O Jerusalem

We just got back from our trip to Jerusalem last night (Saturday), (Sabbath), (I'll never get used to Saturday being the day of worship), and I have to say that I'm glad to be back in the smouldering heat of the galilee. Don't get me wrong, loved Jerusalem, but at the end of the day I'm just a small town boy. I think Jesus was too and that gives me hope. Ever wondered why Jesus spent His entire ministry in small towns and the countryside with only a couple of brief forrays into Jerusalem? Well after this last weekend I think I know why. Jerusalem is a smouldering caldron of tension and chaos, which quite frankly baffles my small town prairie sensibilities. Jerusalem is different than any other place on earth. We have been to other chaotic large cities such as Caracass Venesuela, Tijuana Mexico, and Marachesh Morrocco to name a couple, but besides the chaotic hustle and bustle these places are vastly different from Jerusalem. You see, Jerusalem is a city that is all about religion. It pours out of every crack and crevice in it's dusty streets. The problem is that all three of the worlds large monotheistic religions claim it for their own...unfortunately they aren't very good at sharing it. The old walled city of Jerusalem which exists in the heart of the modern city of Jerusalem, is evenly divided among these groups, (Christians, Moslems, and Jews). It may be that this recent kidnapping of the Israeli Soldier is the reason for this heightened tension, but we had an encounter that I would not like to have again any time soon.
We were returning from our side trip to Bethlehem and as we were getting close to the gate we enter going to enter by (The Damascus gate)our bus was stopped and told we would not be allowed to enter via our bus. We disembarked and decided to go the rest of the way on foot. As we neared the gate we saw the reason for not letting us through. It was Friday at aproximately noon (the moslem day of prayer) and of course the Moslem Palestinians were expecting to go to the Dome of the Rock (the big bronze domed mosque you usually see in the news) and they were being stopped from doing so by an extremely large number of police in riot gear. As we neared the berricade we discovered that the Israeli police were only letting Moslems over the age of 45 in to pray. They were expecting trouble that day from the younger guys, so they just stopped them from entering. As we got to the barricade you could see that there would be trouble there this day. I felt guilty as we went up to the police and asked to be allowed in. Taunts of "oh sure you will let in these Americans, and yet you bar us from entering to pray. I can honestly say that I felt the weight of the hatred on my shoulders as we snaked through the crowd and through the gate of the barricade. This is something that I will never forget. It is only by the grace of God that we all made it through without anyone being hurt. There were young Palestinians trying to butt into line with us and get through, but we all were praying and stayed bunched up as tightly as we could, and somehow we made it safely through to the other side.
Was the situation the same in Jesus time. You bet. And I daresay that it has been scince the time of David and before. There is so much there for us as Christians, (there is a biblical site around every corner it seems) and the experience is something everyone should have if they are able. But it is also the third most holy city in the world to Moslems(next to Mecca and Medina) and I don't have to tell you how the Jews feel about it. I suppose over the next few weeks and months I will have time to digest this weekend and perhaps put some perspective on it, but for now I am happy to be back in the little backwater burgs of the Galilee. "Can anything good come from Nazareth/Galilee...You bet!!!