One of the first things Roman did once we were all aboard the red bus, was hand out these devices:
"These, are Whisperers," Roman explained, as he passed dozens of them out so that we all got one. "They are wireless receivers with an earpiece so that it will be easier for you all to hear me when we are at various sites or in large crowds."
I plugged in the earpiece, then tied the lanyard attached to the Whisperer onto my purse. Finally I hooked the earpiece around the lobe of my ear the way it was supposed to, and turned it on. Roman spoke into a small microphone attached to a white transmitter Whisperer to test if our receivers were working. Once we all got functional Whisperers, Roman started to tell us about our next spot.
"Our next site, is Mt. Beatitude," He said, as the bus wove this way and that on the winding roads in the large hills surrounding the Sea of Galilee. He also informed us that the property was owned by the Catholic Church and was well kept up and taken care of.
We soon pulled into the parking lot and saw that dozens of other buses filled it up, so our driver pulled alongside the curb nearest the entrance, where we disembarked and followed Roman onto the grounds of Mt. Beatitude. He lead us past an information building and gift shop, up several steps with small, shaded areas designated for prayer groups and Mass on either side beneath large trees. We found an empty area for us to gather in and sit. I settled down next to Leanna and Troy, as everyone else found a place to sit, while Roman remained standing.
Now you may or may not be curious about Roman, I mean, I've only mentioned him here and there but haven't said much, so, let me pause this story and tell you about him: He was a Russian Jew (remember I mentioned his accent in the Prologue?) who immigrated to Israel about 12 years ago with his wife and young son (he also had another son soon after moving there). He was about 43 years old, stocky, with short black hair and beard, with a little gray sprinkled in it. He always wore either a navy green ball cap that said 'Israel' on it or one of those hiking/fishing hats that nobody really knows the name of; and often had on cargo pants and a long sleeved shirt in light, neutral colors to keep the sun off. In a style reminding me of Indiana Jones, he always had a satchel slung over his shoulder, where he kept a water bottle and anything else he might need.
"Now," Roman began, "This area is famously known as the place where Jesus preached His sermon on the Mount and listed the Beatitudes. Unfortunately, I have to burst your bubble by saying that although this is the Mount of Beatitudes, it isn't the authentic spot, it is rather the traditional spot. Later on when you hear me say that someplace is the traditional spot, it means that it's the place that most everyone accepts as the spot where something happened, but it probably didn't. When I tell you if the place is authentic, it means that it is the spot where something happened. This property is accepted by the Catholic Church as the traditional spot where Jesus preached, and although it's the same general area, it most likely didn't happened on this exact location, okay? It could have been here, but it also could have been on any one of the nearby hills surrounding this place.
Now that I've got that explanation out of the way," He continued. "I should start by saying that if you came here to listen to me preach the Sermon on the Mount or recite the Beatitudes... I'm sorry to disappoint, but no, I will not."
Roman instead told us his testimony, which if you ever happen to be on one of his tours, it's a story worth hearing. You may wonder why I'm not telling it myself. Well, while he probably wouldn't mind, it's not my story to freely publish for all the world to see without his permission (also, it'll be a good excuse for you to go to Israel).
As we were sitting there, I was searching through the little travel sized Bible that I had brought with me and I'd just found the Beatitudes when I noticed that Troy was having trouble with loading the Bible on his phone. He leaned across Leanna (she was sitting between us) and asked if he could borrow my Bible for a moment. I nodded and handed it to him. He then proceeded to get up, ask Roman if he could speak for a second, and preached with my Bible in hand:
(Note: Throughout the entire time we were sitting here, I'm pretty sure there was a chicken coop nearby because literally every 10 seconds or so, this rooster would crow, and crow, and crow. And crow. AND CROW. I'm certain everyone noticed him too but were exercising self control. I was somewhere between trying to not laugh or going to make my own version of the Chick-fil-A sandwich for lunch.)
Now then, I'd like to apologize if this next section sounds scatterbrained, you see, I wish I could remember everything Troy said, but I don't, but I will write what I remember to the best of my knowledge:
First, Troy talked about how special Jesus' mother Mary was, and that God chose the right woman to raise Him. It's believed by scholars that Mary's husband, Joseph, died sometime after the incident in Jerusalem when they unknowingly left 12-year old Jesus behind. So not only would that make Mary a widow, but she was also a single parent raising God's son no less, along with the children she bore for Joseph. Imagine all the things that Mary had to go through, because widows in those days were seen as little more than worthless or useless, but she persevered and did the best she could with God's help. It was this statement that brought Troy to draw our attention to something he'd noticed in both the Beatitudes (Matt 5:3-10) and Mary's Song (Luke 1:46-55).
"Mary's Song is the most dialogue that Mary has in the Bible," Troy said. "It's the only time we get to hear what she's thinking, and if you look at the Beatitudes, the first sermon Jesus ever preaches, there's a similarity between the two."
Indeed there was, I noticed when reading the two passages later. Was it possible that God downloaded Mary's personal revelation to their son later in life? I've inserted an image of the two verses below so you can compare them side by side, and draw your own conclusions:
The last thing I remember Troy discussing, was how the message of the Sermon on the Mount was so solid and enduring, that some pastors will just recite it straight from the Book of Matthew, which was exactly what one pastor did. Forgive me, I can't remember his name or where he came from, but basically, this pastor was being pressured by his local religious leaders to not preach anything radical or against their government. So instead, the minster preached all of Matthew chapters 4-6 from memory to his entire congregation. And that was it, that was his sermon. He spoke the simple truth and those religious leaders couldn't do anything about it because it was straight from the Bible, in Jesus' words, not the pastor's. Troy proceeded to tell us about an open challenge he had for anyone to try and memorize all of Matt. 4-6, and anyone who could recite it all for him, would get $100. The challenge stands to this day, so if you're interested... (Sorry P.T.)
When Troy finished, he handed me back my Bible and thanked me. Roman dismissed us, giving us about 20 minutes to look around or visit the gift shop. We headed back the way we came, approaching a chapel known as the Mt Beatitudes Chapel.
I looked around the outside of the chapel, then entered through the left side. I peeked into the main entrance hall, and the open, ornate gates caught my eye:
Suddenly, a grey dove flew through the door right past me, startling me. I followed it with my eyes as it flew through the entrance hall and into the innermost room, where there sat an altar in the center with an alabaster arch surmounting it. The dove landed at the top of the arch. Amazed by this sight, I decided to enter the main room. On either side of the door were bowls of holy water for devout Catholics to dip their fingers and make the sign of the Cross, so I decided, what the heck, let's do it too!
I crossed the threshold of the room in the middle of the chapel: it was octagonal in shape, and as you already know the altar with the arch was in the center; circling round it were prayer benches. The dove was still perched on the arch when I left.
My visit lasted less than 5 minutes, so I was on my way to the gift shop! I purchased anointing oil, a couple of keychains and a pin. Looking at my phone to check the time, I realized my 20 minutes was almost up. Running, I made it to the parking lot and looked around, trying to find the red bus. Seeing Pastor Troy standing near it, helping others find it, I hurried towards him. He saw me and waved me over, but another bus that was backing out of a parking space suddenly blocked my path and was edging dangerously close to me. I rushed to the side, hopped on a nearby curb beside which a car was parked. Putting the car between me and the bus I quickly headed to my own bus. Once on board, I sat down in a relieved huff.
Once everyone made it, Roman counted us, then informed us that we unfortunately spent too much free time than we were supposed too, and were behind the white bus by several minutes. At this point Troy and Roman explained to us that although we wanted to spend more time at each place we simply couldn't, and at some locations we had to be on time, not late, because we had certain bookings that had to be kept.
"I don't mean to sound harsh," Troy said. "But if you are late to the bus, you will be left behind and have to take a taxi back to the hotel."
(A last note, if I may. I'm not writing this last bit about what Troy and Roman said in a way for anyone to see them in a negative light. We had so many places to go on this trip, nearly 30 sites total with an average of about 4-5 sites a day. That's a lot of places, not to mention a lot of people [around 45 on the red bus] to try and herd around. Although Troy's words may sound mean to you [they did to me at the time], they reminded me that we were all adults, and we had to be responsible with keeping up with the group, keeping track of time, and not wondering off on our own. So I understand where they're coming from and I hope you do too.)
"Now I know you're all tired," Roman said. "Some of you got here at three in the morning and are jetlagged, but if you could just power through for awhile longer, it'll work out in the end. You are all doing so well already for being tired and jetlagged. We have just a few more places to go."
Following these last statements, the red bus rolled out of the parking lot and on to our next adventure.
No comments:
Post a Comment