In
Part 01 of our series, we learned that Christians have been visiting the
holy city in a continuous flow since the early years of the church. Today, the
number of incoming Christian visitors to Israel, with the ostensible goal of
visiting Jerusalem, is around 60%, or more.
In
Part 02, we learned about the strong ‘tourist factor’ which helped
stimulate Christian visits.
In
Part 03, we have seen that this ‘continuous flow’ and ‘tourist promotion’
has increased visits by Christians to Jerusalem and Israel, worldwide.
In
Part 04, we began to define the Christian visitor, either as a ‘tourist,’
‘pilgrim,’ or both.
Here
in Part 05, we will continue to explore this fascinating topic: are
today’s Christian visitors to Jerusalem ‘tourists,’ ‘pilgrims,’ or both. This
is not an easy task. One reason is that today’s Christian visitors, unlike ‘classic
pilgrims of old,’ tend to visit non-traditional and even non-Christian and/or
non-Biblical sites, like the Western Wall, Haram el Sharif (Temple Mount), and
Masada. They can also attend conferences, participate in archaeological digs,
volunteer on kibbutzim, ‘shop until you drop,’ plant trees, float on the Dead
Sea, and more.
Looking
for a definition is not helped by the social anthropologists, the only group
that ever studies the pilgrim phenomena. They use terms like communitas, a
liminal experience, freedom from social structure, etc. Yet, they fail to
utilise the very source-book of Christian pilgrimage, namely the Bible. So, we
need to look at the Bible, theology, and history, to understand our status in
the holy city and holy land.
Theology of Pilgrimage
Dictionaries
define pilgrim as a stranger or foreigner (from the Latin peregrinus)
and pilgrimage (peregrinatio) as wandering, a long journey, or a
journey to a sacred place.
Peregrinus stems from
the Biblical Hebrew and Greek. There are two pairs of words to denote the
pilgrim. Firstly, the Old Testament speaks of ger in Hebrew or paroikos
in the New Testament Greek. These mean a ‘one who lives as a resident alien’
(BROMILEY 1985:149), like a permanent resident, a long-term foreigner who still
lacks citizenship rights. Ger/Paroikos could mean a non-Israelite, but
often referred to the patriarchs and the physical descendants of Israel
(BROMILEY 1985:789).
The second
pair of words are toshab (Hebrew) and parepidemos (Greek), meaning a temporary
resident alien. A modern counterpart is a visitor that receives a three to six
month tourist visa; thus, they have even less rights than a resident alien.
Like ger/paroika, they also denote transitoriness (STEWART 1988: 1231).
In 1 Peter 2:11 it states:
Dearly
beloved, I beseech you as strangers (paroikos) and pilgrims (parepidemos),
abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.
The Biblical
idea is that the patriarchs, heirs of Canaan and of God's promises, were still
no more than magurim or permanent residents without citizenship rights
in the land of promise. Furthermore, the believer in Christ is considered a ‘citizen
of heaven’ who is an alien temporarily residing in this present fallen world
order; they are sojourning in the flesh awaiting their eternal home. Their
mortal lifespan is considered a pilgrimage (Stewart 1988:1231). Hebrews
11:13 says:
These all
died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off,
and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were
strangers and pilgrims on earth.
From this
comes the concept of pilgrimage, meaning that a citizen of another country
sojourns in a holy land with a holy place, as a stranger in a strange land, in
order to make contact with the roots of their faith and/or understand,
apprehend, and/or appropriate their heavenly reward. Like Ellis Island to the
Old World migrant to the United States, the pilgrim passes in transit through a
holy land in order to obtain their future inheritance.
The following are offered as definitions:
‘Pilgrim:’ Any person
of faith on a long journey, who, consciously or subconsciously, on a long journey
to the sacred--sacred site, sacred city, sacred land, and/or sacred person;
‘Christian
pilgrim to Jerusalem:’ Any visiting foreign Christian, whether
alone or in a group, with faith in their heart, travelling to and sojourning in
a sacred place (temporarily or longer), consciously or subconsciously seeking
to connect with the source and city of their faith. As people of faith, since
our entire earthly life is a ‘pilgrimage,’ then visiting the key city of the
Bible (mentioned 811 times as ‘Jerusalem’) is a pilgrimage, too, no matter how
unstructured, relaxed, unconventional or untraditional it may be.
It is not so
much what the pilgrim does (e.g. liturgical acts), but who they are (a person
with faith in Christ), that makes them a pilgrim. Doing religious things does
not make them more of a pilgrim nor doing touristic things make them less -
faith in the heart is the key that separates the pilgrim from the tourist.
Here are 2
sub-categories:
CLASSIC
PILGRIM:
One who comes to Jerusalem for the express purpose of visiting the holy sites
and conducting conscious acts of devotion. Non-religious activities are kept to
a minimum. Catholic and Orthodox groups, particularly during special seasons,
would often fit this categorisation. They are the most likely group to have
contact and church services with indigenous Christians;
BIBLICAL
TOURIST:
A Christian who visits Jerusalem to see the sights associated with Christ and
the Bible. They do not necessarily partake in any conspicuous liturgical or
religious activities. Furthermore, they visit non-Christian and non-sacred
sites and do other tourist activities. Many evangelical and Protestant visitors
could be classified as such.
In Part
06, we will look at the nature of Christian visits and other fascinating
things.
NOTE:
If
you are interested in our June 2019 Jerusalem Encounter Tour or November
2019 Bible Adventure Tour, including Book of Revelation/7 Churches Extension,
log onto: https://www.tan.org.au/upcoming-tours/
SOURCES
CONSULTED
BROMILEY
Geoffrey. (1985) Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Grand Rapids, William B. Eerdman.
STEWART R.A.
(1988) "Pilgrimage" The Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Volume III, Leicester, England: Intervarsity Press.
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