"No Wonder" - Reflections on Israel (Spring Break)

Shalom from Germany again!  

I'm having reverse culture shock.  Lauren Roop, a dear RA friend of mine, and I experienced the Holy Land through the eyes of local Believers and friends for BFA Spring Break. God knew we needed deep "cup-filling" for the final six weeks of the school year.  


The Scriptures came alive through our time in Israel/Palestine. Reading the Scriptures there, sharing life with missionaries and locals, and searching the Scriptures more led me to write "No Wonder," the following simple, yet profound, reflection on what I was struck by while in Israel. (I share this here for the purpose of encouraging you in your faith in Jesus that you have or do not yet have.  May these thoughts draw you to the person of Jesus Christ and the living and active Bible.)

"NO WONDER"

• No wonder 
• the Children of Israel were able to cross from the east side of the Jordan River, crossing near Jericho, (which is still not a fortress again to this day because God said whoever would try to rebuild it would be cursed) and millions of Israelites were able to camp in the vast Judean wilderness/Negev after their captivity in Egypt and desert wanderings
• No wonder
•  the the Israelites were immensely intimidated of climb up to defeat the people of the Hill Country when the Israelites first entered Canaan 
• No wonder 
• they wondered where the food and water would come from in the barren desert
• No wonder
• God chose stone to be the material the Israelites used to construct remembrance memorials as they experienced significant encounters with God because the stones were noticeable, permanent, and in ample supply
• No wonder
• it would be easier to seek statues and idols than God Himself, who is invisible 
• No wonder
• David had significant times of communion with God and writing of Psalms in the hills while alone with His sheeps
• No wonder 
• King David and his men were refreshed at the Ein Gedi streams in the desert
• No wonder
• people stayed in Bethlehem because it was their people group but also because it was just miles from Jerusalem, the center of worship
• No wonder 
• Mary and Joseph could have lost young Jesus at the Temple in Jerusalem and not realized it at first in a bustling city of pilgrims and large caravan of family
• No wonder
• the magnitude Jerusalem and the grandour Temple area would have put the fear of God in people



Overwhelming...Jerusalem, rich in history and heritage

• No wonder 
• Jesus, the Messiah, could have gone into the vast wilderness and been deeply tempted by the Devil there
• No wonder
• Jesus regularly went alone to a "solitary place" to pray and experience peace and stillness with God 
• No wonder
• it was shocking Jesus first alligence was not to the Jewish assumption of his biological family
• No wonder 
• people were confused Jesus was not coming then to physically overthrow the Roman rule but to free people spiritually first
• No wonder
• people by the Sea of Galilee and beyond were awed by Jesus' teachings

Inspiring...Reading the Gospel of Matthew by the Sea of Galilee
around which Jesus' earthly ministry centered

• "No wonder
• there was so much conflict between the Pharisees and Jesus" (Lauren R.)
• No wonder
• the Kingdom of God was so confusing to the people
• No wonder 
• Jesus' completed commands  of love, yet not total peace, were so radically revolutionary
• No wonder
• Jesus asked the Samaritan woman for water in the miserably hot mid-day heat
• No wonder
• Jesus described hell as the Valley of Gehenna by the Kidron Valley, which continually burned trash outside the city of Jerusalem
• "No wonder
• people needed their feet washed when they entered houses" (Lauren R.)
• No wonder
• Jesus' healing ministry was so needed because of the lack of healthcare
• No wonder
• people felt the shame of begging outside the Temple
• No wonder 
• people had a hard time believing that Jesus was also 100% God, while also being 100% human
• No wonder
• people had a hard time believing when people and their messages were from God and not a false prophet

• No wonder
• the disciples were exhausted and had a hard time staying awake and alert after the Passover seder, walking through the Kidron Valley, and hiking up to Gethsemane ("the olive press") on the Mount of Olives; absorbing the need to have the ministry of presence to Jesus in his time of immense emotional turmoil and prayer
• No wonder 
• Jesus could have escaped crucifixion by fleeing over the Mount of Olives, passed the town of Bethany, into the Judean Wilderness
• No wonder
• Jesus was burdened by the visual and the feeling of loneliness of his up coming torture and separation and rejection
• No wonder
• the temptation to turn was so real
• No wonder
• the trial and waiting stall furthered the pervasive torture of the shame and loneliness

Sobering...The waiting cave for Jesus between trials
the night before his crucifixion

• No wonder
• the walk through the streets, "Via Dela Rosa," was so taxing and humiliating
• No wonder
• Jesus died so quickly after he was on the cross
• No wonder
• Jesus' followers were so devastated at Jesus' death because they had hoped that Jesus had been the One to redeem Israel from the burden of the Roman rule
• No wonder
• the followers rushed to the deal with the body of Jesus before the beginning of Sabbath on Friday evening
• No wonder
• the women were so surprised when they met the angels at the Tomb after the Sabbath on Sunday morning and Jesus was no longer in the tomb

Hopeful...The Garden Tomb in Jerusalem: 
"He is not here. He has risen!"

• No wonder
• people ran to see for themselves
• No wonder
• that the reality that the body of Jesus was not stollen brought so much joy to the followers because the prophesied Resurrection really happened
• No wonder
• some of the other disciples, who were walking away from Jerusalem to the village of Emmaus, experienced "their hearts burning within them" as the risen Lord Jesus explain how all the Scriptures were fulfilled in His Life, Death, and Resurrection
• No wonder
• years later the Muslims blocked up the city gate and desecrated the hill with graves between the Mount of Olives and the Temple Mount for the purpose of trying to "keep the Messiah priest from returning" at the end of time
• No wonder
• Ishmael's descendants still are not at peace with Israel's
• No wonder
• those who saw were willing to spread the Good News, regardless of the consequences
• No wonder
• people either hated or loved Jesus
• No wonder 
• there was such people and world change ever since Jesus' life, death and resurrection - from then until now 

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         I hope these reflections are encouraging to you.  

Please pray for Lauren and I - that God will further internalize these truths in our hearts and that our faith will be deepened as we learn how to love God will all our hearts and love others as ourselves.  May we be led by faith, not our flesh or fear.

Love, Michelle