Best-selling author Adam Hamilton continues his Close Up Q&A on new book The Way (Abingdon Press, December 2012).

No doubt readers will find some of your insights on the life of Christ intriguing. For instance, on "Palm Sunday," you state that there were two other processions—designed to show force—going on the same day. Where are those cited in history? We know that Pontius Pilate's primary residence was in Caeserea Maritima on the coast. Yet we know from the Gospels that he was in Jerusalem for the Passover. It is likely that he came over to keep peace in the city (the Passover was a particularly troublesome time for the Romans as the feast was a celebration of how God had delivered His people from slavery in Egypt—the hope of many Jews was that God would do this again, delivering them from Roman rule —hence the need to have Rome's governor present along with this troops to prevent an uprising).

We also know from the Gospels that Herod Antipas was in Jerusalem for the Passover. His primary residence was in Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee. He would have come in a royal procession with his own military to Jerusalem for the Passover. We cannot know exactly which day each of the other two processions would have arrived in the Jerusalem, but I suggest in the book that the three may have occurred on the same day. Jesus' processional, riding on a donkey, calling people to love their enemies, and surrounded by a ragamuffin band of followers would have stood in stark contrast to the other processionals.

There are sidebars in the book that take the reader to the Holy Land. What are some of the things that were instructive to you as you visited Israel? Often when tour groups go to the Holy Land the tour companies are trying to fit so much in that there is often not enough time for reflection and to experience the land. In groups that I lead over, we do less and experience more. The tours are also typically organized to take you first to Galilee and then to Jerusalem, or vice versa—this allows you to see and do more, but it does not allow you to experience the life of Jesus chronologically. On the tours I help lead, we start in Bethlehem with the birth of Jesus, then to the Jordan near the Dead Sea to recount his baptism. Then we head to the Judean Wilderness—I have the guides take us to a remote area on top of a desert mountain and we stop there and spend an hour in silent prayer, each pilgrim finding a quiet place alone, so that they can read the temptation story and spend time actually experiencing the story —walking in the wilderness where Jesus walked praying in silence. We then take people to Nazareth where Jesus grew up and was first rejected, and then on to Capernaum and the Sea of Galilee where we spend several days. I take groups atop Mount Arbel and we talk about Jesus' time on the mountains and then we hike down together. We take groups through the heart of the West Bank, to the town of Nablus which was ancient Sychar where we visit Jacob's Well, drinking from the well and remembering Jesus' concern for Samaritans and outcasts. Finally, we retrace the events of the last week of Jesus' life in Jerusalem, again trying to help people become a part of the story through a variety of experiences. One additional thing we do: We invite a Palestinian Christian leader and a Jewish leader to share with us their different perspectives on the conflict in the Holy Land. We spend part of our time in the Palestinian areas so that our time in the Holy Land builds bridges not walls and seeks to bless both Israelis and Palestinians.

Themes like the kingdom of God and life as a disciple come through in this book. Did these concepts have a new impact on you as you wrote about them? You can't talk the life and ministry of Jesus without speaking of the kingdom of God. This is the central theme of His teaching and preaching. Jesus' primary call upon those who heard him was to "follow me." My hope in The Way is to help readers understand more clearly what it means to be a part of the kingdom of God and what it looks like to faithfully follow Jesus. In the book I devote much of one chapter to walking through the Sermon on the Mount, for here Jesus gives the clearest picture of what our lives are meant to look like if God is our King. While none of us completely live up to His teachings there—in fact some would say it is impossible to do so—His words there are represent my highest aspirations for how I would live. And my inability to fully live up to them point to my need for Christ's saving work in my life.

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