The Hills of Judea

The tour guide told us in a month, these beautiful green rolling hills would be brown and dry.  But for now, the desert blooms.

We had rain, lots of rain during the winter, frequently floods, so much rain, that last week when the weather reporter the bus driver was listening to called for more rain, the woman in the front seat became terribly agitated, demanded in English and Hebrew, No! No more rain.

It’s raining today, and showers are expected tomorrow, likely the last until next winter.  Last weekend it snowed in the north, and rained everywhere else.  It rained again in the Judean Hills.

People ask me all the time if I feel closer to Jesus here in Israel.  I have to say, not in the way they seem to expect.  Maybe because it’s all so commercial in the Old City.









But here? This is different.  In this place, I can completely imagine Jesus and his disciples walking through the tall grass.  Stopping at a well, or under a tree.  When I think of Jesus the man, I don’t think of him so much at the end, I think of his whole life and ministry.

It’s not that I don’t ponder and appreciate the sacrifice that we just remembered, or rejoice for the Resurrection that we celebrate, but as necessary as his brutal death was, Jesus ministry was so much more than those three days.  For more than 30 years he walked these hills and valleys, wadis, deserts and mountain tops.






The Gospel is the whole story and I like the idea that he had comfortable times too.  Times when he could stand where I’m standing as I look on this panorama, and just appreciate the sun, and the breeze.  The colors and the fragrances.  Times when he could go to a wedding or teach in the Temple. Times when he was just like us.

I like the hills.  They remind me of the Kettle Moraine area where I grew up. Rolling, gentle and green, somehow lazy and comfortable.  I like to think of Jesus here.

Psalm 65:12 the grasslands of the wilderness overflow; the hills are clothed with gladness.

Joel 3:18 “In that day the mountains will drip new wine, and the hills will flow with milk; all the ravines of Judah will run with water. A fountain will flow out of the Lord’s house and will water the valley of acacias.