Thursday, after the Bar Mitzvah, Susan and I stopped by the Dead Sea then drove to Jerusalem, less than an hour away. After getting lost, making u-turns, and asking strangers for directions, we finally found the place to turn in our rental car. Within ten minutes our friend Dagmar walked up and greeted us. We followed her through Jaffa Gate with suitcases bumping along the cobblestone roads while taking in all the sights, sounds, and smells of the ancient city. Women with veiled faces sold fresh fruit and vegetables, men persistently invited us into their shops, and teenage boys pushed carts full of freshly butchered beef to the meat markets. In this part of the city, adults wore clothes that look the same as in Bible times, while children wearing play clothes kicked a soccer ball in the ally. The first level of apartments we entered are over a thousand years old, but our missionary friends live upstairs in the ‘new’ five-hundred-year-old section. Dagmar is from Germany and Harry is from Holland and they are the only Europeans living in the Muslim Quarter. They’ve been there over twenty-one years.
What makes Old Jerusalem so unique is the obvious importance of religion in the city. We were only there a day and a half, but the observations were constant. Overlooking our apartment was an orthodox school where fully robed Jews constantly sing, chant, or recite Scripture. Five times a day the loudspeakers sound the Muslim call to prayer. Friday, Susan and I took a wrong turn and found ourselves in a mass of people walking to pray at the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount. Israeli soldiers saw we were out of place and pointed us the opposite direction – against the flow of hundreds of people. As we turned a corner, we were almost run over by a guy carrying a cross followed by twenty or thirty young adults singing Italian hymns. They were walking the Via Dolorosa, remembering the path of the suffering Savior. Late Friday afternoon, as we exited Jerusalem through the Damascus Gate, we met a multitude of Jews on their way to celebrate Sabbath at the Western Wall. While all were dressed in black and white, there was quite a variety of hats, head coverings, hair styles, and beards as Jews from all over the world made their way to the location of Herod’s Temple from Jesus’ time. I wonder what Jesus thinks about Jerusalem today…
I always love conversations with sold-out believers from other parts of the world. God sees one Body of Christ on earth and I think he really wants us to know we need each other. “So what’s God showing you these days?” I asked Harry. “Dana, we need grace. As I’m sure you’ve noticed, we are constantly dealing with people of the law. Muslims follow their law. Jews follow the law of Moses. Even many Christians seem to only emphasize the law. But God knows we need grace. ‘The law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.’ In this city, it seems all are trying to justify themselves by what they do or what they don’t do. Deep down, though, each knows he’s not really righteous. Jesus is the only One who ever lived a life of purity and perfect obedience. He was most frustrated with those who missed the very nature of God while claiming to follow all the rules and regulations. Let me describe a familiar old scene from this city. On the Day of Atonement a man would bring a lamb to the priest at the Temple to atone for his sins. In the very act of bringing a sacrifice, the man was admitting he was a sinner. The priest would ask him if it was his own sheep – one he raised or purchased with his own money. Once the man confirmed it was his sheep, the priest took the animal and ignored the man. He checked the wool to make sure there was no spot or blemish. He checked the feet to make sure the lamb was not lame. He checked the eyes and teeth to make sure there was no blindness or disease. If the lamb passed inspection, the priest would ask the man to put his hands on the head of the sheep. At this point all the sins the man had committed the past year were transferred to the sacrifice and the symbolic perfection of a spotless lamb was transferred to the man. The animal’s throat was then slit, the blood was spilled, and the man walked away clean and forgiven.”
“Oh if the Muslims could see what God has done! Oh if the Jews could realize that Jesus was the perfect Lamb! And oh if we as Christians could keep our eyes on this One given in our place! God knows we are sinners and it does not matter how great our sin. He looked at his Son and declared him the acceptable sacrifice. Our sins were transferred to him and his righteousness is transferred to us. We should realize we are free… free to love, free to worship, free to bless others, and free to thank God for his immeasurable grace that restores relationship between us and our Father. This is what we need in Jerusalem… and this is what you need in the States.”
It is good to be reminded.
“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world!” John 1:29