Another Innocent Abroad: Reflections on a Pilgrimage to Israel I can still hear my seminary archaeology professor saying it forty-five years

ago: Youll run today where Jesus walked! He was speaking of Holy Land tours. And I can testify that his words were true. During the first ten days of November in 2011, I was privileged to tour Israel with a group of 32 people. In those ten days, we scarcely missed visiting any major location that Jesus in His time visited. But to visit as many such sites as we did them all within our time limit required us to follow a strict schedule. We were rarely able to stay as long at any site as we would have liked. at any particular spot. At times this circumstance became quite frustrating to all of us.. I would not have missed our trip for anything, yet, as people ask me about my impressions of Israel, my response is usually mixed. For one thing, I have always considered myself a history buff. Before our trip I read widely and in depthdeeply about ancient Israel and modern Israel, beginning with the Old Testament period and continuing through the time of Jesus, the period of the early Church, the Byzantine and Muslim occupations, the time of the Crusades and the Turkish domination, down to the present day. And as a Baptist minister for forty-plus years, I was immersed in the testimony of Holy Scriptures to the events that took place in Israels history.

Consequently, I constantly felt constrained to ask, Did this particular event

happen at this exact location?

And usually the answer to that question was far from certain. It is unlikely that any of the sacred sites from the life of Jesus was recognized during his lifetime. The location of the crucifixion in Jerusalem was probably common knowledge. According to John 19:41-42, the place of Jesus burial was near that of the crucifixion. At the time of those events, Golgotha/Calvary was to the west, outside the city walls, in what is now known as the Christian Quarter of Jerusalem. In the year 41 AD, King Herod Agrippa II extended Jerusalems city walls to the north and west so that the site of the crucifixion was brought within the city limits. The area of Golgotha had once been a limestone quarry, and later, wealthy citizens like Joseph of Arimathea had used the area to carve out rock-cut tombs for a cemetery area. Thus, when Helen, the elderly mother of the Emperor Constantine, in about 327 AD, designated this general area as a place to locate the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, there was good reason to do so, even though the likelihood of locating the exact spot where Jesus cross and Jesus tomb stood was minimal. The city of Bethlehem is located some seven miles south of Jerusalem. Our group visited a group of caves behind a monastery, where

tradition has held that the shepherds tended their flocks as described in Luke chapter 2. It is now within the precincts of the busy city, and certainly could have been near the original area, but we can never really know for sure. Also within the city is the supposed birthplace of Jesus that Constantines mother Helen decreed the construction of the Church of the Nativity around 327 AD. Beneath the altar of the Church is the spot we visited that is revered as the place where Jesus manger was placed. Certainly, the events of Jesus birth took place in the vicinity of this city, but there is no way to prove the exact spots where those events took place. Likewise, in Galilee, we know the general location of Nazareth and Cana, thriving modern towns today, but despite church tradition, we really cannot be sure about the exact location of the events portrayed in the Gospels as taking place in those towns. The Sea of Galilee itself is a beautiful place, and there can be no doubt that Jesus and His disciples sailed on it. On the northern side of the Lake (for that is what it actually is) lies the archaeological site where archaeologists have excavated the ruins of the village of Capernaum. Capernaum was the location of Jesus residence during most of His ministry in that area.