The Journey to the Promised Land

Today we began in earnest our pilgrimage to the Holy Land visiting ancient city of Petra. Petra is not mentioned in the Bible but we stayed in Wadi Musa (which literally means the Valley of Moses) and nearby is Jabal Harun, (the Mount of Aaron), Aaron being the brother of Moses.

Jabal Harun with the tomb of Aaron 

We then entered the Siq, the ancient fissure that has been eroded by water over the centuries by the water... With the connection with Moses and Aaron to this area we reflected as, we walked through the walls of stone shaped by water, of the people of Israel who walked through the walls of water.

Moses stretched out his hand over the sea.  The Lord drove back the sea with a strong easterly wind all night, and he made dry land of the sea.  The waters parted and the children of Israel went on dry ground right into the sea, walls of water to right and left of them. 

The Egyptians gave chase: after them they went, right into the sea, all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his own horsemen.  In the morning watch, the Lord looked down on the army of the Egyptians from the pillar of fire and cloud, and threw the army into confusion.  He so clogged their chariot wheels that they could scarcely make headway. 'Let us flee from the Israelites,' the Egyptians cried 'the Lord is fighting for them against the Egyptians!' 'Stretch out your hand over the sea,' the Lord said to Moses 'that the waters may flow back on the Egyptians and their chariots and their horsemen.' Moses stretched out his hand over the sea and, as day broke, the sea returned to its bed.  The fleeing Egyptians marched right into it, and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the very middle of the sea.  The returning waters overwhelmed the chariots and the horsemen of Pharaoh's whole army, which had followed the Israelites into the sea; not a single one of them was left.  

But the children of Israel had marched through the sea on dry ground, walls of water to right and to left of them.  That day, the Lord rescued Israel from the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore.  Israel witnessed the great act that the Lord had performed against the Egyptians, and the people venerated the Lord; they put their faith in the Lord and in Moses, his servant. 
- Exodus 14:21-15:1

The people of Israel were journeying to the Promised Land, a land for them that would have been shrouded in mystery. And so at the end of our journey through the Siq we came to our destination...

The so-called Treasury, a facade carved from the mountain. 

The amphitheatre... carved from the mountain

The Royal Tombs

The Royal Tombs

We celebrated Mass in the remains 5th Century Byzantine church which is famed for its mosaics. The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinople. It survived the fragmentation and fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and continued to exist for an additional thousand years until the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453.

For our Gospel reading we read John 14:1-6

Jesus said to the disciples:

'Do not let your hearts be troubled. 

Trust in God still, and trust in me.

There are many rooms in my Father's house;

if there were not, I should have told you.

I am going now to prepare a place for you,

and after I have gone and prepared you a place,

I shall return to take you with me;

so that where I am you may be too.

You know the way to the place where I am going.'

Thomas said, 'Lord, we do not know where you are going, so how can we know the way?' Jesus said:

I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.

No one can come to the Father except through me.'

We reflected that through baptism we join the people of Israel as we enter the waters and go down into the tomb with Christ to rise again with him to eternal life. Then like the people of Israel we journey through the wilderness of life, with its ups and downs, twists and turns. We remember that even in the dark valleys the Lord shepherds us as he leads us to the Promised Land of eternal life in Heaven. As the people of Petra prepared places for their beloved dead so Christ prepares an eternal home for us his beloved.

Petra was the capital city of the Nabataeans. It is not known precisely when Petra was built, but the city began to prosper as the capital of the Nabataean Empire from the 1st century BC, which grew rich through trade in frankincense, myrrh, and spices. Here you see the main, colonnaded street in the foreground which would be the main shopping street. Perhaps some 2000 years ago some wise men purchased some gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Above is the Great Temple, Petra was later annexed to the Roman Empire and continued to thrive until a large earthquake in 363 AD destroyed much of the city,  

The stairway to heaven on a Nabataean tomb - evocative of Māori tukutuku panels