We have driven in our bus to a very remote place. I promise you tourists would never come here. This is the site believed to be where John the Baptist went into the 'wilderness' to learn of God prior to beginning his ministry. Many believe the 'wilderness' means a desert place with only sand and rocks, but they believe here that it means a place with no cultivation or other inhabitants.
At the entrance to this John the Baptist site, we have the verse "I will lift my eyes to the hills..."
Here is a beautiful fountain at a spring. You always have to live near water to survive, and the Judean hills are full of natural springs. This spring is right next to the cave believed to be where John the Baptist lived until he was 30 years old and began his ministry. The students are climbing the stairs to enter the cave.
Inside the cave, we read scripture about John the Baptist, and had a time of prayer.
This is an interesting painting inside the chapel. This is John the Baptist holding a scripture verse (from John 1:29-34) about him baptizing Jesus. The very interesting thing is you see the scripture written in Hebrew. Here is another community that loves their Jewish roots, and even learned to speak and read Hebrew. Because of this, many Israeli Jews have come to this place as sort of a retreat, even though it speaks of Yeshua (Jesus), feeling welcomed because of the Hebraic depictions and lauguage being spoken. This is so fascinating because of the sad history of the animosity between Jews and Christians (much propogated by Constantine and later by Martin Luther).
In the same place, a room painted by Crusaders depicting many saints. The one on the end is Mary, with Jesus in the center. The whole room is surrounded with these paintings of various saints.
We walked up another looonnngg hill, near the John the Baptist site, to visit this small convent, a place where the tomb of Elizabeth, John the Baptist's mother is said to be. Tradition has it that Eliz. went to live in the cave with John after Zechariah died, then he buried her here after she passed away. (Hmmm, that cave is pretty small, I wonder how they got along?) Anyway, we were outside in the shade of some trees eating the lunch we had brought, and the sister told us about her small nunnery community. They have prayer together 3 times a day, and much individual prayer in between. She was very friendly and welcoming, apparently they don't get a lot of visitors. This is also a place where people can come for a quiet retreat.
Here's the chapel inside the Crusader-built church at the Elizabeth site. We had prayer and sang a song in Latin here with the sister.
So have you heard about the 2 disciples on 'the road to Emmaus'? (The two who were walking home from Jerusalem to Emmaus, sad about Jesus' death, a stranger joins them, teachs them, etc. when He later breaks bread with them in Emmaus, their eyes are opened and they realize who He is, etc.) Here is the site where many think Emmaus is. (Although there are several other sites that have been proposed).
Of course there is a church there, and monastic community, described as 'pentecostal Catholic'. This sister was very gracious, and told us about their lives there. The same theme kept coming up - they love the Jewish roots of their faith! In fact, they celebrate Shabbat dinner every Friday night. They have Rabbis that come and teach them, etc. It is just amazing, I had no idea there were so many Christian communities that had this relationship with Israeli Jews. I am sure not all Israeli Jews would be happy about it....but it made me think of the scripture (from Ephesians 2:15) where Paul talks about the 'one new man'. Perhaps this just a small inkling of what is to come...
These are the remains of a Crusader-built church in Emmaus. Jeremy looks ready to preach!
Ok, are you ready for another monastery! Here is Bet Gemal, a place where the nuns take vows of silence, they are 'contempletative', meaning they spend much time in silent prayer and adoration. This does not mean they never speak, because one of the nuns did speak with our group:)
Here's the entrance to the monastery.
I took this picture from a photo on the wall. Here the nuns are praying in the sanctuary. The black ones are the 'novices'. They pray on their faces. Apparently their church services are very beautiful, very melodic with beautiful singing. Again, they love the Jews. In fact we were told they are there to serve the Jews in the land! They house them in guest houses for retreats and care for them, they all speak Hebrew! I am sure they are to many Jews their first introduction to Jesus.
Here's one of the young nuns answering the students' questions about their community. When asked 'what is your favorite thing, the best thing about what you do?', she answered ' the presence of God'. She just glowed, she was sweet and beautiful.
Here's a picture of their sanctuary which we could see from a balcony.
A close-up of the 'booths' lining the sides of the sanctuary. She said these were so that, even though they worshipped together, they could still be set apart, and seek Him individually...each booth as a kneeling stool, and a place to lay their Bible.
One last place!! Here we are in Abu Gosh, a primarily muslim village just a few miles from Jerusalem. In fact, you can see the muslim minaret on the lower left corner of the photo, right next door. Here again is an ancient church that was built/rebuilt many times. The church sanctuary is from the Crusader period (around 1100 AD). This monastery has both nuns and monks. They believe this could be the site of Emmaus as well.
This sister, who is German, talked about their community and answered lots of questions. She said the best thing was the beauty of the place (the grounds are beautiful gardens), she loved being in Israel and loves the Jewish roots as well (she knows Hebrew, and is learning Arabic!!)
We attended the 6pm service in the Crusader Sanctuary with the nuns and monks. Afterward we met this lady, whom our professor described as a 'hermit'. Here, the word 'hermit' doesn't mean someone who escapes society to go live in a shack in a forest with a dog and a shotgun. It means someone who has taken vows and is devoted to prayer, solitude and silence. Again, not absolutes, because she came to the church service and spoke with us.
This is a woman who was a university professor, she supports herself by doing translations. She spends most of her time alone and many hours a day in prayer, says she is called to this, and its not so hard if God calls you to do this. When asked what is the best part of what you do, she said simply "God." When asked what is the hardest part, she immediately said "Eating alone".
I hope you've enjoyed seeing some of the Christian communities and monasteries in Israel...it was a simply fascinating day for me!!
I'll be going up to the Sea of Galilee next weekend, so will send you lots of pics from there. Blessings to you all!!
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