How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I bear pain in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all day long? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?
– Psalm 13:1-2
In 2016, I had the opportunity to go on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land with Rev. Wendy Lambert and a group of about 40 people from St. Luke’s. We went to walk in the footsteps of Jesus, see the places our scriptures talk about, and grow in our faith. It was an incredible, life-changing trip. I always tell people you never read scripture the same way after seeing with your own eyes the places we read about in the Bible.
One of the places we went was the Church of St. Peter in Gallicantu. It is also known as the House of Caiaphas. You may remember Caiaphas was the High Priest at the time Jesus was arrested and placed on trial before the Sanhedrin. After being betrayed in the Garden of Gethsemane by Judas, Jesus would have been taken as a prisoner to Caiaphas’s house, where He would be put on trial. After being convicted by the High Priest, He would be held captive there until the next morning when they could take Him before the Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate.
At the Church of St. Peter in Gallicantu there are some ancient cisterns that go down several stories below the ground and date back to the time of Jesus. Many archaeologists believe that those cisterns would have been used as prison-holding cells when they weren’t holding water. The tradition of the early Church said it was in the deepest cistern that Jesus was likely held as a prisoner that night while he was waiting to be taken to Pilate.
We got to go down in that cistern as a group. It was cold, surrounded by hard rock, and when the lights were turned off, you found yourself in complete darkness. We read from Psalm 13 and took time to reflect on the very real human emotions that Jesus must have felt in that cold, dark moment. But, if you continue reading Psalm 13 it closes by saying, “But I trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord because he has dealt bountifully with me.”
It reminded us that even in the coldest and darkest moments of life, God’s love is still constant and present. As John 3:17 reminds us, God is not seeking to condemn and punish us. Instead, God’s love seeks to rescue us from the pit and remind us that we are never alone. If we simply trust in God’s steadfast love, we find our hearts can rejoice in God’s salvation.
Rev. Josh Attaway, Edmond Campus Pastor, CFO
