The Holy Land Experience
Stories
Lectionary Tales For The Pulpit
Series IV Cycle C
No one in their right mind would want to visit the Holy Land now.
Millions of Americans have done so in the past. Tour buses routinely used to clog all the tourist spots in Israel and the Palestinian West Bank. Pilgrims flocked to Manger Square and the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem; the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the Via Dolorosa, and the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem; Beersheba to the south; Nazareth, Tiberius, and the Sea of Galilee to the north; the Jordan river, Qumran, the Dead Sea, and Masada to the east.
Now Bethlehem is a ghost town. Rubble fills the streets where once shopkeepers were selling Bibles with olive wood covers. Jerusalem is partitioned; Arabs are no longer allowed to move about freely, and Jews wonder whether they'll survive a bus ride; school girls with plastic explosives around their waists are killing school girls with bookbags on their backs. So not too many tourists are ready to hop a flight to Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv these days.
Not to worry. Americans who want to have a Holy Land Experience can now do so without ever leaving the U.S.A. Instead, one only needs to book a flight or hop in the SUV and get to Orlando, Florida, where "The Holy Land Experience," a religious tourist attraction built for $16 million, recently opened for business.
The "living museum" covers the history of Israel from 1450 B.C. to A.D. 66; in other words, from the time of Moses to the destruction of the Temple.
The whole project, however, has been subject to ridicule. Built by Zion's Hope, a religious outfit based in Orlando, the "experience" is supposed to combine entertainment with evangelism. The profits are earmarked to attempt to convert Jews to Christianity. No wonder the local rabbis have urged their congregations not to support this "holy land experience."
Undeterred, Zion's Hope is spending $350,000 on a national ad campaign and hopes to attract people to see a life-sized walled gate of Jerusalem, a re-creation of Herod's temple, the garden tomb of Jesus, a street with workshops, and the caves where the Dead Sea scrolls were discovered.
You won't be able to take a thrill ride, but there are guides who will give talks and costumed characters will roam the halls.
While thousands are watching and listening to an animatronic Moses recite the Ten Commandments, the daughters of Jerusalem are still weeping.
While thousands are passing through the Garden Tomb of Jesus in Orlando, the mothers of Jerusalem are still burying their sons.
While thousands are studying a model of Jerusalem, the city is falling stone by stone.
What an unholy land experience.
Millions of Americans have done so in the past. Tour buses routinely used to clog all the tourist spots in Israel and the Palestinian West Bank. Pilgrims flocked to Manger Square and the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem; the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the Via Dolorosa, and the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem; Beersheba to the south; Nazareth, Tiberius, and the Sea of Galilee to the north; the Jordan river, Qumran, the Dead Sea, and Masada to the east.
Now Bethlehem is a ghost town. Rubble fills the streets where once shopkeepers were selling Bibles with olive wood covers. Jerusalem is partitioned; Arabs are no longer allowed to move about freely, and Jews wonder whether they'll survive a bus ride; school girls with plastic explosives around their waists are killing school girls with bookbags on their backs. So not too many tourists are ready to hop a flight to Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv these days.
Not to worry. Americans who want to have a Holy Land Experience can now do so without ever leaving the U.S.A. Instead, one only needs to book a flight or hop in the SUV and get to Orlando, Florida, where "The Holy Land Experience," a religious tourist attraction built for $16 million, recently opened for business.
The "living museum" covers the history of Israel from 1450 B.C. to A.D. 66; in other words, from the time of Moses to the destruction of the Temple.
The whole project, however, has been subject to ridicule. Built by Zion's Hope, a religious outfit based in Orlando, the "experience" is supposed to combine entertainment with evangelism. The profits are earmarked to attempt to convert Jews to Christianity. No wonder the local rabbis have urged their congregations not to support this "holy land experience."
Undeterred, Zion's Hope is spending $350,000 on a national ad campaign and hopes to attract people to see a life-sized walled gate of Jerusalem, a re-creation of Herod's temple, the garden tomb of Jesus, a street with workshops, and the caves where the Dead Sea scrolls were discovered.
You won't be able to take a thrill ride, but there are guides who will give talks and costumed characters will roam the halls.
While thousands are watching and listening to an animatronic Moses recite the Ten Commandments, the daughters of Jerusalem are still weeping.
While thousands are passing through the Garden Tomb of Jesus in Orlando, the mothers of Jerusalem are still burying their sons.
While thousands are studying a model of Jerusalem, the city is falling stone by stone.
What an unholy land experience.
