Jerusalem Bound. Rodney Aist
to live by, which help us size up situations and readjust our thoughts and behavior. They remind us of who we are, where we are, what to do, and where to go, charting the course we need to take and projecting the ideals we seek to obtain. They incite and inspire.
While conveying insight and wisdom, adages are not necessarily—or always—true. They are assertive statements that are perspectival in function, emphasizing points of view that may not pertain to every situation. “The journey is more important than the destination” offers a valuable perspective; it is, at best, a half-truth. But that’s the point: adages are not truth claims per se but verbal tools for probing reality and focusing our attention. The Holy Land pilgrim is alert to the quotable sayings, group mantras, and personal mottos that emerge throughout the experience, noting how accumulated wisdom and short interpretive sayings frame the ongoing journey.
Moving Forward
The aim of the book is to enhance Holy Land travel through a comprehensive approach to the pilgrim life that offers pilgrims a spectrum of ideas and perspectives for exploring the Jerusalem experience. Holy Land pilgrimage is more than walking in the footsteps of Jesus, visiting the holy places, and following the traditions of ancient travelers. It is being a stranger in a strange land, following God in a foreign country, and receiving hospitality from others. It is an exercise in engaging the Other, listening to voices that are not our own, valuing ecumenical and interreligious relations, sharing in the hopes and struggles of the Living Stones, and promoting peace and reconciliation. Holy Land travel is an incarnational journey in time and place. It is about personal narrative, collective memory, and shared experience. The Jerusalem pilgrim embraces the mystery of life: walking into the unknown, receiving revelation as the journey unfolds, and celebrating the sanctity of the present moment.
Focusing on God, self, and the Other through time, place, journey, and people gives purpose, direction, and structure to the Holy Land experience. The Jerusalem-bound traveler uses the experience as an exercise in Christian formation, which forms the basis for a pilgrim-themed spirituality back home. With an eye towards the future, Holy Land pilgrims seek long-term transformation. They return from the Holy Land shaped by the lessons of the journey and with new understandings of scripture, the life of Christ, and the kingdom of God. Seeds take root upon return, resourcing a lifelong journey of faith. Whether at home or in the Holy Land, the object of the pilgrim life remains the same: the union of God, self, and the Other.
7. The quote is a standard description of Wittgenstein’s theory. See, for instance, Sussman, Substance and Behavioral Addictions, 29, 317. Wittgenstein himself indicates, “we see a complicated network of similarities overlapping and criss-crossing.” Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations, paragraph 66. Also see paragraphs 65–67. The idea of applying the family resemblance theory to pilgrimage comes from Michael McGhee, personal communication.
8. Niebuhr, “Pilgrims and Pioneers,” 7.
9. On Renan’s idea that the land of the Gospels reveals the person of Jesus, see chapter 5, “The Fifth Gospel.”
10. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechesis, 13.22; Paulinus of Nola, Letter, 49.14.
11. Soskice, Metaphor and Religious Language, 15.
12. The pilgrim life is full of short, quotable sayings that go by a number of names, including axioms, adages, aphorisms, bromides, dictums, epigrams, maxims, mottoes, parables, platitudes, precepts, proverbs, quips, quotations, slogans, truisms, and witticisms (the list is courtesy of Geary, The World in a Phrase, 8). While the terms may differ slightly—and a statement about God may function differently from one about life in general—we will refer to the concise sayings of pilgrim wisdom as adages and aphorisms.
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Biblical Expressions
The following chapter resources Holy Land travelers through a survey of biblical images that speak to our experience of God, self, and the Other through time, place, journey, and people. Scripture departs from Eden, traverses Calvary, and arrives in New Jerusalem. Exile and return are central themes of the Old Testament: Egypt to the promised land, Babylon to Jerusalem. The New Testament also contains a collection of journeys: the arrival of the magi, the flight to Egypt, the prodigal son, the road to Emmaus. Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem provides the climax to the Synoptic Gospels, while missionary journeys spread news of the risen Christ. Pilgrimage is about place as much as journey, and the scriptures are set upon a religious topography of centers, points, and edges, pathways and intersections, boundaries and borders, profane and sacred locations. Biblical places, like Golgotha, Mount Sion, and the Jordan River, assume spiritual meanings that transcend their physical dimensions. The Bible contains perspectives on time, hope, and memory, on compassion and hospitality, on the Other and the earthly life. When its themes are collectively considered, pilgrimage is one of the dominant images of the Bible.
How does the Bible resource the modern-day pilgrim? While the Bible contains recognized expressions of the pilgrim life, pilgrimage is never defined.13 There is neither a Greek nor a Hebrew word that specifically or consistently means pilgrimage, and the word “pilgrimage” only occasionally appears in English translations of the Bible.14 Instead of focusing upon specific terms, our interest is in biblical content that contains pilgrim themes.
The Biblical Prototype
Christian pilgrimage is implicitly governed by a biblical prototype, or metatemplate, that envisions the Christian life as a journey to New Jerusalem. The prototype is an amalgamation of biblical images, stories, concepts, and teachings that depict our relationship with God as a movement from sin to salvation, or, in pilgrim language, from being lost to being found, from being out of place to spiritual arrival, from alienation to union with God. The spiritual life is one of change, transition, and progress; destination represents wholeness, completion, and fulfillment. The prototype presents the human condition as being lost, depicts a pathway to God full of assistance, choices, and challenges, and conveys destinational images of banqueting tables, the kingdom of God, and New Jerusalem. To repent is to change direction, to make a u-turn, to find the right path. Grace is the strength to act in the first place and includes times of being carried. The metatemplate is also informed by the Mosaic narrative: wilderness wandering, the Jordan River crossing, and arrival in the promised land. The prototype is not a concrete blueprint of the Christian life; rather, it governs as a composite ideal. While the prototype contains a number of indelible images, it has a kaleidoscopic quality that is open to interpretation, as evidenced by the spectrum of Christian traditions.
Even so, the prototype has a fundamental influence on our understanding of the Christian life. To begin with, it depicts the Christian faith as a journey to God—Paul describes it as a race. Secondly, Christian pilgrimage is not about any or every journey but those that appeal in some way to the prototype, which distinguishes Christian pilgrimage from non-Christian expressions. Third, the character of pilgrimage as incarnational, metaphorical, autobiographical, and corporate, and pilgrim virtues, such as patience and perseverance, are grounded in the prototype. Fourth, providing an unparalleled context for examining the pilgrim’s relationship with God, Holy Land travel metaphorically patterns the New Jerusalem destination of the Christian prototype.
The Journey of the Magi
We begin our survey of the biblical material with a favorite Christmas story: the magi’s journey to Bethlehem (Matt 2). The magi left their country, traveled a long distance, worshipped the Christ Child, and returned home. The story provides a narrative template for Holy Land pilgrims, who likewise leave home on a long-distance journey to see the places of Christ. Focusing on the key elements of the story, the narrative lends itself to a series of reflective questions.
The Star: What are the signs and indications