“Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.”
(John 4:21)
I have noticed what level of spirituality people have attached to pilgrimage, and it baffles me that such a practice should be prevalent in the church. The question I stand to ask the Jerusalem pilgrim is simply this, “what did you go to see there?” Certainly he’d think it were possible to defend such waste of time and resources in achieving zero spirituality. Christ left the tomb a long time ago but people still go there from year to year to say hello. Or maybe not say hello but just to see something. The something I don’t know what.
It is true the angels invited the first pilgrims, so to speak, saying, “Come, see the place where the Lord lay,” (Matthew 28:6), but he said that because they didn’t know he was risen. They probably came to embalm his dead body. But how shall we with full conviction of his resurrection go to look at an empty tomb? What justification do we who have countless proof and witnesses of his resurrection to go visiting an empty tomb? Usually what the Jerusalem pilgrims say is their benefits according to what I read online are as follows;
1. It enriches the soul. They believe that while you go from place to place where God was experienced it makes your soul richer. I really thought we could have left such error to those of superstitious beliefs, but we imbibe it most gladly. Good works and attaining to, or receiving the hidden treasures from the word of God are what enriches the soul. Good works certainly does not involve going on pilgrimage, therefore going on pilgrimage has no spiritual benefit in enriching the soul.
2. It helps us appreciate what is written in the Bible. They believe that when you go to the tomb for example you’d appreciate what was written about Jesus’ burial and resurrection. Perhaps the thought that an angel stood about where you are standing now would make you shriek. That too has no spiritual benefit. I can assure you most confidently that you would appreciate what is written in the Bible when you go on your knees far much more than going to Jerusalem.
3. It helps renew your faith. Well that is interesting. What was it that made the faith of the pilgrim to be worn out that he seeks to renew it? I suppose also renewal of our faith is to be done in the quiet place of prayer, fasting, reading and meditating on the word of God. By the way, the Bible did not say faith cometh by going to Jerusalem, but by hearing and hearing the word of God (Romans 10:17). If your faith for any reason becomes worn out, returning to the inexhaustible fount from which you got the faith is how to renew it. Anybody who truly has faith should find it easy to trace precisely its source if he needed to know where it could be renewed. Going to Jerusalem won’t renew your faith brothers and sisters.
Among many of the heresies rejected by the reformers such as prayers for the dead, pardons, indulgences, excommunications, absolutions, etc., the reformers also condemned pilgrimages. It is written in the book The History of The English Reformation by William Henry Beckett, “Looking through the records of these and other offenders, we find the charges brought against them the usual ones of Lollard doctrine: disbelief in transubstantiation, condemnation of pilgrimages, prayers to images and saints, of confession to priests, and of taking of oaths; their contention for the priesthood of all believers, the right of priests to marry; that the Pope hath no power to bind and loose on earth; that the observance of fast day and festival is not binding; that prayers made in all places are acceptable to God, and that the Catholic Church is only the congregation of the elect, i.e., the faithful.” The reformers came out of these set of superstitious and erroneous beliefs. We too accept most of what they condemned to be condemnable, but we somehow still hold on to the erroneous belief of pilgrimages. Not that pilgrimage or going to Jerusalem is a sin so as to equate it with stealing or murder, but it is heresy to attach any spiritual relevance or benefit to travelling there.
To this agrees the words of à Kempis Thomas when he wrote saying, “Many run to diverse places to visit the memorials of departed Saints, and rejoice to hear of their deeds and to look upon the beautiful buildings of their shrines… Often in looking at those memorials men are moved by curiosity and novelty, and very little fruit of amendment is borne away, especially when there is so much careless trifling and so little true contrition.” The travelling about for spiritual purposes that don’t bear the fruit of the spirit is worthless. And since one can bear spiritual fruit without these travels, the travel itself is of no benefit.
It would be okay if people said they were going on tourism in Jerusalem for amusement than to say they’re going there for a spiritual purpose. But why should something done in the light of the spiritual be done for amusement? Why should so much be spent, both in money, time and resources, on expensive amusements when you could as well amuse yourself on a cheap game console, if amusement were so important.
Some may say they’re going there for historical research. I am not in the right place to judge in this, but I seriously doubt that a Jerusalem of today would have any tangible artefact that would present any truth of the Jerusalem of long ago. The terrain must have been changed by great wars, diverse natural occurrences and disasters including earthquakes, etc. must have taken their course. We know that at least Jesus spoke about the total destruction of Jerusalem (Luke 19:41-44), which was well fulfilled and we know that other great and highly destructive wars have been waged on that land. While some things remaining may be relevant, some destroyed artefacts may have as well been fabricated to deceive people that they were the true artefacts. Many structures still standing for pilgrims to view ought to have collapse by natural means, but somehow, by human intervention they made to stand so the pilgrims would continue to have something to see. So I doubt the accuracy of whatever the outcome of such a research would bring. But let us say it were possible to have good artefacts for research in Jerusalem, still let it be said that one is going there for research and studies, not for a spiritual purpose. Research and studies does not necessarily translate to spiritual progress or intimacy with God, rather it can even work an adverse effect to our spiritual progress. But I am convinced that whatever research is done in Jerusalem today to draw tangible meaning of Bible days may not worth the paper upon which the research is done.
Throughout scriptures we can see that the omnipresence of God is affirmed. It is written, “Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord.” (Jeremiah 23:24). God fills not just the earth but the heavens also. How should we think that he is only in Jerusalem and that his presence can only be felt there, or that he’s specially located at Jerusalem and that his presence can be felt specially there, though he could be seen elsewhere. Just like a king being seen usually in his castle, but can be occasionally seen elsewhere. When you see him elsewhere you’d probably see him and few guards and a modest procession that is fitting for a king, but when you see him in his castle you’d see him in all his glory. This seems to me the notion pilgrims have about God. There’s nothing of that nature with God. He fills the heaven and earth. There’s no place where he can’t see at each and every point in time. There’s no place that he’s not.
“Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.” (John 4:21). Under the assurances of such promises it is sad to see that some people still think that God can be specially found in Jerusalem and place undue importance to pilgrimage. If we seek to experience God and understand him and his word thoroughly, we could draw near to him in any place we find ourselves. He is visible to every genuine heart. Seeing him in all his glory has nothing to do with geographical location.
Samuel Rutherford wrote, “go wheresoever ye will, if your Lord go with you, ye are at home.” The Bible has said God is with those that have a pure heart and clean hands. If we have clean hands and a pure heart the Lord shall go with us and we shall be at home wherever we go. Everywhere shall be our Jerusalem.
But let us be clear that God is not localised. God is not trapped in Jerusalem. It was the hope of the Pharisees to trap him in the tomb, but it is not in vain the hymn writer wrote, “up from the grave he arose with a mighty triumph over his foes.” He is everywhere at the same time. If only we knew what he required of us, we’d have experienced him so richly and divinely. In this book, I seek to talk on the true way to experience God’s residing manifest presence.
Prayer: Dear Father, seeing you’re not trapped in Jerusalem but are present everywhere, give us the grace and disposition of heart fit to reside in your presence both now and always. Thank you dear Father. Amen.
