How important is place as we speak about holiness?
I think that’s an intriguing question, and one that is touched on in a number of different chapters in this book, but I highlight it now. In chapter nine Skarsaune is most conerned with telling the story of early Jewish believers as revealed by different sources- archaelogy, ancient writings, etc. His main point is that these early Jewish believers continue to be a profound force in Israel, not just in the immediate years after Jesus’ death, but for a few generations thereafter. This is important knowledge, as sometimes we do think of the church as being taken over by Gentiles right away, but I think it’s important to go to a point he’s been touching on in a number of places-
What makes a place holy?
He has spoken before about the reverence for the land and especially for Jerusalem. In this chapter he speaks of some of the holy sites to Christians in Jerusalem. He shows interesting evidence that it was early Jewish believers in Christ who helped point Constantine to the place where he would build the Holy Sepulchre (image to the right; the basic evidence being that Constantine did an incredible amount of digging for his church site and unless he just got really lucky there must have been some people telling him that he would find a big hill and a carved out tomb under all that dirt and rock). He also speaks of the likelihood that early Jewish believers were those who helped build holy sites and churches at the possible site of the Upper Room, the house of Peter in Capernaum, etc. What’s interesting to me here is that these are sites built not by Jewish people who we knew were linked to place and Temple, but by Jewish believers. The same ones who worshipped at the Temple but who shook up the world by saying that the Temple was no longer necessary. If they weren’t attached to a place like the Temple anymore, why still focus on places?
I think this moves us to two important pieces.
First, ours is a faith that stands out from others because it is founded in real people, places, times, and events. We believe that Adam was real and actually died somewhere. We believe that Abraham actually followed God to a real new land, Israel. We believe that Solomon actually built the first Temple. And we also believe that Jesus was actually born in Bethlehem, actually lived in Nazareth, and actually died on Golgotha, and rose up out of a rich man’s tomb. So we are linked to some real places, and when we walk to those places, and stand on that ground, there is an amazing feeling when you’re connected, even if it is across thousands of years, to a place where something significant to our faith actually happened. Jesus really died for my sins in this place. He really rose here. There is something holy and awe inspiring about that.
Second, holy is about something being set aside for God’s purposes. And some things are used for more incredible purposes than others. All things are holy. I don’t want to play a game here. My home is holy. God makes it holy with his presence there. But the reality is that he also comes to my church in a very special way on Sunday, a way he doesn’t enter my house. And he came and lived and died in Jerusalem in a way he doesn’t in my church. Places are set aside with holy purposes, with God’s purposes. And it is good for us to honor that.
