I am sat in the hotel in Tiberias thinking about God, Jesus and this Holy Land where so much has happened. Outside I can hear the cleaners spewing Hebrew to each other and flowing in through my balcony door I can hear the strange but familiar sound of 'Aga do do do" and now 'hands up, baby hands up'! What a contrast from yesterday as we sat peacefully on the northern shores of the sea of Galilee, the gentle waves lapping against the small pebbles, the only sound other than the singing birds above. I had been reminded of the hymn 'Dear Lord and Father of mankind' and the part that sings, 'in simple trust, like those who heard, beside the Syrian sea, the gracious calling of the Lord, let us, like them, without a word, rise up and follow thee.'I thought about modern day Israel with its many contrasts, the landscape, the people, the cultures, the faiths, the orthodox and the secular, the ancient and the new. How many people had and would still rise up and follow Him? How many people live and breathe in this place and still do not know the Messiah? How many will visit these shores and see the nautual beauty each day and know nothing of the King of the universe who once walked beside them? This ancient, yet thoroughly modern place, was where Jesus walked on the water, fed the five thousand, healed the sick, spoke wisdom and truth on the Mount of Beatitudes and turned the old testament law on its head because he could. Jesus, the fulfilment of the law, was the one true lamb without spot or blemish, sacrificed on the tree outside of Jerusalem, broken and broken in every way. He did not run away from his own path of suffering and call and he still calls out for disciples today....come to me all who are weary and I will give you rest, I can heal the sickness of sin, free you from your chains and give you life in abundance.
I am so thankful that I heard his call in my life and rose up and followed him but how many others have not in this land and in the world at large? Where are they, Lord? Gentile and Jew, can they hear your voice calling them? Do they know that you are the one that not only gives rest, but living water that will never leave them thirsty? This hot dusty land in summer, with heat so intense that it burns into my very being, would kill me without water. I would wilt, evaporate and die. How we not only need him to save us but also to keep us and constantly fill us with his life and refreshing water, helping us to keep rising and following him and how he promises to give us this and so much more.
