Oh, Jerusalem!

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It would be hard to explain just how excited we were to begin this day. After a wonderful day in Galilee, we were now about to visit the City of David - the place where Jesus was crucified and buried - the place where he was resurrected - the place where he will return to set up his kingdom on earth. It was almost too good to believe! We began our tour from Ashdod which has been a port city going back to Old Testament times. While we were en route, our tour guide, Diana, did a great job describing the history of the city, going back to King David and King Solomon.

After about an hour, we came over a hill to find a spectacular view of the Mount of Olives and Jerusalem! Although most olive trees have to be replaced every 75 years, there are eight of them in the Garden which are over 2000 years old. Walking through them and knowing that they might have witnessed Jesus praying the night he was betrayed by Judas was almost overwhelming. Near the Garden is the beautiful Church of All Nations, which commemorates Jesus last night. This was a very moving place for both of us.

Next, we entered the Old City of Jerusalem by the Jaffa Gate and came to the Western Wall. This wall is a holy place for all Jews because is it the wall nearest to where the "Holy of Holies" would have been in the Temple, which had been destroyed. There were many, many people praying at the wall, many placing small written prayers into crevices. As is the orthodox custom, the wall is divided so that men worship on one side separate from women on the other. Many call this the "Wailing Wall" because of the cries frequently heard there and I did witness emotional prayer being offered by many of the women near me. I'm not sure anyone can leave that special place without shedding at least a tear or two.

From there, we walked the Via Dolorosa. The small elevated pathway goes through the Jewish Quarter of the Old City and ends at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in the Christian Quarter, one of the most moving stops for us. Inside the Church is a rock from the Hill of Golgotha and stones from the site where Jesus was buried. There is also the Annointment Stone, where Jesus' body was prepared for burial. Knowing that we were standing on the site of the most significant event in history was overpowering.

We walked through the Muslim Quarter and the Armenian Quarter of the Old City then departed for Bethlehem - still trying to take in everything that we had just seen and felt. After a wonderful lunch at another kibbutz, we entered a the territory now controlled by the Palestinians. It seemed very strange that we had to go through a gate guarded by men carrying machine guns to go to the town where Jesus was born. We also had to pick up a Palestinian tour guide, since Israelis are not permitted to guide anywhere in the Palestinian area.

Our new guide, George, gave us a wonderful tour of Bethlehem and the Church of the Nativity, honored as the site of Jesus' birth since the 2nd century. Although chapels inside are set up for both the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches, this is the site where the Vatican's Christmas Eve service is broadcast every year. It is a very beautiful church built over the ruins of an earlier church, but the mosaic floor from the early church can be seen in the main area of the church. We were unable to work into our schedule a trip to the Grotto of the Nativity, the cave celebrated as the actual birthsite of Jesus, but that'll be for our next trip!

We were a very quiet group on our trip back to Ashdod, partly because of fatigue and partly because we were trying to process everything from the day. I just kept offering prayers of thanks for the opportunity to visit this special place and prayed that I would never forget what I saw and felt. Thanks be to God!

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Comments

[Liz Miller]

Thanks for sharing
Susan, thanks for sharing your vacaction with the rest of us! Your photos and narratives are simply amazing. We can have a 'virual' vacation by visiting your travelblog.