Passover starts tomorrow. This morning's New York Times reports on the debate in Israel over ways to observe it in our modern society.  There was no such discussion 20 centuries ago when Jesus came to Jerusalem for his last Passover.

This week we are engaged in a tour of the Holy Land for the heart.  Today we travel north along the Syrian border into the Golan Heights, where we will join Jesus and his disciples at a place called Caesarea Philippi. 

This week we are taking a tour of the Holy Land for the heart.  Having just returned from nearly three weeks in Israel, it is my privilege to be your guide.  Yesterday we surveyed the Galilee from Mt. Arbel; today we make our way to Capernaum on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. 

This week we are taking a tour of the Holy Land for the heart, traveling a world even more different from our own...our purpose is not historical or academic so much as it is spiritual. 

Here's the good news: you and I can meet Jesus in his world even if we're sitting in front of a computer screen in a manmade room.  You don't need a picture of Galilee on your screensaver to experience our Lord's homeland....

For weeks, a rumor in Cuba has claimed that Fidel Castro is dead. Now according to today's New York Times, Cuba's foreign minister believes that Mr. Castro may return to work soon. Rumors and allegations are not facts. So it is with James Cameron's documentary and its claim to have discovered the burial box of Jesus.

Because the eyewitnesses to the risen Christ were so transformed, and their testimony is so compelling.

For generations, skeptics of the Christian faith have wished for such a simple way to prove or falsify our truth claims. They ask, ‘What would convince a Christian that his or her faith is invalid?’

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John must feel flattered indeed this morning. And frustrated. After The DaVinci Code sold 40 million copies by writing its own heretical story of Jesus' life and supposed marriage to Mary Magdalene, two filmmakers are trying their hand at the genre. James Cameron, director of Titanic and The Terminator, has teamed with TV director Simcha Jacobivici to claim they have evidence of a tomb housing the remains of Jesus and his family.

Jesus of Nazareth is alive today. Not just as an idea or figure of history, but as a living Person. His death was the great tragedy of human history; his resurrection our great miracle. And because he lives, all who trust him as Lord will live as well.