In “The Sacred Journey,” Charles Foster suggests that the Judeo-Christian way is the way of the pilgrim. Take any story in the Old Testament and you find wanderers: Adam and Eve depart from the garden; Abram journeys from Ur to Canaan; Joseph and his brothers traveled to Egypt. We can’t forget Moses and the Israelites wandering about for forty years; even the Arc of the Covenant journeyed for years. Whenever the people settled down for a while, things got tense and so people moved on. Poor Lot’s wife wanted to stay, and look what happened to her. She got stuck.
As a pilgrim, Jesus was a paragon. He called his disciples to follow him; he called them away from their settled lives to wander from town to town to spread the news that the kingdom of God was at hand. It seems that he didn’t want them to get too settle because he told them to take very little with them and not to overstay their welcome. Much of this appeals to me these days as I try to get rid of all my chattels and live simply.
But what about my solitude? Jesus sends people out two by two. Most picture show pilgrims in a group, not a solitary one. At the moment I have many questions, but few answers. Isn’t that the way ?