The Fifth Gospel
Today as we were visiting the Dead Sea I was reminded of something that was shared with me on my first pilgrimage to the Holy Land. One of the people we met described the land where the Biblical events took place as the fifth gospel. We have the four written gospels, and we also have the land itself which is continually speaking to us. Two examples of this come to mind as I reflect upon the events of today, one from eleven years ago and one from today.
The first is the message conveyed by two lakes which are present in the Holy Land. The first is the Sea of Galilee and the second is the Dead Sea, where we visited today. Eleven years ago, a Palestinian Christian suggested to our group that Christians are called to be like the Sea of Galilee rather than the Dead Sea. Both the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea are fed by the Jordan River, but only from the Sea of Galilee does water flow back into the Jordan. The Sea of Galilee both gives and receives water and the area around it is full of life. The Dead Sea receives water, but does not give and the area around it is a desert full of sand and salt. There is no life in it. For Christians to be fully alive they must acknowledge that we have been gifted by God, and then we must share what we have received.
The second example was shared to us by our guide today as we were shown an olive press in Bethany. Bethany is on the Mount of Olives, not far from the Garden of Gethsemane where there was also an olive press, in fact this is the meaning of the name Gethsemane. Muchul described for us the process of using the press that completely crushes the olives, allowing the best and most useful part of the olives, the oil, to be released. He then made the connection to Jesus’ agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus also felt the crushing weight of our sins as he suffered in the garden where so many olives had been crushed. But through his suffering, the best and most rich part of him was released for us, that being the grace that brings salvation.
The things of this land never cease to open my eyes in new ways to the Scripture. I look forward to one more week of sharing this journey with my fellow pilgrims and with you.
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