Judaistyczno-ewangeliczna tradycja o pielgrzymowaniu do Jerozolimy i świątyni

Abstract

The religion of Biblical Israel constitutes a separate phenomenon, particularly due to the fact that in the faith of the Chosen People there exists one and only God. The cult presupposes a place for itself ‒ the Temple. In the history of Israel the journey to its ultimate centralisation in the Temple of Jerusalem was a long one. Pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem was considered to be of primary significance not only to the centralisation of the cult. Such pilgrimage was a journey of the followers of God ‒ JHWH ‒ to a place of essential importance to them in order to pray there in a very special atmosphere. It should be emphasized here that the faithful prepared to every pilgrimage through the rites of special exoneration. Thus, pilgrimage is an expression of concern whose motive was the desire to find God and meet Him on the ground of cult. In the evangelic relation of Mark as well as in the light of the other gospels, Jesus announces demolition of the Temple of Jerusalem (Mk 13,2), which means “rejection” of the unfaithful Israel and, at the same time, completes the split between the Church and Judaism. Due to His pilgrimage to the Temple of Jerusalem, followed then by His suffering, death and resurrection, Jesus gathered His followers around Him self and focused their cult upon the “New Temple” ‒ the temple of Him self elevated on the right hand of God the Father, and not merely upon the “temple” located by Judaism at a certain place on the Earth (Jn 2,19-21 ;4,21-23). After Jesus resurrection, the life of His followers ‒ the Church ‒ is a form of eschatological pilgrimage (2 Co 5,6; He 13,14). The People of God in the New Testament enters the new reality of redemption endowed directly by Jesus (Ac 3 ,15;5,31 ; He 2,10). In Christ’s Church we should also speak about the new pilgrimage which provides an opportunity for the followers of Jesus Christ to unite in faith and prayer.