City Hall and the Airport Chapel

Today we visited two sites that are far north of the region we have been exploring. The first site was an archeological site called Tel Hazor. Hazor was the site of the palace for Canaanite kings, 14th-13th centuries BCE. This particular city was detroyed by fire during Joshua's conquest of the Promised Land (Joshua 11:10-13). Although Hazor was never an important Israelite city, experiencing the city gate has given me a new (and more accurate!) understanding of what actually happens at the city gate. When, for example, we read about Boaz securing the right to marry Ruth, it happens at the city gate (Ruth 4). I have always imagined a bunch of guys standing around under some trees ... but this is not the case! In ancient days, fortified cities had "meeting rooms" built into the walls next to the gate into the city. This way, if foreigners had business in the city, they could be received at the gate and taken to one of the meeting rooms - they never had to actually enter the city. So these meeting rooms at the city gate served in much the same way a City Hall serves today - it's the place where the city's business was conducted. If you wanted to get a building permit for a new shed, you'd go to the city gate! But instead of heading "downtown" like we do today, you would head to the edge of town.

The second site we visited was Caesarea Philippi, the traditional location of Peter's confession to Jesus' question, "Who do you say that I am?" Many of us wondered what Jesus was doing all the way out here ... and how did he get from Caesarea Philippi to Mount Tabor for the Transfiguration in only six days? (Or was it eight days, as Luke suggests? Or perhaps the Transfiguration happened on the much closer, but less traditional, Mount Hermon ...) My answer: I don't know. I do know, however, that the physical characteristics of the locations for both of these stories add a dimension to their depth. Caesarea Philippi is the site of the Sanctuary of Pan, a Greco-Roman god. Because of the multi-cultural nature of the Roman Empire, and particularly of Caesarea Philippi, the Sanctuary of Pan was recognized as a holy site by many different groups of people. So - if the ancient "city gate" was equivalent to the modern-day city hall, the ancient Sanctuary of Pan might be compared to an interfaith chapel at an airport - many consider it sacred space, but few agree on the details of its sacredness.

Jesus' two questions to his disciples are meaningful questions, but the fact that the story is located in such a multi-cultural (dare we say "relativistic") location as Caesarea Philippi adds a whole other dimension:

"Who do people say the Son of Man is?"

"Who do you say that I am?