Holy Land Pilgrimage: What Is the Difference Between a Tourist and a Pilgrim?

Peter E. Sabella in Bethany during his years guiding pilgrims in the Holy Land

For more than two decades, I had the privilege of guiding Christian pilgrims through the Holy Land. They came from different countries, churches, cultures, and backgrounds, but most arrived with a similar desire: they wanted to see the places they had known for years through Scripture.

They wanted to stand in Bethlehem, walk through Jerusalem, visit Nazareth and the Sea of Galilee, and follow the roads associated with the life and ministry of Jesus.

But over the years, one question became increasingly important to me: What makes such a journey a pilgrimage rather than simply a religious tour?

A tourist and a pilgrim can travel on the same bus. They can sleep in the same hotel, visit the same churches, listen to the same guide, take the same photographs, and even pray at the same holy places.

So what makes one a tourist and the other a pilgrim?

I believe the difference lies not primarily in what they see, but in how they allow what they see to affect them.

Did You Come to See the Site, or to Let the Site See You?

When visiting a biblical site, there are many legitimate questions to ask. What happened here? When was this church built? What does archaeology tell us? What was this place like at the time of Jesus?

As a guide, I considered these questions important. Scripture does not exist in a vacuum. Geography, history, archaeology, culture, and tradition can help us understand the biblical text more deeply.

But at some point, another question has to be asked:

What does this place say to me?

Over the years, I watched pilgrims arrive at holy sites concerned about how much time they had for photographs, shopping, or the next stop on the itinerary. There is nothing wrong with photographs or souvenirs. We all want to remember the places we have visited.

But I would sometimes challenge pilgrims with a different thought:

Did you come only to see the site, or are you willing to allow the site to see you?

That changes the nature of the visit.

Standing beside the Sea of Galilee is no longer only about identifying where events in the Gospel may have taken place. It becomes an opportunity to hear again the words Jesus spoke to his disciples—and perhaps to ask whether those words are also addressed to us.

Walking through Jerusalem becomes more than moving through one of the world's great historic cities. Bethlehem becomes more than the place associated with the birth of Jesus. Nazareth becomes more than an archaeological and historical location.

The geography begins to illuminate Scripture, and Scripture begins to speak through the geography.

Holy Land Pilgrimage or Religious Tourism?

This distinction matters because Christian pilgrimage can very easily become religious tourism.

It is a distinction recognized beyond my own experience as a guide. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) makes the same point in its Guidelines for Holy Land Pilgrimage. The bishops caution against allowing pilgrimage to become merely religious tourism and emphasize that a genuine pilgrimage should be a journey of faith, prayer, encounter, conversion, and transformation. They also stress the importance of qualified guides who understand the religious character of the journey and can help pilgrims encounter the Holy Land as more than a collection of historical and archaeological sites.

That understanding corresponds closely with what I observed during more than two decades of guiding Christian pilgrims. The success of a pilgrimage cannot be measured simply by how many holy places we manage to visit. We can see a great deal and still return home essentially unchanged.

We can move from church to church and site to site, checking places off an itinerary. We take photographs. We listen to explanations. We buy souvenirs. We return to the bus and move on to the next location.

At the end of the journey, we may be able to say that we saw the Holy Land.

But is that enough?

The more important question may be:

Did the Holy Land help us see differently?

Pilgrimage should not simply add biblical sites to our collection of travel experiences. The encounter with these places should invite us to reconsider Scripture, our faith, and ultimately ourselves.

Otherwise, we may have traveled thousands of miles without really making a pilgrimage.

The Road to Emmaus

For me, the story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus provides one of the clearest biblical images of what pilgrimage can mean.

The two disciples are walking away from Jerusalem after the crucifixion. They are disappointed and confused. What they expected had not happened.

Then a stranger joins them.

They walk with him. They speak with him. They listen to him explain the Scriptures.

Yet they do not recognize him.

Only later do they discover that Christ had been walking beside them all along.

There is something extraordinary in that story. The encounter does not begin at a great shrine or sacred building. It happens on the road.

Perhaps that is one of the lessons of pilgrimage.

We often travel to the Holy Land hoping to walk where Jesus walked. But perhaps the deeper question is whether we learn to recognize Jesus walking with us.

That question does not end when the pilgrimage ends.

Becoming a Permanent Pilgrim

Eventually, every pilgrim goes home.

The airplane takes off. Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth, and Galilee are left behind. The photographs remain. The souvenirs remain. The memories remain.

But what else remains?

Over the years, I increasingly came to believe that the purpose of pilgrimage should be to help create what I call a permanent pilgrim.

A permanent pilgrim does not remain permanently in the Holy Land. Rather, something of the pilgrimage returns home with the person.

The journey continues.

The pilgrim begins to understand that God is not encountered only in churches built over biblical sites. We encounter God in our families, our work, our communities, our disappointments, our relationships, and sometimes on roads we never intended to travel.

Emmaus can happen anywhere.

Like the two disciples, we may sometimes walk a long distance before recognizing who has been walking beside us.

The Holy Land can teach us to look.

What If You Cannot Travel to the Holy Land?

This raises another question that has become particularly important in recent years.

What about Christians who cannot travel to the Holy Land?

War may prevent them. The cost may be too high. Health or family responsibilities may make travel impossible. Others may simply live too far away.

Does that mean they cannot make a pilgrimage?

I don't believe so.

A physical journey to the Holy Land can be an extraordinary experience, and there is something unique about encountering biblical geography firsthand. But the purpose of pilgrimage cannot ultimately depend upon possessing an airline ticket.

Scripture can take us to these places.

History and archaeology can help us understand them. Maps and photographs can help us visualize them. Reflection and prayer can help us encounter what they mean.

A person sitting at home reading the Gospel of Luke can begin walking toward Emmaus.

The physical journey may not be possible for everyone. The spiritual journey is.

The Journey After the Journey

Perhaps the real difference between a tourist and a pilgrim becomes apparent only after both have returned home.

Both may return with photographs.

Both may have wonderful memories.

Both may tell friends and family about Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Galilee, and the people they encountered.

But the pilgrim returns with something else—a question:

What am I going to do with what I encountered?

For me, that is where the idea of permanent pilgrimage begins.

The Holy Land should not simply become another journey that we once took. It can teach us a way of traveling through life: attentive to Scripture, attentive to the people around us, attentive to the roads we did not expect to travel, and attentive to the possibility that Christ may already be walking beside us.

Perhaps that is ultimately what the road to Emmaus teaches us.

We travel to the Holy Land hoping to find Jesus.

The deeper discovery may be that he has been walking with us all along.

Peter E. Sabella guided Christian pilgrims throughout the Holy Land for more than two decades. The idea of becoming a “permanent pilgrim” lies at the heart of his book Closed for Renovation: On the Road to Emmaus, which brings Scripture, history, geography, reflection, and prayer together for those traveling to the Holy Land and for those making the journey from home.