There was an early morning brief lecture entitled something like “The Galilee of Jesus’ Day”. Leaving as usual at 8:00 AM we drove to the Old City and walked through the wall at the Lions Gate, into the Muslim sector through narrow cobblestone streets with Israeli soldiers at many of the corners, to The Pool of Bethsaida. We get Bethesda from this event and we use this Biblical location for hospitals and places of healing. Here Jesus heals an invalid (John 5), a person who was a stranger and looked down upon by many, yet was of value to the Lord. At the fence we gazed down 30 feet at least and saw the build-up over the centuries since Jesus’ day, with remains of a Byzantine church over the middle of the two parts to the pool. Next door is the Church of St. Anne, with the tradition that this is the site where Anne gave birth to Mary, mother of Jesus. The acoustics in here are considered the best for singing of all Jerusalem churches, and we sang as did the Nigerian Christians.
Next we walked west through these narrow and colorful streets with venders and ancient character to where Jesus was taken by the Sanhedrin on Friday morning to Pontius Pilate, who resided in the Antonio Fortress because of the Jewish Passover. Here Pilate stated ‘Here is your man’ (ecco homo) and in the room called the Flagellation, where our Lord was whipped as the torture began. This is commemorated with the small Church of Condemnation across the courtyard. Our guide took us around the corner and down the stairs to the ancient city Cisterns and second century Emperor Hadrian’s scored pavement stones with from Antonio’s Fortress.
Then we walked to the bus and were driven south into the area below the Temple Mount, called ‘The City of David’. Here we were shown the Pool of Siloam (John 9) where Jesus heals a blind man who proclaims with joy that “I was blind, but now I see.” This pool is fed with water from the amazing King Hezekiah’s tunnel. In the 7th century he had a 1,500 foot long underground aqueduct dug so that water may flow from the Gihon spring (outside the ancient wall) to this area which was inside the city walls. This gave the city a protected water source so the enemy Assyrians could not capture the water source. We also spent time and money in gift shop/antiquities owned by Aladdin’s brother, at this site.
By late morning we arrived at the Israeli Temple area through the southern wall Dung Gate and went into the Davidson Center for a video and model of Jerusalem today to get an historical setting. We proceeded to the Teaching Steps outside the South Wall. Here we saw the steps made intentionally with differing depths, so those coming into the Temple through the double gates would have to pay attention, look down, and in so doing prepare themselves for the Temple. The Assent Psalms are meant for this stepping up into the Temple. We read a number of them – Psalms 120 -125. Many Rabbis would teach on these steps, and we assume Jesus as Rabbi did also teach his disciples and all would listen on these steps. Moving to the west we saw the Robinson Gate remains on the SW corner. All that remains is the balustrade of a large public stairway that brought people and women to the upper floor of the south side of the giant Temple Mount. At this point we looked down at the very street from Jesus’ day, and imagine looking upwards at this SW corner approx. 100 feet high(with colonnade – destroyed 70 AD along with all the Temple). This was most likely the corner of the Temple that Satan brought Jesus during the 40 day Temptation and challenged Jesus to throw himself down and have angels save him, to which our Lord retorts “Do not tempt the Lord your God.” This area had been fully buried for over 1,000 years until Israeli excavation following the 1967 War.
We then walked a bit further to the famous West Wall. The women go to one section and the men to another. I am very surprised that Gentiles are allowed to go right up to the Wall (also called the Wailing Wall). We only need to have our head covered. Dennis had brought prayers from our Easter Sunrise Service and placed them into the block wall cracks, as is the practice. Many Jewish men and boys come here for hours every day, and all of us spent time at the wall praying. This is a very special place for the religious Jews. Every Thursday many Bar Mitzvas are celebrated here.
I had asked Aladin if we could get tickets for the West Wall Tunnel walk, but at this time of year with so many tours a ten day reservation is required and we could not experience a most impressive walk at the base of King Herod’s gigantic retaining wall limestone blocks. This was not on the tour itinerary and I surely want it to be pre-planned in the future. So we walked through Arab area souk market for about 4 blocks until we met up with the Via De la Rosa. Since earlier in the day we were at Pilate’s Hall, which is the beginning of the Stations of the Cross, we resumed with # 4 and #5 Station as we walked through the narrow and busy streets leading up to the ancient Calvary/Golgotha. Once in the large and noisy Church of the Holy Sepulcher, we went up first to the traditional area of the crucifixion of our Lord. Amidst all the tapestry, hanging lamps, and icons, we bent down under an altar and reach into a brass ringed hole to touch the rock base of Calvary. Then we descended steep steps onto the main floor to see the long lines waiting to go into the tomb itself. We deferred and instead walked out to the front patio, where Aladin told us of the centuries long tension between the Catholic and four Orthodox churches that claim authority over the site and building. I experienced this as a challenging place to sense the historical passion of Jesus’ suffering, death, and burial.
We went just up one block for lunch at an outdoor plaza place for schwarmas or falafels, two real popular and ancient ‘fast’ foods of the Middle East. We enjoyed a little ‘free’ time for shopping or wandering through the narrow and filled streets. Resuming, we took a peek, offered prayer and song in the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, walking through the crowded bazaars street markets all the way towards the final destination, the Garden tomb. Following the pressing crowds, especially in the vegetable market section, we were so glad for the serenity and peacefulness in the garden, whose tomb was discovered accidently in the late 1800’s. This is a ministry of protestant Christians from England who have created a reflective and visual alternative to the high church Sepulcher. We had a warm and faith filled guide from England present the saving purpose for the dying and rising of Christ, then lead us to the tomb for us to walk through. Jim then led us to our reserved garden section for the closing Holy Communion Worship. We were blessed by a gift from Aladdin, each of us receiving a little wooden chalice as a keepsake.
Randy
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