This is the last day. We have been getting very little sleep and rising every day at 6 AM for the past eight days– with no days of rest. Today will be our last day in the Holy City of Jerusalem. We started the day by entering the old city through the Lion’s Gate and headed to the Pool of Bethesda. We can know for certain, from the story in John 5:1-16, that Jesus stood in this exact location. The Pool of Bethesda was known for healing powers when its waters were stirred by an angel. Because of this, many sick people – blind, lame, paralyzed, came to the pool, waiting for the stirring of the water. One day when Jesus came by, He saw a man that had been lame for 38 years waiting to be placed into the waters. Jesus asked him: “Do you want to be healed?” What a strange question for someone who has been unable to walk for 38 years. Jesus knows the hearts of all men and yet, knowing this man’s heart, specifically asked him this question. The man answers that he has no one to place him into the pool. Jesus then speaks and the lame man is immediately healed which causes a problem for the Jews because he was healed on the Sabbath. There were five porches located here and the pool was fed by a spring. The beautiful St. Anne’s Church, a Crusader church, is also located here. This is the only church in the city that was not destroyed by the Arabs. The church was dedicated to Anna and Joachim, who according to tradition, lived here. The church was built over the site to commemorate where their daughter, Mary was born. The acoustics in the church are fantastic, so various groups go in and sing! We had the opportunity to sing praises to our God twice!
We then began our walk along the Via Dolorosa (Way of Grief). This is the path of agony that the Jesus took carrying the cross to Golgotha. This began at the Antonia Fortress where He was tried, beaten, and sentenced to death. The Fortress was built in 35 BC to protect the Temple Mount and functioned as headquarters for the Roman soldiers. (This is also the place where Paul was taken by the Roman soldiers after he incited a riot by preaching the Gospel on the Temple Mount in Acts 21:30 -22:29). This is traditionally where the trial took place, but there are some that think that the trial may have taken place at Pontius Pilate’s palace, which would change the route of the Via Dolorosa.
The Via Dolorosa is marked with 14 stations. Near the Fortress was the actual stone pavement and at one location was an etching in the stone that the Roman soldiers used to play the “Game of the Kings”- they would have the condemned person throw a dice or marker on the “game board” and where the dice landed would determine how he would be tortured. One of the options would be a quick death, but the other options were horrible. It is likely that Jesus was subjected to this game.
Today the path is narrow and filled with various Muslim vendors. Back in Jesus’ day the path would have been narrow and filled with many people shouting and jeering at the condemned.
The path ends outside the city walls at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher built on Golgotha, the rocky hill shaped like a skull on which Jesus was crucified. This church was built by Constantine in 333 to commemorate the death and burial of Jesus. His mother, Helena, chose this site based on the local history of it being a place of execution in the time of Jesus . Other factors that favor this location include the existence of a nearby garden and tombs , as well as her finding fragments of wood planks that were likely used as cross pieces. The church is old, very large, and dark inside. There is a place inside where you can actually touch a piece of the Golgotha rock. The church is owned by 6 denominations – Armenian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Syrian Orthodox, Ethiopian Orthodox, Coptic Christian, and Roman Catholic. Also inside the church is located an actual empty tomb hewn into the rock. It was an example of the type of tomb that Jesus would have been laid in.
For on that early morn, the women came to the tomb to anoint His body, found the stone had been rolled away, and an angel greeted them with these words: “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, for He has risen!” (Luke 24:1-7)
It was a little difficult at times to block out all the distractions and remind myself of what actually happened in this place over 2000 years ago. Even if this was not the exact spot, this was certainly close to the place where He died and three days later rose from the dead. One thing is for CERTAIN: As Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:1 “Moreover brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you… That Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was rose again the third day according to the Scriptures…” Hallelujah, what a Savior!
We then spent time shopping in the streets of the old city in both the Muslim and Jewish quarter. One thing I loved in Galilee and Jerusalem was having fresh squeezed pomegranate juice sold by the vendors. Pomegranates are plentiful in Israel and some actually believe that the fruit that Adam and Eve picked was a pomegranate.
Our last stop was the Garden Tomb which was located outside the Damascus Gate. This is another spot that has been suggested to be a possible location of Golgotha and the empty tomb. This is a very quiet, beautiful garden setting. The rocky hill resembles a skull and a tomb was discovered in 1882 by British General Gordon. Here we saw a tomb like one that Jesus would have been placed in and a stone like the one that would have been placed in front of the entrance. Interestingly, there were grooves in front of the grave where the stone would roll. We worshiped together as a group in this quiet setting and reflected on all that we had seen and heard over the past days.
We ended the day having dinner at a very cool old hotel called the American Colony, then boarded the bus for the trip to the Tel Aviv airport to catch an overnight flight back to the USA –it will take us a total of 18 hours to get back to Greenville. For the last time…..
Lila tov
From Deb: This has been a remarkable, marvelous journey. One that I am not sure I can put into words and summarize well. There was so much to see and absorb and I know that I only absorbed a small amount of it all. Starting at Galilee, then travelling through the wilderness, and then ending in Jerusalem, my mind was constantly operating on overload. It will take some time to process it all. My thoughts and prayers go to my Savior and God for all that He has done and is doing in my life. All praise to Jesus for His gift of love and mercy and the grace that He pours out on me every day! “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in sin, made us ALIVE together in Christ (by grace you have been saved)…(Ephesians 2:4)
From Jeff: I agree with Deb – I am still trying to process all of the sights, sounds, information, and experiences of the last 8 days. This experience has been like none other. Being able to put the scriptures that I have studied and love in the context of the land and locations in which they were written, and where the stories took place, has been incredible. It has helped me to make connections and have understanding that I did not have prior to the trip. Seeing the various sites and excavations, and seeing how the history and the archaeologic findings line up with the Biblical accounts has served to confirm my trust in the scriptures and increase my awe of a mighty God. I trust God will continue to use this experience to draw me closer to Himself, and I praise Him for this opportunity.