Holy Land Day 5

Greetings – this is about yesterday, Wednesday, written on Thursday.

We went straight from the hotel to the old city of Jerusalem. Our purpose today was to see the Western Wall (the Wailing Wall), the Dome of the Rock, the Mt. of Olives, the Kiddron Valley and the Garden of Gethsemane.

The first place we went was into the old city, through security, to visit the Wailing Wall. The Wailing Wall is the Western Wall of the Temple Mount. The Temple Mount is where the Rock is located where Abraham came to sacrifice Isaac, according to Jewish tradition. The first Temple was built, and then destroyed. The second Temple destroyed and the location was used as a city dump for Jerusalem. In the late 600s, the Muslims erected the Dome of the Rock – covering the same rock that the instead believe is where Abraham went to sacrifice Ishmael (sp?). Of course, from the news, this is the most volatile piece of land in the entire world. The Messiah cannot return until the Temple is rebuilt according to prophecy. Interestingly, the Israeli police protect the location; protecting it from both Jewish and Muslim fundamentalists. I have attached pictures of both the Wall and the Dome of the Rock.

At the Wall, Jewish men were praying, as is their tradition. You will see them in the photos.

After the Wall, we boarded our bus again and went to the Mt. of Olives. From the top of the Mt. of Olives we had an incredible view of the old city (photo). After lunch we visited a Convent that remembers the site where Jesus taught the disciples the Lord’s Prayer. Although, some of us questioned this as we believed it had been taught in Caperneum. Following that we walked to a site that remembers the Ascension to heaven by Christ. Here, there is a Muslim mosque located and covering the spot that remembers this event. From what I have learned, the Muslims recognize Christ as a prophet and therefore are OK with some of the Christian traditions.

We also visited the Pool of Bethesda – where the angel would trouble the waters. We visited a church remembering the Tomb of Mary. I write it this way because there are 4 such churches! Two of the churches have a tomb for Mary and two churches remember her Assumption into heaven. We visited the Church of St. Peter remembering that Peter would deny the Lord three times before the cock crowed twice. Of interest here is that this church was built over the site where the high priest Caiphus lived. Upon exiting the church there are stone steps leading down into the Kiddron valley. Around these steps were found items dating back to 100BC. Thus, with confidence it is highly probable that Christ would have traveled these steps.

After the Chapel of the Ascension, we prepared to descend the Mt. of Olives through the Kiddron valley and into the Garden of Gethsemane. This would have been a reasonable path to remember Chris’ts walk through the valley. The Garden of Gethsemane is marked by a beautiful Greek Orthodox church. No one can be certain that this is the spot where Jesus went to pray, but the olive trees are nearly 3000 years old that are located there. I found the location peaceful and accepting of the thought that ‘these trees are 3000 years old and are living witnesses to Christ traveling through this valley.’

JOHN