WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?
by Eric Elder
The Ranch
I’ve just returned from Israel, where I took my two youngest kids to celebrate Easter in the Holy Land. It was a terrific trip, the highlights of which were baptizing my kids in the Jordan River and worshipping with them the next day at the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem with other believers from all over the world. It was a phenomenal!
I mean, how could it not be phenomenal? To be in the Holy Land on Easter morning, worshipping in a beautiful garden while looking at an empty tomb that dates back to the time of Christ, listening to the Scriptures being read about what happened on that first Easter morning, right there in that very same city?!?
Yet not everyone was so inspired. On our way out of the service, I heard a woman say (scream, really), “What a waste!” She then continued her tirade as she walked down the street, cutting down everything that happened in that early morning worship service. She was fuming. Absolutely fuming.
I thought, Were we even at the same service? How could she not have been totally moved by the music, the message, and all that happened during that sweet time in the presence of God?
I’ve seen the same thing happen at other sites throughout Israel. I remember the first time I ever stepped foot in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, a church which had been originally been built in the 4th century over the spot where believers had been shown for centuries where Christ was crucified. I fell to my knees and cried for at least ten minutes straight. I was so thankful for what Jesus had done for me there on that hill. It didn’t matter to me that the church was filled with noise and with people and with an eclectic collection of artifacts donated by kings and queens over two millennia. All I could see was the image of my Savior, saving me from my sins, as He died there on that hill nearly 2,000 years ago.
Yet as I walked out of that church, I heard people debating whether the church was beautiful or gaudy, and whether this was more likely the true location of the crucifixion, or was it more likely at the Garden Tomb a short walk away? Some people were shaking at the chaos they they had experienced inside, while others were enthralled to have visited a place where their parents, and grandparents before them, had made similar pilgrimages over the years.
While we were all looking at the same things, we were not all looking for the same things. And therein lied the difference: what we were looking for versus what we were looking at.
I shared this later with our group of 38 people, because after five or six days of touring around, it could have been easy to start thinking that all we were seeing was a bunch of rocks. At the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, you can reach through a hole in the floor and touch the stone that makes up the top of the hill where Jesus died, and over which the church was built. At the Garden Tomb, you can walk inside an empty tomb from the time of Christ, carved out of the rock in the hillside. In Bethlehem, you can walk down some stairs below the alter and touch a similar spot in a hole in the floor that marks the spot where Jesus was born.
Everywhere we went we saw rocks, whether it was the Western Wall (built out of rocks), or the Church of All Nations (built over the rock where Jesus wept in the Garden of Gethsemane), or the Temple Mount, where stands the iconic “Dome of the Rock,” inside of which is… well, as the name clearly states… a rock!
And yet our trip was about so much more than rocks. It wasn’t what we were looking at that was so important, but what we were looking for.
As I walked into the city of Capernaum, for instance, which contains broken columns of pillars from an ancient synagogue in that city, I was struck by the fact that Jesus healed and transformed the lives of two blind men there when they put their faith in Him. That was the same story that I read in my Bible 2,000 years later and 7,000 miles away that inspired me to put my faith in Jesus, healing me and transforming my life just as miraculously. On this trip, I had in my backpack a copy of a book I had written in which I describe how my life changed the day when I read that story.
I pulled out the book and shared with our group what had happened to me 29 years ago when I read that story of what happened in Capernaum nearly 2,000 years later and 7,000 miles away. Yes, we were all looking at the ancient rocks of Capernaum, chiseled into the shapes of pillars and seats of a synagogues thousands of years ago. But it wasn’t the rocks that I was thinking about as I testified to the group about what Jesus had done in my life. It was the Man who had walked among those rocks, who had taught and healed and touched people’s lives all those years ago, and who was still touching people like me all these years later.
Aside from the truth that we were looking at rocks, the bigger truth was that each of those rocks told a story. In fact, wasn’t it Jesus Himself who said, when His followers were praising Him as He entered Jerusalem and the religious leaders told Him to silence His followers:
“I tell you,” He replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out” (Luke 19:40).
And here, 2,000 years later, the stones in that land still testify to the Savior who spoke those words!
As I shared my testimony with our group that day in Capernaum, I was thankful that it wasn’t just the rocks which testified to the Savior. In the words of a terrific praise song from the 90’s:
“I ain’t gonna let no rock out-praise me!”
It was hard for me to walk around the Holy Land and think about much else except praise for my Savior who has touched me in so many ways. It wasn’t what I was looking at that sparked such strong reactions within me, but what I was looking for.
What about you? What are you looking for today? Don’t just focus on what you’re looking at. Keep your eyes open wide. Who knows? God may even speak to you through a rock.
P.S. I’ve also written a 30-day devotional series (and recorded short, 1-2 minute video clips from locations all over Israel) and posted them on The Ranch website so you can get an up-close and personal experience of the Holy Land for yourself. It’s online and free at this link. Enjoy!
Click to View “Israel: Lessons From The Holy Land” by Eric Elder
P.P.S. For those of you who like pictures, here are a few from my recent trip with my two youngest kids, along with a short video of their baptisms in the Jordan River.
Walking down the hill where Jesus multiplied the loaves and fish.
Enjoying a camel ride on the hills where Abraham first entered the “The Promised Land.”
Splashing in the Mediterranean Sea after flying half-way around the world to get there.
Playing with birds on the Western Wall Plaza.
Standing at the entrance to Capernaum with my own testimony of Christ’s healing in hand.
Smiling with our group on the Mount of Olives overlooking the rest of Jerusalem.
Baptizing the youngest two in my family in the Jordan River. Click to watch the one-minute video.
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