BOB REEVES/Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Friday, December 21, 2007 6:00 pm
Before going to the Holy Land, Twila Beck knew Jesus from reading the Bible and hearing her pastor, Gil Rugh, preach from the Gospels on Sundays.
But actually visiting the places of Christ’s birth, ministry, death and resurrection gave a richer dimension to her faith.
“I relate it to being a grandparent and you have a grandchild born, and someone gives you a picture,” she said. “It’s the most beautiful baby you’ve ever seen — but when you get to go there and hold that baby, it’s so much more. It’s real.”
Beck said her faith was strong before she visited the Holy Land for the first time in 2005, but since seeing those places and walking where Jesus and other biblical figures walked, she has more of a flesh-and-blood, dirt-and-sweat context for the Bible stories.
Beck, who manages the bookstore at Indian Hills Community Church, has been to the Holy Land twice. The 2005 trip was a Bible study tour led by internationally known prophecy teacher Jimmy DeYoung. Last summer she went on another tour led by Randall Price, a biblical archeologist who helped participants understand how scholars identify and authenticate sites that are linked to Scripture.
They visited Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth, where they saw a living history village much as it was in Jesus’ time. They traced the route that Joseph and Mary may have traveled through rocky, rugged country on their way to Bethlehem, where the first Christmas took place.
In the Church of the Nativity, they descended into the grotto which has long been considered the site of the manger. They also visited a cave in the hills that was a more likely location for the rock-hewn stable where Mary gave birth to the baby who was known as the son of God.
In Jerusalem, the group followed the Way of the Cross, imagining Jesus carrying that heavy cross through the crowded streets of the city. They saw the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, considered by most historians to be the site of Jesus’ tomb, but also visited the Garden Tomb near Calvary, which some scholars think may have been where his body lay three days before his resurrection on Easter Sunday.
Beck went running one morning along the Sea of Galilee and saw fishermen plying their nets much the same as in biblical times. In Jerusalem, she visited a spot by the ancient temple wall that had been excavated down to Jesus’ era. “We were actually walking on the same stones that Jesus may have walked on,” she said.
Now, when she reads or hears stories from the Bible, Beck has vivid images of the way the land looks, feels and even smells. “It isn’t just details on a page; it’s a real place to me.”
Others who have visited the Holy Land had similar reactions.
“To be there and actually walk where Christ walked, to kind of know what he must have felt as he was going through the different stages of his life — it has an impact on you while you are there, but then in Mass every Sunday it helps bring the Gospels to life,” said Ron Hicks.
He and his wife, Cinda, are members of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Lincoln and went on a 14-day trip in October that included visits to Galilee, Jerusalem and Bethlehem, plus a few days at the Vatican in Rome.
They stood on a hillside by the Sea of Galilee where it is believed that Christ performed the miracle of the loaves and fishes, feeding the multitude. They went out in a boat on the sea and imagined Jesus walking on the water. They visited the ruins of a synagogue where Jesus may have taught.
“Everything was so incredible,” Cinda Hicks said. “What impressed me is that they know with certainty where many of these sites were.”
They were accompanied by Bishop Blase Cupich of Rapid City, S.D., who led Mass at many of the holy sites along the way. Each day included prayers and worship in places that came right out of the pages of Scripture.
One of the most meaningful places, they said, was the church in the Garden of Gethsemane, where they spent an hour in adoration around the rock where Jesus prayed before his arrest.
“It’s not just seeing it; it’s feeling it,” Ron Hicks said.
“Going to the Holy Land has to change you,” Cinda Hicks said. “I don’t know how you could do it and not be changed.”
Jenny Ackerman, who went on the October trip with her husband, Dr. Stephen Ackerman, has many vivid memories. They attend St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Cheney.
In Jericho, the group saw a 2,000-year-old sycamore tree that could have been the one the diminutive tax collector Zacchaeus climbed to get a better view of Jesus. “The tree is just huge,” Ackerman said.
She was impressed with the beauty of each of the holy sites, most of which have a church with mosaics or paintings depicting scenes from the Bible. Most of the holy sites are jointly administered by Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches there, but they’re open to people of all faiths.
The universality of Catholicism was evident when they saw pilgrims from all parts of the world praying at the holy sites. “They were speaking different languages, but you could follow along because the Mass is the same everywhere,” Ackerman said.
She also was impressed to see Protestants, Orthodox Christians and Catholics praying in the same holy places. “It was neat to feel that connection with people from all over the world.”
Beck said she was impressed that while the land is now divided among Israel, Palestinian territories and Jordan, the biblical lands are sacred to Christians, Jews and Muslims.
None of the travelers felt unsafe during their visits, but tensions in the area were obvious when they had to pass through security checkpoints going in and out of Bethlehem, which is in the West Bank, and by the armed guards in Jerusalem streets and markets.
“It was hard to get used to what looked like teenage boys carrying M-16s,” Cinda Hicks said.
One of the images that sticks with Beck is how arid and inhospitable much of the landscape is. Some areas are lush and green, but most of the terrain is dry, brown and without water, she said. “Yet it is the land that God has made very special, and where Christ actually walked.”
As a striking example of how her first-hand experience of the land affected her reading of Scripture, Beck quoted the words of David in Psalm 63, where he says, “I thirst for the Lord as if in a dry and weary land.”
Now she understands better how David must have felt. “He had that thirst for the Lord, as should all of us,” she said. “He likened it to a thirst for water. You get a better feel for that, and appreciation for it, after being there.”
Reach Bob Reeves at 473-7212 or breeves@journalstar.com.