Ruins | Wayfarer

“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades.” Luke 10:13-15 (NIV)

When you visit Israel, there are a million places you can visit. Jerusalem and the temple mount are a big attraction. Floating in the Dead Sea and trekking up to the fortress of Masada makes the top of most tourist’s list as does a dinner cruise on the Sea of Galilee. Then there is Megiddo, Mount Carmel, Mount Gilboa, the Garden Tomb, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, The Jordan River, and on and on and on.

As I and my companions made our way around the north shore of the of Sea of Galilee, our guide, George, took a turn onto some back roads. It was obvious that we were off the beaten path. Even George, who knows the area like the back of his hand, seemed a bit lost for a few minutes. Finally we pulled into a group of ruins and got out. The site was desolate and bare. Unlike many sites in the Holy Land there was no hoopla. There were no trinket shops or refreshment stands. This place was clearly among the official sites to get scratched off the “must see” list for most tourists. The place was dead.

We were in the ruins of Chorazin, a small backwater town where Jesus once taught and performed miracles. The people of Chorazin did not respond favorably to Jesus message and miracles, however. I pondered Jesus’ words of woe as I walked silently among the ruined walls and abandoned buildings.

Wendy and I have been talking a lot this past week about the small daily choices we make and their cumulative effects. “I place before you Life and Death,” God once told His people before adding, “Choose life.” Along this journey I’ve come to realize that the choice of Life or Death is not a one time monumental decision, but a series of small daily choices that I make every day. What I choose to eat and how much of it I consume slowly affects my weight, my mood, and a myriad of other health issues. If I choose to sleep in and forget an important meeting it will affect my client relationship and, eventually, my income. If I consistently choose to give in to little bad habits they will eventually lead to very big consequences.

I snapped the picture above from the rubble of Chorazin looking out over the Sea of Galilee. It’s become a constant reminder to me that Jesus is both Savior and Judge. I find that I love to think of Jesus the Savior, but I like to conveniently forget Jesus the Judge. Woe to me for doing so, for amidst a judged Chorazin there is wisdom to be found for those who choose to wander in the ruins and digest Jesus’ words.

They put [Saul’s] armor in the temple of the Ashtoreths and fastened his body to the wall of Beth Shan. 1 Samuel 31:10 (NIV)

The ruined walls of the old city of Beth Shan sit high on a bluff overlooking the ruins of the more modern Roman city that emerged there. I had a chance to visit the ruins of Beth Shan while on a trip to Israel ten years ago. In the picture above you can see the Roman city ruins immediately behind me, the old ruins atop the bluff behind me, and the Sea of Galilee in the distance behind. On the very full itinerary of our trip there were many sites that would make most people’s top 10 list of places to see in the Holy Land. Beth Shan was not one of them. It is an asterisk on the list. It appeared in my travels that few people visit, and fewer still are likely know the reason of its’ footnote in history.

We have spent much of the past 31 chapters learning Saul’s story. It started out so promising. The first king of Israel. The tall, good looking warrior of whom the women sang of his victories. The end of the story, however, ends in stark contrast. Saul the troubled soul, the crazymaker with an unhealthy fixation on hunting down David, takes his own life in humiliating defeat. His body is decapitated an nailed to the walls of a backwater Philistine town most people today whiz by on their way between the Sea of Galilee and Jerusalem without giving it or Saul a passing thought.

Today I’m contemplating Saul and am reminded of the adage: “it is not how you start but how you finish.” Will my love and impact on others’ lives become an important theme in the journal of their own respective life journies, or will our death simply become a forgotten footnote at the bottom of a page? Saul’s death stands as a sad reminder of the tragic ends of a self-centered and envious existence.