Back to the Future

"Back to the Future" by Ryan Wortman

We left our hotel, Ein Gev, located on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee promptly at 7:45am. Starting at 600ft below sea level, we embarked north over the “wavelike” terrain bordering the Galilean seaside to our first site of the day,
Katzrin. From Katzrin, we traveled further north to the temple at Hazor, and from Hazor we went to Caesarea Philippi.

I have chosen to title this post, “Back to the Future”, not merely for ironic intrigue but for an actual purpose I hope will become clear.

Once we arrived at Katzrin we were outfitted in traditional first century Judean attire in Halloween-esque fashion. We all wore lightweight cotton robes with linen belts and headscarves (I’ll admit, not a bad look everybody!). As we walked through the settlement, Ronen led us into an ancient Jewish home where we heard our first teaching of the day by Pastor Matt on 1 Kings 17, where we were reminded of Elijah reviving a widow’s son back to life. After the teaching we got to roll out some dough and cook pita bread. We then all enjoyed the bread with oil, cheese, and jam. In Hazor, as we stood in the temple and palace ruins, we discussed Joshua 11, and God’s promise to deliver the pagans occupying Hazor to the hands of Joshua and his army. And in Caesarea Philippi, Pastor Matt taught on Matthew 16 where we discussed the debauchery of pagan worship rituals, and the significance of Jesus choosing this spot to ask his disciples about his identity.

These three teachings may seem disconnected, but, let me encourage you, they are not! You see, in each of these stories God is giving a temporary solution to a problem that Jesus will permanently resolve. Throughout today I was reminded that God’s people are in constant need of redemption-- something that is still my need today. Jesus is that permanent source of redemption! Jesus is true and greater Elijah, who does not just revive but resurrects. He does not just heal the physical body, but restores us physically and spiritually. Jesus is the true and greater Joshua, who does not just rid the temple of unholiness but ultimately destroys it. As Jesus says in Matthew 12:6, “I tell you! Something greater than the temple is already here”. Jesus is the true and greater Caesar, who does not have an earthly kingdom but an eternal heavenly kingdom. He does not require sacrifice but instead became the ultimate sacrifice so that you do not have to be. What I realize is that when we look back at what happened in these places, we can see that Jesus is the redemption that our hearts have always longed for.

Dan and the Sea of Galilee, by Brian Kiley

Following our time at Caesarea Philippi we made our way to an area called Dan. Dan is an important city in the Old Testament, and today it is a popular recreation area. Throughout our visit we saw several families hiking and enjoying the scenery. Like many places we have visited, Dan contained a range of ancient ruins. We were able to get a sense of what the gates to the ancient city would have looked like, and Ronen helped us understand what a visitor to the ancient city would have encountered.

As we continued to explore the area we came to the ruins of a temple that was described in the book of 1 Kings. Pastor Matt explained to us that this particular temple was nearly identical to the temple in Jerusalem, but with one critical difference—the God being worshipped in the temple was not Yahweh. Pastor Matt challenged us to imagine what it would be like to attend a worship gathering at a place that looked exactly like Bridgeway- same lobby, same café, same worship center, same style of music, even pastors that looked like our pastors—but that didn’t direct us to worship the one true God. In doing this he encouraged us to remember that in the end, worship is not about what is external, it’s about our hearts. The false gods of today look different than the false gods of the ancient world, but we must be wary of them nonetheless. We closed our time at that location by singing a worship song as a tangible way to recommit ourselves to directing our worship to God alone. Our final stop in Dan was at the site of an ancient city gate that was only originally excavated in the last 25 years. It’s significance lies not only in it’s age (Pastor Matt said it’s the oldest archeological artifact we see on the trip), but also in that it was the first archeological find that explicitly referenced the house of David.

After that we returned to our bus and headed back to Ein-Gev. When we arrived, we all went briefly back to our rooms and then congregated at the shore of the Sea of Galilee. Six members of our group had expressed a desire to be baptized, so we prayed together as a group before venturing out into the waves. Pastor Matt, Pastor Ryan, and I each baptized two people, and it was a truly beautiful celebration. Those who were baptized were obviously very moved by the experience, and I know I was as well. Baptizing two brothers in Christ in the Sea of Galilee serves as a snapshot of what makes this trip so special. We get to walk the land that Jesus walked, see the places where the pivotal moments of his ministry occurred, and enter the waters upon which he once walked. The word that keeps coming to mind is “surreal”, and I know I’m far from the only one in our group who feels that.