Day 05 - Good Samaritan Inn, Kibbutz Almog, Tel Jericho

We woke up this Shabbat morning and loaded our bags on the bus for our journey north towards Nazareth by way of Jericho along the Jordan River. It was hot. It hit 104 degrees in the early afternoon – but that didn’t stop us from having an incredible day.

Our first stop was at a small site known as the Good Samaritan Inn.

The parable of the Good Samaritan is, of course, a parable. However, there was, in fact, a road that ran from Jerusalem to Jericho and it’s likely that there was an inn along the road for weary travelers to rest. The Good Samaritan Inn is one such possible site.

Jesus was once approached by a lawyer and asked what must be done to inherit eternal life. Jesus, in a very Jewish way, responded to that question with a question of His own. “What do you see in Scripture?”

The lawyer said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27, ESV).

Jesus affirmed the man’s answer, but the man pressed on. “Who is my neighbor?”

Jesus then gave one of His most famous parables. There was once a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. Along the way he was overtaken by robbers, beaten, and left for dead.

A priest came along. Now, you’d think a priest would be the first to stop and help the forsaken man, right? But he doesn’t. Helping the beaten man certainly wasn’t forbidden, but it would make him ritually unclean and require a purification process. In other words, helping would be an inconvenience.

Then a Levite came along. The first man was also a Levite. All priests were Levites but not all Levites were priests. But if the priest didn’t help, we shouldn’t get our hopes up about the Levite. He, too, passed by.

Then a Samaritan came along. Samaritans, we know, were despised but the Jewish people. They upheld the Torah and practiced many of the same laws and customs as the Jews. But the two disagreed vehemently on a number of issues.

The priest and the Levite passed by a fellow Jew in need. They certainly would have passed by a Samaritan in need. But this Samaritan man set aside his differences with this hurting man, bound up his wounds, and got him the care that he needed.

Loving our neighbor can be really inconvenient. We might be a little quicker to love our neighbor if we actually like our neighbor. But what about when we have an opportunity to love that person that just drives us crazy? What about that neighbor or co-worker who always seems to make our lives more difficult? What about our enemies?

Jesus once put it like this. “For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?” (Matthew 5:46-47, ESV)

It’s easy to love people that are lovable. But our love for God is most genuinely expressed when we love our enemies – generously and sacrificially.

Our next stop was at the Balm of Gilead Farm. Guy Erlich, the owner and expert cultivator, established the farm to revive ancient plants that once were grown in the desert near the Dead Sea. Balm of Gilead (as the name suggests) is their primary crop. It’s mentioned throughout the Old Testament and seemed to have been used medicinally. The Farm produces anointing oils like those used in the First and Second Temple periods. The most fascinating part, though, was the research Erlich is doing on other plants and herbs used medicinally throughout the Bible. I’ll be curious to follow what he discovers in the coming years.

We then headed east to the Jordan River. Most of us had been there before, but our guide drew our attention to three stories.

The first was that of Joshua. Moses, of course, was not allowed to enter the promised land. He died on Mount Nero in modern-day Jordan. The baton was then passed to Joshua. The name Joshua means “Yahweh is salvation” or “salvation comes from Yahweh.”

Joshua leads the people to the edge of the Jordan River.

Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is passing over before you into the Jordan. Now therefore take twelve men from the tribes of Israel, from each tribe a man. And when the soles of the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off from flowing, and the waters coming down from above shall stand in one heap.” (Joshua 3:11-14, ESV)

After the people of Israel crossed the Jordan on miraculously dry ground, God commanded one man from each of the twelve tribes to gather a stone from the Jordan and assemble a memorial to what God had done. From there they went to Jericho, then to Ai (near Bethel), and then to Gilgal.

Fast forward to the time of the monarchy. The prophet Elijah had served in Israel for decades and it was about time for the leadership baton to again be passed down. Elijah had been preparing a man named Elisha to take his place.

The day Elijah was to pass the baton to Elisha, he metaphorically made the same journey as the Israelites in reverse. He told Elisha he needed to go to Gilgal, then to Bethel (near Ai), then Jericho, and finally he led Elisha to the edge of the Jordan River – right to the place where Israel had crossed over so long ago. Elijah struck the waters with his cloak and they parted. Elijah and Elisha crossed to the other side on dry ground. Elijah was miraculously taken up to heaven and Elisha was instituted in his place.

Elisha, by the way, means “God saves” or “salvation comes from God.” Does that sound familiar?

Fast forward again to the first-century AD.

A man named John the Baptist emerges from the wilderness. He’s described as being “clothed with camel's hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey.” (Mark 1:6, ESV)

Why do we care about what he’s wearing? Listen to 2 Kings.

He said to them, “What kind of man was he who came to meet you and told you these things?” They answered him, “He wore a garment of hair, with a belt of leather about his waist.” And he said, “It is Elijah the Tishbite.” (2 Kings 1:7-8, ESV)

John dressed like Elijah. The Bible also tells us that John was “baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.” (Mark 1:4-5, ESV)

John went to the place in the wilderness where Joshua had led the people of Israel across the Jordan and where Elijah passed the baton to Elisha. He called them to repent because they had failed to do what God had called them to do – through leaders like Moses and Joshua and through prophets like Elijah and Elisha.

John, like Moses and Elijah, had to pass the baton. His mission was to serve as a forerunner to Jesus.

And it’s here that Jesus comes to be baptized. It’s here – where a memorial once stood to what God had done – that God begins to do something new. Something long ago promised. Something long awaited.

Joshua conquered Canaan. Jesus conquered Satan, sin, and death.

Elijah performed miracles. Jesus performed the greatest miracle of all at His resurrection.

We got to stand today where, in a sense, it all started. But the story is far from over. It’s one that we get to keep living and telling.

We’re more than halfway through our time here. As with every trip to the land, it feels like we’ve been here for ages and at the same time as though its going to end all too soon. We can’t wait to see what God will teach us tomorrow.