January 15, 2010

Israel: The Fifth Gospel By Eva Marie Everson Guest Writer CBN.com - Matthew. Mark. Luke. John. The four gospel writers. But did you know that there is a fifth gospel?Father Bargil Pixner (1921 - 2002), a Benedictine monk in Jerusalem'sDormition Abbey and well-noted author and archeologist, is quoted in hisbook With Jesus Through Galilee: According to the Fifth Gospel (CorazinPublishing, 1992) as saying, Five gospels record the life of Jesus. Four you will find in books andone you will find in the land they call holy. Read the fifth gospel andthe world of the four will open to you. Pilgrims to Israel have no problem understanding this statement. Thosewho walk upon her sacred soil touch with their hands and behold withtheir eyes that which their minds have previously attempted to imagine.It rises and stretches before them unexpectedly; many of the things theythought about the geography are surprisingly not as they pictured. Sites now "decorated" or "marked" by churches, and crumbling locationsnow worked by archeologists, both block and open the ability to "touch"and to "see" the Bible. An Ancient Question The book of Matthew (11: 7-8) records a question posed by Jesus. Thedisciples of John the Baptist were leaving when Jesus turned to thecrowd and (referring to John) asked, What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind?If not, what did you go out to see? The pilgrim to Israel - should he ask this question of himself - willnot ask it for long. For once the fifth gospel is experienced, thepilgrim understands God's Holy Word and His beautiful story in ways hecould have never dreamed possible.
The Wilderness If you are willing, I'd like to take you on a Land of the Bible tour.Using my words and your willingness to imagine, we begin our time inGod's Holy Land in the wilderness. Like the Hebrews who joyously - ifnot with a level of trepidation - journeyed out of the desert, andChrist who willingly wandered into it both to be baptized and to betempted, we come into the midbar, or desert, for what we might "see" asJesus put it. Ein Avdat is our first stop. Rarely visited by Christian pilgrims andtour groups (or not visited enough, to be certain), Ein Avdat (TheSpring of Avdat) is a magnificent fingerprint of God upon His earth, a"breath-taking by its beauty" canyon located in the Negev of Israel.There, ibex frolic along the canyon walls, ever steady on nimble hooves.Eagles soar and glide overhead. Song birds whistle their arias.Saltbushes grow sporadically; their leaves are edible and taste a littlelike potato chips. But that which draws those who venture deep between the limestone wallsis the trickle of water that leads to a pool below a 50-foot waterfall.Water that spills from the rocks, high above where sky meets earth. Fifth Gospel Teaching So what then can we learn between the high rocky crags and cliffs of EinAvdat? 1. When we look at the word "midbar," a Hebrew word from which we getone of our definitions easily wrapped up in the word "desert," we findeven deeper meanings. MIDBAR has the root DBR, which is the same rootfor the words "speak" and "word." In the biblical use of the word "desert," we find three Hebrew words; 1)araba (the deepest and hottest areas of the world), 2) charbah (the mostdesolate), and 3) midbar. When we see the word "desert" in the Bible, ithas most frequently been translated from "midbar." But do not picture astretch of desolate sand. It can best and more accurately be understoodas "pasture ground." A place not entirely uninhabitable, but a placewhere a shepherd or shepherdess may take their flocks for water, food,and rest. By this definition we can understand David's often-penned words of beingled by his Heavenly Shepherd into the desert ... for food ... for water... for rest. Psalm 23 is filled with word pictures of this very notion. 2. It is often in the "desert places" ... these "midbars" of our livesthat we are actually able - finally stripped of all outside noises anddistractions - to hear what God is trying to say, to whisper even, toand into our hearts. Here we can rest. We can partake of God's Word anddrink from the source of Living Water. 3. When we find ourselves between the rocks and the hard places, we mustseek that Living Water. When speaking to the "woman at the well" (John4), Jesus refers to Himself by that term. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of livingwater will flow from within him" (John 7:38). But it is in Revelation 7:17 that we read a remarkable verse which tiesall this together: For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he willlead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tearfrom their eyes (emphasis, mine). In Ein (spring) Avdat, we are led by our Shepherd to a spring of livingwater (water that is moving). There, we are met by God. A Fifth Gospel Word for You We often imagine the ancient Hebrews as full-time groaners and moanersfor their near-40 years of wilderness-walking. We think that the entire40 days of Jesus' time spent in the midbar was both agonizing andoverwhelmed by temptation. But a journey into the desert of Israel-albeit brief - opens another possibility. There is beauty here. God'sfingerprints are everywhere. There is silence enough to hear your own thoughts... and God's whispers. So then, what would you come into the desert to see ... were you to comeinto the desert to see it?