youth pastor pilgrimage

November 16th, 2011
Today on our final day in Israel, we went to the south west corner of the temple mount. We saw the steps that pilgrims would have climbed to access the temple mount. These same steps would have been used by Jesus not only for access to the mount but to teach and meet people on. It was another surreal moment to be standing on the very same steps that Jesus stood and walked. Just in front of those steps were some 53 baths that were used for ceremonial cleansing before anyone could enter the temple mount. We then saw very large, rocks and rubble that were still burnt black from when the Romans destroyed the temple in 70 AD. While these rocks are not from the actual temple, they were part of some of the other structures on the temple mount and still lay today, where they fell and burned almost 2,000 years ago. It was from this southwest corner that the shofar trumpet would be blown. This point was also known as the pinnacle of the temple mount. It looks to the south west and looks over the ancient City of David with Mt. Zion at its 2 almost 3 o'clock (if you stood on top of the mount and looked out). When the Gospels say that while Jesus was being temped by Satan, he was brought to the pinnacle or high point of the Temple, and told to jump by Satan because God would protect him, (Matthew 4) it is thought to be this corner, this pinnacle that Jesus was brought to.
Late that morning we were free to roam the streets of Jerusalem. The market and shops were like a maze of dealers and shops and generally wall to wall people, with the streets no wider than two or three people across. At times I could almost hold both my arms strait out and have each hand in a store on either side of me. You could buy anything from sandals made of camel skin to candles to spices and fruit and herbs and every trinket you could imagine. We purposely wondered over to the Muslim quarter to experience their culture. Again, you could immediately tell you had entered into a new culture. We quickly found the market where we could have purchased some fresh meat, like a lambs head, tongue, intestine, or foot. Just about any part of the lamb or sheep. We even saw the butcher dig through the intestine and parts showing a customer the quality of the meet and item trying to sell him something. I can't even imagine living in that environment day in and day out.
We then walked and found our way out of Ancient Jerusalem and over to a little more modern and touristy part of Jerusalem called Ben Yahuda Street. It was a very modern open air mall and street full of shops and neat things, including a McDonald's where we ate for lunch.
We returned to the hotel and packed for the long trip home.

South West Corner of Temple Mount or Pinnacle

Steps accessing the temple mt on south side

looking to the south and the city of David with the temple behind me

on the original steps where Jesus would have walked

looking at the 53 baths below

looking across to the mt. of Olives

the burnt stones that have not been moved since the destruction of the temple

the damage the falling stones did to the street below.

the door ways would have been part of the open market in Jesus day

the burnt stones

the base of an archway the would have extended over the street in Jesus day

markets and streets of Old Jerusalem

Church of the Holy Sepulcher

Muslim Meat Market

Lamb Heads and parts

incense and spices, the smell was overpowering

November 15th, 2011

The beginning of the end is here...but the climax is also here! We begin our day by getting up really early and are on the bus by 6:40 am. We travel back to the Western Wall. There we saw a group of men of all ages singing and dancing. It was sort of a spontaneous worship service. Our guide said they were basically singing and praying for the (1st) Messiah to hurriedly come.
We then entered the tunnels that run along the Western Foundation of the Temple Mount. We saw rocks that had not been moved since the destruction of the temple in 70 AD. We saw steps and archways that date back to the time of Jesus. We saw where the priest would have entered the temple mount, which would have been directly behind the Holy of Hollies (now called Warren's Gate). We even saw the bedrock of the mountain where the temple mount was carved from. Some of the foundation stones that made up the Western Wall were as large as 600 ton each.
From there we came out within the Antonia Fortress. This was the fort or palace that Pontius Pilate governed from and overlooked the temple mount on the north side. We walked along the lower levels of the Antonia Fortress. It was in these lower levels that they would keep prisoners to be judged or executed and would play games with them. Carved into the floor, we saw a "board game" the Roman guards would play with prisoners. The guards would "roll" the dice and move pieces and the game would determine what horrible things were done to the prisoners. It would have been in this room or one very similar that the Roman guards would have played a similar game with Jesus and mocked him as a king. It was extremely moving to be in this room, to imagine the torture and unthinkable things done here, and then imagine our Lord suffering and living the nightmare not far from where we stood.
We came out of the Antonia Fortress and saw what remains of the Pools of Bethesda. This is where Jesus healed the crippled man (John 5:1-15). The actual pool ruins were mostly covered with church ruins, although some of the larger, original pool ruins could be seen.
We came down off Mount Moriah on the north side and made the short walk over to the Garden of Gethsemane. It is towards the bottom of the Mount of Olives. It is easy to see how such a garden could be perfect for teaching, praying and solitude just outside the city walls, but still has the temple in full view. The same temple that sat on the mountain and location of where Abraham bound his own son, and was willing to sacrifice him. It is that temple that stood there in the days of Jesus that would tower above the garden below and cast a shadow on the garden in the evening as Jesus would pray in the garden and prepare to sacrifice himself, God's own son, for all of us. We saw olive trees that date back 1,000-2,000 years. These trees if not the original trees Jesus saw and touched, are at the very least the offspring of such trees.
Our busy day continued as we headed to the Shepherds Hills. These hills overlooked Bethlehem. Off in the far distance we could see a flat top mountain where Herod had another fortress. It was on these hills that Ruth would have harvested wheat and pledged to stay with her mother in law. It was on these hills that Ruth's grandson David would have shepherded his flock and grown into a man. It is in these hills that the angels would have announced the arrival of the King and Messiah to the shepherds watching their sheep. It was a special moment when we began to sing Christmas carols as we looked across the hill to Bethlehem. I don't think I will ever sing Christmas carols the same way again.
We traveled back to the north side of Jerusalem to the location of the Garden Tomb. There is a hill side where a "skull" can be seen. This hillside is believed to be known as Golgotha. Contrary to what our artist paint and draw for us, Jesus would not have been crucified on this hill top. More than likely, knowing how the Romans liked to do things, criminals would have been publicly executed in a location that would make them most visible and graphic to those passing by. Putting them on a hill would not accomplish this. People could walk by and not look up, or have to strain to see or guess who is hanging up there. No, the Romans would have put them at an intersection of the two major roads (the road to Emmaus and Damascus I think). This would give prime visibility for those passing by to see very graphically the punishment for those who oppose the empire. It would also give maximum humiliation to the criminals as people to spit on them, or harass them as they hang and die.
Just a few hundred yards away is the Garden Tomb carved out of the bedrock. This tomb not only had a garden around it back in the day of Jesus but it had the path for the rock to be rolled in front of it. It is one of three tombs known to exist in Jerusalem that has this feature. It is the only tomb in Jerusalem that best fits the Biblical description of the Garden Tomb. Of course the best thing about the tomb is that it is empty. Even if this is not the actual tomb, we know that wherever it is, it is empty because Christ rose from the dead as a proclamation that the Kingdom of God was here. Today, we await his second coming when he will reconcile all things and make all things new and diffidently usher in the Age to Come and make it on Earth as it is in Heaven.