myself wrestling with various assumptions I had as I entered the Old City of Jerusalem and I needed to bring voice to them.

My understanding of the Old City of Jerusalem, as a contemporary location with four quarters which "the State of Israel" is allowing to exist, led me to believe that the state of Jerusalem might actually be better now than it was prior to the Israeli takeover in May of 1948. This way of thinking is incorrect. And as I worked to flush this out with God and the historical insight of our TGIP leaders, I began to understand why.

Today, I came to understand that life from a perspective rooted in American ideology, is one that believes that a more developed life with an established infrastructure is better. But I don't know if that is exactly the case. Is it?

Prior to 1948 when Palestinians held control over the Old City and the heart of Jerusalem, we never heard what they did or did not allow. There isn't much that we can find that relates to conflict. There actually wasn't distinctive division between the quarters as there is now. I believe, as I experienced today from an 88 year old


Palestinian coffee shop, along the Via Dela Rosa Road, where Jesus walked with the cross, that Palestinians are great hosts. A couple of other ways we have experienced this comes from the care our hosts at our hotel extend to us, the intentionality by the owner at the restaurant we've gone to in the evening and even the fact that the Palestinian quarter is the only quarter that has directional signs to help guide you through the challenging ally ways of the Old City. Each of these examples contradicts my thought process that life today actually might be better in Jerusalem than it was back in a different era.


The result of this process for me, was that I learned that it was ok to be curious and ask questions. Something I do well with others but struggle with internally. This thought did not come quickly for me. I wrestled with God throughout the majority of our day as we went from sight to sight. And as I sat where he sat and walked where he walked I began to change the posture of the approach to my own heart. I had to extend humility in order to know that my assumption was wrong. This was tough! I believe that admitting that we might be wrong is extremely challenging in our Western world, because it means that we might be inferior to someone else. So, when was the last time you challenged yourself and the assumptions of your heart? When was the last time you allowed God to examine your heart when you thought you were right? I know I am currently under the microscope and even though it is tough, it isn't as painful as I thought it might be. Its actually freeing.