Above is a map of the Holy Land. We flew into Tel Aviv and took a bus to Tiberias, where we stayed the past several days as we explored Galilee. We are now making our way south through Samaria to Jerusalem in Judea. The orange portions of the map are Arab-controlled sections of Israel.
A common observation: the Arab portions of Israel appear much less developed than the Jewish portions, almost like two countries within one. Many historical and political reasons for this reality that weren't the main focus of the pilgrimage. It is sad. Every morning as we started the day, we prayed together on the bus. Here is part of the prayer from today.
We are a pilgrim people,
we are an Easter people. . .
here on this Sunday of the Easter season,
we prepare to leave Galilee
to pass with you through the land of Samaria,
a foreign land in your time,
a land of cultural and religious differences,
and this reality continues today
as our landscape changes
and we enter a bordered region
where Palestinians today struggle
to live within the boundaries of constriction.
We thirst for living water,
as the Samaritan woman of long ago thirsted
as the Palestinians today thirst for their own
wells of freedom and faith.
All pilgrimages have their challenges and strengths can be weaknesses. Seeing so many different sacred places was a strength. Some days it was a weakness because the speed at which we saw places made taking in and processing all of the holiness overwhelming. On this day, in the morning we were in Magdala, the afternoon Jacob's well and our first look at Jerusalem.
We traveled to the Samaritan town of Sebastiya, where we stopped for lunch.
And saw our first camels.
Rugged but beautiful hill country surrounds Sebastiya.
Historical ruins abound in the area, including the above Roman theater.
A little political commentary.
A young camel amidst the ruins.
Onto the Samaritan city of Nablus, where we will visit Jacob's Well.
The Palestinian flag flies in the Arab-controlled portions of Israel.
When I think of Israel, I think of the Jewish people. But of course a great many Arab-Muslims make their home there.
Arab-Christians are a small minority.
We arrive at Jacob's Well, which is located in a Greek Orthodox Church.
An icon of Jesus on the church dome.
This is the ancient well, where as recorded in the Gospel of John, Jesus asked a Samaritan woman for some water.
A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink. The Samaritan woman said to him, "How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?" Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him and he would have given you living water." The woman said to him, "Sir, you do not even have a bucket and the cistern is deep; where can you get this living water?" Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again; but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
Psalm 42
Like the deer that yearns
for running streams,
so my soul is yearning
for you, my God
My soul is thirsting for God,
the God of my life.
Onward to Jerusalem, where we stopped over looking the city.
Fr. Michael lead us in prayer as we are about to enter the Holy City.
The first of many views of the Dome of the Rock, the Islamic shrine on the Temple Mount.
Home for the rest of the pilgrimage.
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