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Holy Land
Whether then it was I or they,
so we preach, and so you believed.
1 Corinthians 15:11
Last Friday evening, on “The Agenda,” with Steve Paikin, there was a discussion of the events leading up to the action of the United Nations in 1947 which approved the partition of Palestine, and to Israel’s declaration of independence the following year. These two events are referred to today by Palestinians as the naqba, or “catastrophe.”
Paikin asked those on the panel how it was that the small territory of Palestine remains the centre of such intense international interest and concern. It was suggested, first of all, that, from ancient times, Palestine has been the land bridge connecting Asia and Africa. Secondly, this area is holy land to the three monotheistic faiths: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
I would suggest a third explanation: this territory is the scene of such dramatic biblical narratives as those we have just heard read. The Battle of Ramoth-Gilead (1 Kings 22:1-38) may be an obscure episode in ancient history, but the biblical account retains all its power today.
False prophecy remains an issue, even though the prophets today are longer men of God but pundits and politicians. The incentive to tell people what they want to hear is as strong as ever, and so are the dire consequences for those, like Micaiah, who fail to comply. The “lying spirit” in the mouth of the yea-sayers who prophesied to King Ahab is alive and well today.
Our second lesson narrates the investigation of Paul at Caesarea by the Roman procurator Festus and the arrival of King Agrippa and Queen Bernice to hear him speak (Acts 25). This chapter contains Paul’s demand that he be tried before Caesar’s tribunal, a right which he enjoyed as a Roman citizen, and the procurator’s famous response: “You have appealed to Caesar; to Caesar you shall go” (v. 12).
Paul did journey to Rome, and, like him, Christianity traveled from the holy land to the capital of the empire. The subsequent history of our faith has more to do with Europe than with the land which Paul left behind on his journey to martyrdom.
But the church cannot turn its back on the land where it originated, even though today the conflict there has resulted in an ever smaller Christian presence, as the stand-off between Israelis and Palestinians becomes more and more affected by Islamic extremism.
Bishop Poole has expressed his intention to bring a group of clergy with him on pilgrimage to the Holy Land in the year 2010. In 1969, as part of my year of study at the Biblical Institute in Rome, I participated in a Biblical “caravan.” I look forward to returning there two years hence with Bishop Poole.
Christianity is a religion of the book, and the Bible has traveled to every country on earth, but we must never forget the land where this book was written and which provides the setting for its dramatic stories.
July 13, 2008
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