"Some of the Rock"

You all know the famous mosque, pictured above with the golden roof, as the Dome of the Rock.  Well, I accidentally renamed it when I sent this picture to myself in an e-mail.  It was a typo and I had a pretty good laugh when I realized that I called it "some of the rock" but then again, that's really not so inaccurate!  The mosque is built on the site (or at least pretty close to it) where the first two temples of Jerusalem once stood.  All three places of worship were built over a stone called the foundation stone which is the top of Mount Moriah.  Today, we just call it a rock and we put a very pretty golden dome over the top of it as a shelter.  So this piece of rock seems to be pretty important.  This photo was taken from the Mount of Olives which was our first stop on Day 8. 

You can barely see it in this picture, but on the right hand side there is a double arched gate.  Today, the East Gate/Golden Gate, which is located in the Muslim quarter of Jerusalem, has been sealed by that community and a graveyard has been planted directly in front of the gate in an attempt to prevent the second coming of Jesus from taking place. The graveyard is because priests from the order of Melchizedek cannot defile themselves according to Biblical law by entering a graveyard, which would make themselves unclean.  The theory therefore, is that Jesus, being a priest in the order of Melchizedek, would be unable to return simply because of these two physical barriers... How small a view they have of God! No human could possibly hinder the plans that God has set in motion.  

The Mount of Olives was historically covered in an abundance of olive trees, hence its name.  It would have been much more remote back then, of course, but still covered in trails which would have been used as a popular route to travel between Jerusalem and Bethany and other towns on the other side of the mountain. We retraced one of those paths (which is paved now) from the top of the mountain, past the graves of three minor prophets (whose names escape me now), and to the Garden of Gethsemane.  The garden was small and unassuming.  Today it stands next to a church which is dedicated to the agony of Christ. Without a proper introduction, I would have walked right by it without thinking twice! And that's what almost happened! Fortunately we clarified its identity with Jeremy and were able to then appreciate it for what it is and was.  

The image I had in mind of the garden where Jesus prayed so hard that his sweat came out as drops of blood was much different than what I observed here.  Maybe it didn't feel right because today it's located right next to a busy street with cars zipping by.  Or maybe because salesmen are loudly selling maps and photos and trinkets just outside the wall.  Either way, I was impressed by the fact that some of these olive trees were probably witnesses of the very night when Jesus was arrested.

From there we traced our way backwards in time to the place where the physical birth of Christ happened in Bethlehem. The city of Bethlehem is currently held by the Palestinians and they have built a wall around it with security check points at the entrance.   Israeli citizens are not even allowed to enter the city! I had no idea it was like that. Fortunately, the area is still open to tourists so we had no problems getting in.  We didn't stay long but just enough to see the church which was built around the cave where Jesus is said to have been born.        

The church, which marks the location of this momentous event, is mostly under construction still.  There is scaffolding set up everywhere and most of the floors and walls are covered up while construction crews complete work on it.  The tour guide mentioned that the czar of Russia gave three chandeliers (left) to the church as a gift.  They are incredibly beautiful and ornate but then we all had to laugh because of the modern fluorescent light bulbs they had screwed into the candle holders.

Eventually we made it down into the underground cave area.  Our group was led into a small chapel (pictured below) where we sang Christmas carols acapella.  The acoustics were amazing and I got chills as we sang O Little Town of Bethlehem and Silent Night in praise to our Savior who was born in that very same city.

 At the end of the day, and for our last stop of the trip, we got to visit the site of Jesus' crucifixion, burial and resurrection!  It was a powerful experience that I cannot even begin to describe here but we worshiped again in a small chapel on site and had the privilege of celebrating these sacred events by taking communion as a group there.

This is a trip that I will remember for the rest of my life.  It was a privilege to walk where Jesus walked and to experience it all with the 43 wonderful individuals who joined me on this adventure! If any of you that are reading my blog ever get the chance to travel to the Holy Land, please take my advice and don't pass up the opportunity!