"Walking Ancient Paths - Israel Study Tour"

May 10-24, 2018

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The Lord Alone

Written by Jacob Faunce

Today is our eleventh day on the ground! This trip has flown by, but God has graced me with convictions and many great conversations with people on this trip. To start, today we went to the tel of the town of Gamla, which was considered the stronghold of the North for the Jewish Revolt in the first century. This town was the main holdout for the Jewish Zealots during this period. In this town was a synagogue, one of two that has been discovered from the time of Jesus. Here we were able to learn all of the functions in this religious facility and also the fact that Jesus probably visited here. To prove this, Matthew 4:23 tells that Jesus went all throughout galilee teaching in the synagogues and proclaiming the gospel throughout the land. What. The text never mentions He was here, but this synagogue was here when Jesus was, so we can assume so. This trip, we have been learning about the vast amount of information there is pointing to the fact Jesus was a Rabbi, not to mention His disciples called Him that. Rabbis would practice reading from the scriptures in a scheduled manor. Here in Gamla, we listened to the Scripture of Luke 4 where Jesus was scheduled to teach the scriptures and was given the scroll of Isaiah. Jesus reads a prophecy that points to himself in Isaiah 61. Jesus stands, preaches this scripture and then sits down and gives the biggest “mic drop” ever seen at this point. “Today this scripture had been fulfilled in your hearing.” During this, we learned this Hebrew word “basar,” or in English, meat, flesh or body. This word can be translated to say that Jesus came to embody the good news. Do I want Jesus word to become flesh in my life?

After this stop, we drove over quickly to a hillside that overlooked Decapolis and the old tel of Susita. This place was a large city that stood on a hill and overlooked the Sea of Galilee. When Jesus mentions in Matthew 5 that a “city on a hill cannot be hidden,” He was looking right at this city! Jesus saw that pagans and knew everyone in this area could see exactly what the pagans were doing. What would the church look like if we were the ones on the hill? I do not see very many headlines of Christians doing good things. I think we should change that. At this same place, we were reminded of the story in Mark 5:1-20, where a man with a legion of demons came to Jesus and the demons were cast out of him! This man had over 5,000 voices in his head and Jesus just told them to leave the guy alone? You guessed it! This man started off naked, bleeding, rejected and alone, and was given a second chance. A reject told by someone that he held worth beyond his own imagination. Jesus came to him and saw this demon possessed man as a good investment. Nobody is beyond redemption. This man was clothed and with this newfound identity, he could not help it but go and tell everyone! How often does Jesus give me a second chance and I do not tell people? I want to be known as a man who shares, and a man that experiences the Living God. This is worth telling about! Let’s share our stories of Gods faithfulness!

To continue with this demon possessed man, we can clearly tell from the scriptures that Jesus had never been to Decapolis before this, and wasn’t back until He fed the 4,000 people there. This man told everyone he knew, and told everyone he knew to tell everyone they knew! So many people showed up because of this man’s story telling. How could God use my stories to affect the Decapolis around me? This man Jesus offered a story of hope, a story no one had heard.

Finally, we were able to explore the old city of Beth-Shan, a city that guarded many major trade routes between the highways in Israel. This city was one of a Hellenistic world view. Hellenism is the view that man is the measure of all things and that the better man looks the more glory he gets. This world view is contrasted by that of the Judaism that is in the area saying that man is made in the image of God, and not vice versa. To these Jews, they saw themselves as walking on a narrow road, one of separation from the gentiles, or anyone that didn’t believe in this God. When Jesus came, He told in a sermon He spoke that the narrow gate leads to life, but is hard to come by, while the wide gate leads to destruction (Matthew 7:13-14). How well do I do at staying on the path that leads to life, while also helping people who are not on this same path join me?

For myself, I have learned a lot over the past 2 days that Jesus not only was a Rabbi, but picked unlikely and normal people to take up His ministry when He died. If Jesus really did embody the good news, which ultimately changed my life for the better, I should want to bazar- embody the same news Jesus did. In the same way, just because the Pharisees wanted the roads of life separated, does not mean Jesus did. Being a Young Life leader has taught me a lot about walking both roads. Most importantly sticking to the road to life, while also journeying on this broken path with people who one day will know Jesus, all because I took an invitation, and told a story. Let’s tell our stories of God’s faithfulness, so all the world will know that the Living God came to this Earth to experience life with us, and bring us back into relationship for eternity. Is that not the best invitation ever? I love this Jesus!

-Jacob Faunce

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