Written by: Richard Rhoads on November 8, 2013

It was late in the Spring of 2010.  I had just finished up my last class and was about to leave for a well needed rest over Spring vacation.  Just before closing my office door, my dear mentor, friend, colleague and co-leader for our Israeli travel-learn tours casted a vision for a new site he wanted to try and visit for our soon upcoming trip.  He said, “Did you know one of “Herod The Greats” most famous building projects is still standing fully intact?”  I answered, yes… but no we’re not!  See, Herod built some amazing structures throughout his reign, Caesarea by the Sea, the Temple Complex, the Herodian and even Masada.  Yet there is another amazing building that very few ever travel to see.  It’s called The Cave of the Patriarchs and to this day is the only fully standing Herodian built structure.  In the caves below the structure are the tombs of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca and Leah.  Crazy, I know, but they’re actually there!   Now here’s the catch, it’s in Hebron.  The same Hebron that is deep in the unsecured territory of the West Bank.  The same Hebron, where on the stairs of the tomb of the Patriarchs the Hebron Massacre took place in 1994, when 25 worshipers were killed and another 125 wounded.  After a few minutes of conversation, I told my friend and mentor, “If we do this, I’m taking care of the arrangements!”  Two months later to the day, we pulled up to the cave of the Patriarchs via an armored bus and four extra IDF soldiers for protection.  Here’s what we saw.

This past week while reading “The Matrix of Christian Ethics: Integrating Philosophy and Moral Theology in a Postmodern Context” by Patrick Nullens and Ronald T. Michener,  I was captured by their perspective on human dignity and the “Imago Dei”.  More specifically that humans even in their fallen state, have great value due to being created in the image of God.  This significant value being expressed by their Creator states succinctly that they are “very good”.  Within this statement, the protection of human dignity in the gracious love of God, not human ego or pride, is the very expression of the Imago Dei.  The following are three ways I saw the Imago Dei protecting human value and dignity on that memorable day in Hebron.

Faces and windows…  As we drove through the streets of Hebron  it became evident that fear, tensions and insecurity ruled the day.  Those who were on the streets were not quick to make eye contact, however at one stop a woman looking curiously out a window in her home made eye contact with me.  The moment could not have lasted longer than 5 seconds, yet in that moment, hollow empty faces became human.  A simple stare shattered the differences of two people, two cultures and a whole lot of preconceived false beliefs.

Pizza and hunger…  After coming out of the Tomb of the Patriarchs, we noticed down this battered side street a neon glowing sign, saying “PIZZA”.  It was also lunch time.  Before we knew it we had twenty pizzas ordered up.  As we sat and waited, a gentleman from the street approached me to talk.  It wasn’t long into our conversation I realized he was hungry.  I invited him to eat with us.  Before our time was done, 10 more from the streets joined us.  As I stood back and watched, it’s still hard to explain what went through me watching our students in deep conversations, caring for the needs and souls of Palestinians.  Those who were feared or held at a distance now found commonalities over pizza and conversation.

Children at play…  Leaving the Pizza shop we began our walk down the street to our bus.  As we walked soldiers littered the landscape, yet through the midst of these soldiers walked a small child with a balloon. Never have I been more captured by the Imago Dei making itself present in the midst of pain, brokenness and hurt.  The simplicity of a child at play brought color into darkness, simplicity to complexity and order to chaos.

Where has the Imago Dei been showing up in your life?  Do you love and care for others as all having human value and dignity?  That day in Hebron, I realized God was stripping another level of ego from my life.  I was forever changed.

About the Author

Richard Rhoads