PILGRIMAGES AND HOLY PLACES

Space and spirituality have long been intertwined. In India every mountain, hill or river has its own story linking it to a god, a goddess or a hero. Holy sites for Hindus are the places where the ancients received enlightenment or reached the highest peak of spirituality.

Gods are said to reside there and impart their grace to pilgrims. Many Hindus long to complete the chardham yatra, a pilgrimage to four sacred sites.

Similarly Muslims long to undertake the Hajj, the pilgrimage that is one of the five pillars of Islam. Every Muslim is required to visit Mecca, the holiest city, at least once in a lifetime if physically and financially able to do so.

Jews revere Jerusalem, and Christians too have made pilgrimages there for centuries to experience the blessings of treading the paths Jesus trod and touching the waters where he was baptised.

Sacred sites have, however, also often been hotbeds of politicisation of religion and vice versa – a lethal combination. History is drenched in the blood of those who faced “martyrdom” protecting or trying to control “holy” cities. The medieval Crusades still cast a long shadow. The Ayodhya dispute in India resulted in the death of more than two thousand people.

In recent years, the practice of pilgrimage has revived among Christians. The West Bengal government has even considered adopting a structured policy to sponsor some pilgrims to visit “the Holy Land” between Ash Wednesday and Easter.

But what does the Bible have to say about the idea of pilgrimage and holy places? In the OT, stones and altars were erected as memorials of spectacular encounters with God. Places like Mount Moriah (Gen 22) and Bethel (Gen 28:16-17) became sacred with the touch of God.

However, none of these sites had their own holiness; their sacredness was a borrowed one. They became “holy” as God became tangible to people there. The nearness of Yahweh sanctified the ground.

Later, the tabernacle was God’s dwelling place (Deut 12: 2-5). As it moved from one place to another, the location of what was regarded as a holy site also changed, again showing that no one place is holier than another. In Solomon’s time, the temple and the city of Jerusalem became the dwelling place of God in popular understanding. When the temple was destroyed in 587 BC, prophets like Ezekiel championed the concept of a heavenly temple, where God is present in his glory.

As God’s revelation unfolded further in the NT, a major change took place in our understanding of sacred sites. When a Samaritan woman asked whether Yahweh should be worshipped in Jerusalem or on Mount Gerizim, Jesus shifted her focus from the place of worship to the nature of worship (John 4:24). Rather than upholding Jerusalem as a holy place, Jesus mourned its sinfulness. Most of his ministry did not take place in Jerusalem, and he did not demand any devotion to the city. Instead, in the Great Commission he told his disciples to move away from Jerusalem. This despite the fact that Jerusalem was the place where he died and was resurrected, the place where the Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost (Acts 2), and the site of the firstever church council (Acts 15). But the book of Acts makes it clear that the Holy Spirit operates outside Jerusalem and Judea as it records the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:26-39) and Cornelius (Acts 10).

By the time we reach the letter to the Hebrews, the pendulum has once again swung to the heavenly Jerusalem, the true destination of our pilgrimage. The author of Hebrews applauds Abraham’s faith and hope in the heavenly Jerusalem, the “city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God” (Heb. 11:9-10).

Nonetheless, Christians soon began to undertake pilgrimages to the earthly Jerusalem, even though many Christian leaders opposed the idea because the Bible is the story of a person and not a place, a kingdom and not a territory, Jesus and not Jerusalem.

Jerusalem does not become sacred because the incarnate Son of God walked through it once. It still needs God to make it holy as much as any other place does. The memories from history lingering in our minds may refresh and rejuvenate us when on a “sacred” spot, but they cannot earn us God’s grace. The Jordan’s water is no more holy than any other river’s.

Any place can be holy when touched by God. Our true pilgrimage is towards the heavenly Jerusalem. This does not mean that we are only “heavenly-minded”, for our journey to the heavenly Jerusalem ties in well with our commitment to our own territories, wherever we live now. God has placed us in particular places – countries and states, colonies and communities, offices and schools – so that every place we live in can become a “holy place”. God can come near our “places” through us and can make them “holy”.

Pilgrimage is not merely about “going”, it is also about “coming”. As we march towards the heavenly Jerusalem, we also pray, “may your kingdom come”, and strive to see every place transformed into heaven – a truly sacred place, where his presence is felt and his will is done.

Charles Christian