For the last two days we have been in Jerusalem. This morning as I write of these experiences I can hardly believe that I have been in these sacred places. What a profound blessing it has been. After a week of being in Israel, I am still adjusting to the time change. I am very tired in the late afternoon and evening, and wake up at about 4:00 in the morning. I think part of the reason I have not been sleeping really well is because of the excitement of being at this place. In this first picture you can see a bagel that we had near the temple area. Instead of cream cheese or other toppings for the bagel, the street vendor gave out herbs (hyssop) to dip the bagel into.
We began our time in Jerusalem on Sunday morning at the southern steps of the temple (left). It was a time of worship, with Chuck Swindoll speaking. As our group sat and worshiped together, we sat in the same place that Mary and Joseph brought the baby Jesus. The same place where Jesus came and entered the temple. It was also on these exact steps the Apostle Paul sat and was schooled in the Jewish faith under Gamaliel.
We then toured around the temple mount area (right). We walked through the ancient ruins of walkways, cleansing and ceremonial baths for pilgrims entering the temple, and places to buy sacrifices and exchange money for the temple tax. We eventually came to the Western Wall, where people of the Jewish faith still gather to pray.
We also toured around the ancient City of David, the place where David first built his palace and established the city of Jerusalem after defeating the Jebusite inhabitants. As the ruins were scattered up the side of a hill it was easy to see how David could have seen Bathsheba from the roof of his palace. There is also a tunnel here that King Hezekiah built to bring water directly into the city. The tunnel protected the water supply from the invading Assyrians. This is also near the Pool of Siloam, where Jesus healed a man born blind. The seminary professor who was on our bus was sick that day, so the tour guide asked me to read the passage from John 9 about this pool. One of the ways I have experienced God in this trip is by reading Scripture at the exact places where the events took place.
From here we went to ruins of the Antonia Fortress at the north side of the temple. This is where Jesus was flogged and where the soldiers mocked Jesus. While the exact fortress was no longer there, the water cisterns and stones from the floor and adjacent street were still present in this now underground ruin. At this place again we paused to read Scripture and to pray as we remembered Jesus’ suffering.
On Sunday we ended the day by going to the Pool of Bethesda (left). This is where Jesus encounters the man who had been crippled for many years and asked, “Do you want to get well?” Again I read Scripture for the group at this place. This pool had a tradition of providing healing. Archeological study has shown that these two Olympic sized swimming pools had a geological composition that would cause bubbles to be released into the water. Less reliable manuscripts of this miracle added an explanation of these bubbles, saying the blind, lame, and paralyzed who were at this pool waited for an angel of the Lord to stir the waters and provide healing for the first one to enter the pool. This description is not included in newer translations, such as the NIV or TNIV because the oldest manuscripts do not explain the account this way. This tradition of healing also does not correspond to the rest of the Bible. God does not just help those who help themselves. God would not want us to push others out of the way so that we can experience the blessing of God first and more powerfully. His mercy and healing are available to all. As Jesus approached this man, he could see his despair. He had no one to help him into the water to gain a chance for healing. In this place of hopelessness, Jesus and His Kingdom break through. “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.”
Monday was the day that we experienced the most holy sites of the Christian faith. We began at the Mount of Olives across the Kidron Valley, where Jesus began his triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. As we looked over the city we could see the Beautiful Gate, where Jesus entered the city on Palm Sunday and where Jesus will enter again when he returns. It was at the Mount of Olives where Jesus ascended into heaven and it is here where Jesus will return. We walked down the road from the Mount of Olives. It was on a road going down this mount that people placed their cloaks and palm branches. We came to the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus prayed and where Jesus was arrested after Judas betrayed him with a kiss. In the picture are olive trees that may have grown from the time of Jesus.
We then came to Golgotha, the place where Jesus was crucified, and to the tomb of Jesus. Since the first century the church has revered the holy place where Jesus was crucified and resurrected at a place that is now called the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. When this massive church was first built at the time of Constantine, the hillside was cut away to build this church around the tomb of Jesus. Six different Christian traditions (Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Coptic, Armenian Orthodox, Syrians, and Ethiopians) all claim parts of this church as their own, with different monuments and ornamentation to commemorate this special place. Instead of feeling that the gaudy ornamentation somehow ruins this holy place, I saw the different murals, mosaics, statues, candles, and shrines as being ways that people from different traditions and cultures have revered Jesus through the ages. In the picture you can see the rock behind the glass showing the place where Jesus’ cross was placed on Golgotha. I was powerfully moved to see the place where Jesus died for my sins and the place where Jesus rose from the dead.
It is 5:30 AM right now and we are getting ready to go to Masada today and the Dead Sea. We have two full days left on this journey.
