Getting Meta on the Meda...terranean

Hello everyone!

We’re on the move. After spending four wonderful days in Galilee, we have started heading toward Jerusalem. We began the morning in Jesus’s hometown, Nazareth. The good old NTZR. We walked up what is locally referred to as Mount Precipous, a cliff overlooking over the Jezreel valley.

Terry gave us our morning devotional, where he read again from Luke 4:15. Jesus is back in his hometown and is reading from Isaiah 61 in the synagogue. At first, people were excited to hear from Jesus. “My, look at Joseph’s boy all grown up. He’s turned into such a nice, young Jewish man!” Yet the more Jesus began sharing the truth of the gospel - where Jews and Gentiles alike would be made right with God - the people of Nazareth grew angry and drove him out of town. Right to the very cliff we were standing.

Terry brought up the idea of pre-conceived notions about Jesus. A lot of times, we want Jesus to act a certain way or we downplay parts of his character we don’t love or ignore the truth he is really speaking. In contrast, Terry encouraged us to let scripture be what it wants to be and say what it wants to say, and let Jesus be who he says he was and say what he wants to say.

After Nazareth, we visited Megiddo, an ancient fortress that over the course of history was conquered 25 times and rebuilt 25 times because it was that big of a deal. Located in the middle of ancient trade routes, this was the location of many great battles to control the main roads of taxes and trade. Megiddo had everything you would ever need to be an awesome military fortress - places for hundreds of horses, its own water system, an area for religious worship, and a couple of nice gates (Yehuda LOVES the gates). Megiddo is also the location of the oldest wall found in Israeli history (LEGAL DISCLAIMER: In a previous blog post I mis-identified Tel Dan as the location of the oldest wall found in Israel. I was 100% FALSE and hope this doesn’t make you think everything I’ve previously written was nonsense. There are just so many old walls I can’t keep up!!!!)

It was here Terry spoke to us about Christ’s final battle and triumph over evil in the battle of Armageddon, as prophesied in Revelation. (Megiddo...Armageddon...they sound alike!) Reading from Revelation 16, it was amazing to have the visual backdrop of this place set the scene for Christ’s final fight and victory over oppressive nations and evil. Time and time again, we see the way the history of Israel informs God’s ultimate story of justice, of victory, and of purpose.

Next we visited Mount Carmel, which is where Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal and called upon the name of the Lord when no one else was speaking up. In 1 Kings 18, the people worshipping Baal did everything they could to get Baal to act or speak. Yet nothing happened. No one answered. Call was denied. Sent straight to voicemail. On the other hand, after Elijah called out to God to set fire to his altar that was soaked three times by buckets and buckets of water, the altar to God was LIT.

Terry reminded us to not be silent in the face of the Baals of our day. Instead, like Elijah we must speak up in truth to the powers we face with the assurance that our God is strong enough (in your best Adele voice) to set fire to the rain!

After Mount Carmel, we traveled to Caesarea Maritima, a giant, intricate, massive sea port on the coast of the Meda created by Herod the Great. Like the giant fortress of Masada, Caesarea Maritima was constructed to showcase Herod’s ego, power and that he had a lot of dolla dolla bills, ya’ll. Terry read from Acts 25-26, where Paul is taken to Caesarea to state his case and stand before Agrippa, the ruler of the day. It was here Paul stood boldly and fearlessly confessing his faith in Jesus Christ. Out of everything we have seen so far (which has been so much and so good) this may have been the most powerful to me. Paul preached something so radical, so counter-cultural, and so upside down that the most powerful leaders of the Roman Empire put Paul on their radars and took the time to listen to him.

The good news of the gospel - that the God of the Universe came down to earth in the form of man to die for our sins so we could have a relationship with Him forever - is powerful and moving stuff, people. The gospel changes hearts and the gospel changes the world.