IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF JESUS: Images of the Holy Land, by Susan Easton Black, photography by John Telford, Covenant Communications, $29.95, 105 pages.The story that unfolded 2,000 years ago in the Middle East reaches across the centuries to touch the lives of Christians everywhere. It is a familiar story to believers, yet it never grows old. And each new telling seems to bring something more. So it is with "In the Footsteps of Jesus," which unites contemporary photography and text with ancient scripture to tell of the life of Christ in a simple, but moving, way.
Susan Easton Black combines the accounts of the four Gospels into a single narrative that is readable and insightful, providing context and background.
"To walk today where Jesus walked," writes Black, "is to stroll back through centuries of poignant memories to the fearful yesteryears, when Herod ruled over Judaea. Although he was merely a Roman puppet, his rule was law in the land that stretched from the slopes of Mount Hermon in the north to the salt pillars bordering the Dead Sea on the south. His Jewish subjects spoke longingly of a prophesied Messiah who could rescue them from Herod and foreign oppression."
The birth, the ministry and the crucifixion of Jesus played out in this atmosphere, and Black invites the reader to journey along, filling in important details and giving the story an immediacy that closes the gap between then and now.
"We assume that the virgin Mary, like other young Jewish women espoused in the 'city of Galilee, named Nazareth' had already participated in a formal betrothal ceremony," she writes. "Following Jewish protocol, in the house of the betrothed-to-be a tent or booth was raised before the formal ceremony began. Inside this makeshift structure, the making sacred or the promising of the woman to the man occurred." And later, "we hesitate to intrude upon the sacred circumstances surrounding the conception. Let us move with Mary as she goes in haste to the hill country 'into a city of Juda' where she 'entered into the house of Zacharias and saluted Elizabeth.' That which was conceived in her womb was not hidden from her kinswoman."
Black's narrative is a history, a retelling of events, a chronology. But it is also an expression of faith. "There is no mystery to compare with the mystery of redemption," she writes, as she lingers in the Garden of Gethsemane. "Finite minds can no more comprehend how and in what manner Jesus performed his redeeming labors than they can comprehend how matter came into being or how Gods began to be. We may not intrude too closely into this scene. It is shrouded in a halo and a mystery into which no footsteps may penetrate."
Such was the power and impact of Christ's ministry that many of the places connected with his life have been preserved, memorialized and marked. It is possible today to walk almost literally where Jesus walked: in Bethlehem and Nazareth, along the sea of Galilee, on the Mount of Olives, through the oldest part of Jerusalem. That's what John Telford does, with his photographer's eye, recording what has changed and what has not in the ensuing millennia, and also inviting the reader along on the journey.
Telford's photography is breathtakingly beautiful, although some pictures suffer from being reduced to postage-stamp size. Whether he is visiting the pyramids of Egypt, the Mount of Temptations near Jericho, or watching the full moon rise over the Old City of Jerusalem; whether he is taking pictures of poppies or thorns or goats; whether he captures orthodox Jews, modern Bedouins or little children, he does it with impact and emotion.
Telford's photographer's note at the beginning of each chapter also adds a personal touch that invites the reader not only to see what he saw but to feel what he felt as he visited these storied places. "On a short walk on a narrow street up a hill, Arab hawkers thrust cheap postcards, bookmarks, water, and an assortment of other contemporary trinkets in my face. 'One dolla! Two dolla!' they yell. A few just hold out an empty hand, asking for money. A small shop and crude signs boast of Lazarus souvenirs. One sign points to a doorway, a cavelike opening leading down the rock steps -- 'Lazarus Tomb.' . . ." It is almost as if you are there with him.
"In the Footsteps of Jesus" is unashamedly a book for believers, especially meaningful at this time of year, but also timeless in its appeal.
"For five weeks as I walked in the paths and places spoken of in the scriptures," writes Telford, "I wondered, 'How does one grasp the magnitude and significance of these places in such a short time?' " But at the end of that time he had found his answer: "Two thousand years have passed since the Mortal Messiah walked the paths and hillsides of Israel. Much has changed, yet much remains the same. The important question to ask is not whether I walked today where Jesus walked, but if I have walked today where Jesus would have me walk."