Encountering Humanity in Israel

“You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth” John 4:22-23

I went to Israel in May.

I had been waiting to go on this trip since my freshman year when it was first canceled due to COVID-19. Then, violence in the Middle East kept me from going until now. After nursing this dream for nearly four years, my expectations were lofty.

I saw the places and got to know the people through whom God’s story of salvation unfolded. I walked the paths that Jesus walked, kissed the place where he was born, prayed at the sites where he worked miracles, touched the rock of Golgotha where he died, and knelt in awe in the spot where he rose.

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The “Holy Land” didn’t always feel so holy though.

There were no booming voices or spotlights from Heaven announcing the exact place Jesus did this or that. Rather, my experiences were marked by hours of waiting while being shoved by aggressive pilgrims only to be given a few precious seconds adoring an unassuming rock or star in the ground.

Beyond the hostile tourists and pilgrims, the constant presence of IDF soldiers carrying machine guns was unsettling. The current state of affairs in Israel is messy and complicated, something we learned quickly after hearing several Israelis and Palestinians speak on the ongoing Palestine-Israel conflict.

Our group de-briefs became heated and tense as we disagreed over the conflict and our place as Christians within it. Can peace can ever be reached given the religious, cultural, and political forces at work in the region?

Humanity and All its Messiness

Being uncomfortable with the tensions and underwhelmed by the ordinariness of the places we went reminded me of the humanity and humility of the incarnation.

God became man.

Jesus didn’t glow.

He encountered us in all our messiness. He came into a broken world. He didn't run from sin and conflict but rather embraced them. And, he called us to be peacemakers.

Sometimes it is easy to lose sight of Jesus’ humanity. He was the Son of God after all. He walked on water, multiplied loaves and fish, and raised people from the dead. However, being in Israel showed me that he was real, a person like me, someone I can relate to when I get hangry.

The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” (Mark 11:12-14)

You know who else probably got hangry?

Simon Peter.

No one exhibits humanity quite like the first pope.

I went to Israel expecting to get a closer look at the life of Jesus but not expecting to encounter the flawed but relatable character of Peter. Our trip began at the Church of St. Peter in Gallicantu where Peter denied Christ three times and ended at the Church of the Primacy of Peter where Peter affirmed his love for Christ three times.

Peter is the perfect example of a weak man who was transformed by Christ. By taking on our humanity, Jesus redeemed it. Just like Peter, if we travel with Jesus through the ups and downs of our faith journeys, he will transform us into great saints.

God's Dwelling Place

The most transformative experience for me, personally, was at the Wailing Wall. This wall is what remains of the western retaining wall of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. For the Jewish people, the Temple was the center of worship. It was the place where God dwelled among His people in the Holy of Holies, the innermost room of the Temple. Only the high priest could enter this dwelling place of God, and, even then, only once a year. The Temple was destroyed in 70 AD and only portions of the wall were left standing.

As I stood waiting for my turn to approach the wall, I could feel the emotions running high in the space. People jumped and danced in circles, arms interlaced, chanting in Hebrew. Others cried, tears streaming down their faces. Still others read the Psalms, lips moving silently as they whispered the sacred words to themselves. I overheard an American Jewish girl about my age expressing her awe and disbelief that she was there.

For the Jews, this was the closest they believed they would ever be to God on Earth.

And yet, the same God that once dwelled in the Holy of Holies was much closer to them than they realized. Just that morning, I had had the greatest honor of receiving Him in the Holy Eucharist.

As Paul says, “we are the temple of the living God” (2 Corinthians 6:16).

If anything, my time in Israel only convicted me more of the true presence of the all-powerful God in the Eucharist. But the beautiful thing is, you don’t have to go to Israel to find him.

Looking for God? Go to the closest Catholic church. He dwells in all the tabernacles of the world and in the hearts of all those who receive Him. We worship him now, around the world, in “spirit and truth.”

Interested in going on your own trip to Israel?

I went with Passages, a Christian organization that takes college students on trips to Israel, helping them connect with their faith while simultaneously educating them on the Israeli-Palestine conflict. I highly recommend them for an affordable, well-organized, and educational experience for any Christian college student. Check them out here.