Instead, Holy Land churches are engaged in public ministry in the form of educational, vocational, and healthcare institutions. Given the population disparity between Muslims and Christians, church institutions predominantly serve Muslim communities, offering both jobs and services. Pilgrim groups are encouraged to make institutional visits, and volunteer opportunities can be arranged, especially for individuals. Called to imitate Christ in their service to others, Christian pilgrims learn from the missional witness of the Palestinian church.
The Ascetic Pilgrim
When Jesus commissioned the Twelve, he told them to “take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff” (Matt 10:9–10). Jesus told his disciples to travel light. What should pilgrims take on their journey? What supplies are needful, and which ones should be left at home? The questions raise the issues of material possessions, dependency on God, and the degree to which life in Christ is one of asceticism and self-denial. While the harsher words of Christ champion a life of self-renunciation, Jesus was ambivalent about the ascetic life, especially in contrast to John the Baptist. Jesus was criticized for not fasting like other religious leaders, and viewing his presence on earth in terms of a bridegroom at a wedding feast, Jesus said: “the wedding guests cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them” but will fast “when the bridegroom is taken away from them” (Matt 9:14–15).
The question is not whether Christians should engage in ascetic practices, such as fasting and self-denial, but when, where, and how often. Should Holy Land pilgrims view the entirety of their Jerusalem sojourn as time celebrated in the presence of Christ—as an Easter experience? Or, it is more meaningful to recognize both common and sacred time, both restraint and celebration, depending upon the liturgical season, the scriptural themes of the daily sites, and one’s situational context?
Life as Pilgrimage
The life-as-journey metaphor probes our life from the cradle to the grave with attention given to the temptations and struggles of our earthly existence. The Bible often views the world as a foreign landscape: Christians are in pursuit of a spiritual homeland, couched in terms of a heavenly Jerusalem. Christians are “strangers and foreigners on the earth . . . seeking a homeland . . . a better country, that is, a heavenly one” (Heb 11:13–19). We are resident aliens who are in the world but not of the world (John 17:14–15). Holy Land pilgrimage is a metaphorical reenactment of the biblical prototype: the salvific journey to New Jerusalem. At the same time, it is a significant event in a pilgrim’s earthly life.
Christological Images
As previously discussed, the Bible contains standalone images that directly appeal to the pilgrim life. Replete with pilgrim language, Psalms provided the contemplative texts for my walk on the Camino de Santiago: “you have delivered my soul from death, and my feet from falling, so that I may walk before God in the light of life” (Ps 56:13); “make me to know your ways, O Lord, teach me your path” (Ps 25:4); “for your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in faithfulness to you” (Ps 26:3). God leads us along the pathway, securing our steps as we go. Even though we walk through the darkest valley, God is with us; though we stumble, we will not fall (Pss 23:3–4; 37:23–24). The heavenly shepherd leads his sheep to green pastures and still waters. He provides, comforts, guides, and protects: “you are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with glad cries of deliverance” (Ps 32:7). God is our shelter and sanctuary.
Christological images likewise contain pilgrim themes. Jesus is our spiritual guide. He is the way, the light of the world in a land full of darkness (John 8:12). Providing spiritual nourishment, he is the bread from heaven and the water of life. As protector, he is the shepherd as well as the sheep gate (John 10:9, 2–4). As the sum of our lives, Christ is the alpha and the omega, the A and the Z, the beginning and the end—or, the beginning through to the end. Christ is our departure, our destination, and every step in-between. We encounter Christ in the middle and in the meantime. He is our past, present, and never-ending future: “on the road the pilgrim learns that searching for God is already to have found him and that direction is much more important than destination, because God is not just an end, nor a beginning, but for us he is always a beginning without end.”19 Likewise, in the words of Boethius:
To see Thee is the end and the beginning.
Thou carriest us, and Thou dost go before,
Thou art the journey and the journey’s end.20
Christological images fuel the pilgrim experience.
Conclusion
Scripture speaks in plentiful ways to our experience of God, self, and the Other through time, place, journey, and people, and we can easily cite more examples. Pilgrimage confronts life’s most important questions: Job and Ecclesiastes provide the manuals. The book of Ruth is about a foreigner who becomes the matriarchal Other in Jesus’ bloodline. Prophetic voices challenge the quest for power, the love of money, and the oppression of the poor, reminding us that pilgrimage should be an exercise in virtue, compassion, and mercy rather than an empty form of religious ritual. God favors justice and righteousness over solemn assemblies (Amos 5:18–24).
This raises two related points: scripture critiques certain aspects of pilgrimage, and the Bible records the evolution of ideas and attitudes, like those toward holy places. In light of Christ’s resurrection and the temple’s destruction, the New Testament church sought God in the gathered community rather than in designated places and replaced temple theology by emphasizing the presence of Christ in the breaking of the bread. Yet, we must still contend with Old Testament scriptures that sanction practices counter to Christian sensibilities, while pilgrim-related concepts, such as a theology of the land, diatribes against foreigners, and a covenantal understanding of a chosen people, raise questions regarding their present-day applications. Having surveyed scriptural images for Holy Land pilgrims, the chapter encourages further conversation on how the Bible informs contemporary expressions of the pilgrim life.
13. Scholars likewise point out that neither the kingdom of God nor the church are defined in the Bible. Biblical expressions require interpretation.
14. The word “pilgrimage” occurs three times in the King James Version (Gen 47:9; Exod 6:4; Ps 119:54), twice in the New International Version (Gen 47:9; Ps 84:5), and five times in the New Jerusalem Bible (Ps 84:5; Isa 30:29; Amos 8:14; Acts 8:27; 24:11). It is not found in the New Revised Standard Version. The Old Testament references utilize various Hebrew words. Magurim, the plural form of magor, which appears in Gen 47:9, Exod 6:4, and Ps 119:54, means sojourn. Mesillah, better translated as highway (see Isa 40:3), occurs in Ps 84:5. Derek, used in Amos 8:14, is the common word for road. Hag, which denotes a festival, is used in Isa 30:29. The examples underscore the diversity of pilgrim concepts: Acts 8:27 refers to Jerusalem worship, while Gen 47:9 concerns the earthly sojourn. Thanks to Andrew Davis for help with the Old Testament terms.
15. While our focus here is upon his foreign status, as a regional figure common to Christians, Jews, and Muslims, Abraham is an important starting point for interreligious dialogue. See Levenson, Inheriting Abraham, which details how the patriarch is distinctively viewed by Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
16. See Deut 16:16–17; Exod 23:14–17; 34:18–23.