Meeting Christ in the Crowds

            After a month and a half of pilgrimage, we have finally experienced our first full day here in Jerusalem. As we did not have anything planned on our schedule, many of us took advantage of the opportunity to explore the city. A group of us decided to go to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which has within it the hill of Calvary and the tomb in which Jesus was buried. It is an interesting building. Where one might expect a grand church built with the finest architecture with other buildings a reasonable distance away, this is not the case. Rather, the building, due to various additions through the ages as well as its joint custody by six Christian Churches, is something of an eclectic mix of styles. Additionally, there are many shops in a marketplace that sits right up against the church.

            It occurred to me in my reflections that there is much similarity between this present description of the Holy Sepulcher and what it must have been like in Jesus’ day. The city of Jerusalem was in the midst of the holiest time of the Jewish year when Christ was crucified and rose again. Many pilgrims from all over the Jewish world had flooded into Jerusalem for the Passover celebration. As Jesus walked towards the site of his suffering and death, merchants were doubtlessly hawking their wares and people were exploring the city. Where the modern mind often expects a sanitized, separate, and peaceful place to honor such a momentous event, this is simply not the reality of the situation in which the Paschal Mystery occurred. Christ suffered, died, and rose in a world that kept moving. Perhaps this holiest of churches continues to teach us something about prayer.

            While it is quite important to take time to withdraw from the world for prayer just as Christ did before beginning his public ministry, our prayer can never be completely removed from the world in which we live. We must learn to find God in the hustle and bustle of daily life. We must remember that Jesus entered into the chaos and confusion that so often defines our life. God is present in our day to day lives, in our struggles as well as our joys. He calls out and speaks to us even in those moments in which we do not feel much of anything at all and those moments in which we are experiencing the busyness of everyday life. He is the God who suffered, died and rose again to redeem all of this and to allow it to bring us closer to God. This is the message of the Holy Sepulcher.