Israel Day #6

Today has been a great day. Before I reflect on what we did, saw, heard, learned, etc., I want to lay down some history for context. THIS is a really helpful timeline of Jerusalem. (Check it out if you want to geek out on it as I just did before deleting a few lines that attempted to summarize thousands of years of history - you're welcome.) Here in Israel, we keep seeing physical evidence of the Herodian (37BCE-70CE), the Roman (70-324CE), the Byzantine (324-638CE), the early Muslim Dynasties (638-934) that preceded the Crusades (1099-1187CE), and the Muslim Dynasties that followed the crusades, namely the Mamluks (1250-1517CE) and the Ottomans (1517-1918CE). Most churches we have seen, for example, are modern churches built by some European country in the 1920's or 30's or 50's - on top of Ottoman or Mamluk ruins that are on top of Byzantine ruins that are on top of Herodian ruins. What I'm calling ruins are not all scraps and rubble. Rather, conquerers often built their own temples and churches on top of the existing foundations of what was there before. Looking at these buildings allows one to visually digest a vertical historical timeline. This morning, for example, we started our day on Mount Zion. First we walked into the traditional "Upper Room" (Mark 14:12-26), which I quickly learned is the room in which the Last Supper took place. The room itslef contains a Mihrab, a niche in the wall of a mosque or religious school that indicates the direction of Mecca, which Muslims face when praying. Muhammad was not born for another five and a half centuries; Islam did not yet exist when Jesus and his disciples celebrated their final Passover meal together. Christianity as a religion did not exist either, of course, since Jesus and his crew were Jewish. The architecture tells multiple stories at once, each rooted in its own time period. Very cool. Our second stop on Mount Zion was in the House of the Jewish High Priest Caiaphas who questioned Jesus the night he was betrayed by Judas. Today the gorgeous Church of Peter of Gallicantu (cock's crow in Latin) built by the French in the 1930's sits on this site under which remain Mamluk, Byzantine, and even Herodian remnants. We walked by the dungeon where criminals were whipped and tortured and into the cell in which Jesus was held for one night before he was crucified.

In between those two parts of the same day, i.e. after the Last Supper and before being tortured and jailed, Jesus and his disciples walked across the valley to the Garden of Gethsemanee, which is at the foot of the Mount of Olives. It was here that Judas identified Jesus for the Jewish authorities by kissing him on the cheek and where Jesus was arresteed. Here is the rock, which is now in front of the altar of the Church of All Nations.

Lots occurred here making it a holy place in Christianity. Jews have a huge cemetarty on this hill - the oldest active cemetary in the world - and feel this place is holy because it's where the End of Times will occur and those buried there will be the first to be raised up. Muslims built a Muslim cemetary on the other side of the valley and then sealed up the Lions Gate. Why? The Jewish communities who were burying their dead across the valley believed that a Jewish priest would come as the messiah and enter the Temple Mount through the Lions Gate - Muslims knew that Jewish priests were not allowed to enter cemeteries. (Politics are not a modern invention!) Muslims also find the Mount of Olives to be holy land. They believe that when the end of days comes, there will be a bridge from the Mount of Olives to the Dome of the Rock. ALL will walk across the bridge: the righteous will enter the Dome of the Rock and Paradise peacefully; the rest will fall off the bridge into hell. FYI, that's why this valley is called the Valley of Hell. In yet another R&J selfie, you can see the Jewish cemeteries just behind us and the Muslim cemeteries just in front of the eastern retaining wall in front of the Dome of the Rock.