DAY ONE-TUESDAY 30 MAY 2023
We set off from the hotel around 10am with our tour guide, Ben-Ayat. Our first stop was Mount Zion. As we drove through the streets of Jerusalem, I exclaimed quietly ‘Ah Jerusalem’! The landscape was beautiful and breathtaking at times and as we drove along, the city walls and gates were visible. The roads are narrow, winding and steep in many areas because of the hilly landscape, and construction was going on in many parts of the city. We passed by different ‘gates’ and ‘quarters’. There are eight gates in Jerusalem’s Old City wall namely, Jaffa, Damascus, Dung, Lion’s, Zion, Herod’s, New and Golden. All except the Golden gate are accessible. Jerusalem has four quarters namely, Christian, Jewish, Armenian and Muslim.
It was a hot, dry day. Temperatures were in the mid to high 70 degrees F,
and remained that way for the entire duration of our stay, and bottles of water
were a must to keep hydrated. We drove past corn, olive, orange fields and
beautiful gardens. When we arrived at Mount Zion, what I saw was not what I expected.
I had imagined we were going to a real mountain area, deserted with no people
in sight, but to my surprise we were in still in the city, outside the walls of
Jerusalem’s Old City!
We were taken to the house that had the upper room where our Lord and Saviour,
Jesus Christ and his disciples ate the Last Supper (Matthew
26:17–29; Mark 14:12–25; Luke 22:7–38; and I Corinthians 11:23–25) and instituted the Holy Communion. Pastor Elsie gave an exhortation on the significance
of mount Zion and of the events around the Last Supper. There is a lot said in
the Holy Bible about Mount Zion in the Books of the prophet Isaiah and Psalms, for
example. We then dispersed to pray and connect with the place. The room was
serene and its architectural design was such that there were partly secluded
places where one could say silent prayers. There was a bronze olive tree in the
room. Once we were outside, we sang the Mount Zion song from Psalm 48:1-2:
‘Great is the Lord, and
greatly to be praised
In the city of our God,
In His holy mountain.
2 Beautiful in [a]elevation,
The joy of the whole earth,
Is Mount Zion on the sides of the
north,
The city of the great King’.
This is a song we would sing over and over again
in the days that followed.
Our tour guide, Ben-Ayat, explained the significance of the ‘mezuzah’- a tiny scroll of parchment inscribed with a
prayer and attached to the
door frame of every Jewish house. One such scroll was attached to the door
frame of the house with the upper room, and I had also noticed replicas of the
mezuzah on the door frames of our hotel rooms. We took group photos and set off for the Mount of
Olives.
THE MOUNT OF
OLIVES
Here again, what I saw was unexpected. We were not in a deserted
mountainous area. Far from it. We were instead in a populated area next to the
Old City of Jerusalem overlooking the temple mount, steps to the temple and a Jewish
cemetery. The area had many Olive trees and the Garden of Gethsemane was nearby.
Jerusalem city viewed from the Mount of Olives was breathtaking. Here we had an
open discussions about significance of the Mount of Olives, some of which are
presented below:
·
It is the place where our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, stood when He wept over Jerusalem. (Luke 19:41-44)
·
Where
He prayed “Father, if
you are willing, take this cup from Me; yet not My will, but yours be
done." (Matthew 26:39).
·
Where He
told his disciples about the events of the end times. ‘And as He sat upon the Mount
of Olives, the disciples came unto Him privately, saying, tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of thy
coming, and of the end of the world’? (Matthew 24)
·
Our Lord
and Saviour, Jesus Christ, ascended to heaven from the Mount of Olives. (Acts 1:11-12).
·
He will
come again to the Mount of Olives. “And in that day His feet will stand on the
Mount of Olives” (Zech. 14:4;
Acts 1:11).
We worshipped, prayed and went on to the Garden of Gethsemane close by.
THE GARDEN OF
GETHSEMANE
The Garden of Gethsemane is located at the foot of the Mount of Olives,
outside the city walls of Jerusalem. It is an enclosed area which had very old
Olive trees and beautiful flowers, most of which I have not seen before, and I
am a keen gardener. Adjacent to the Garden of Gethsemane is The Church of All Nations,
built in 1924, with funding from numerous countries
(hence the name). The
Garden of Gethsemane is the location of the passion of our Lord and Saviour,
Jesus Christ. He spent His last night praying there before His arrest and crucifixion. Accounts of His betrayal,
arrest, trial, crucifixion, death, burial and resurrection are well documented
in the four gospels. The significance of Gethsemane is presented below:
·
The Garden of Gethsemane is where Jesus took his disciples after the Last Supper when
Judas had gone to betray Him. He asked them to pray, while He went further to
pray. When He came back to them He found them asleep, 'exhausted
from sorrow’ because He had told them about all that was about to happen to Him.
(Luke 22:45)
·
Jesus prayed alone to God, three times,
pouring out His sorrow and requesting God to take from Him the cup of agony and
suffering for my sin, your sin and the sin of all humankind. “And being in
anguish He prayed more earnestly and His sweat was like drops of blood falling
to the ground.” (Luke 22:44)
·
Despite this, each time He prayed, He expressed His
willingness to obey His Father's will: “Father, if
you are willing, remove this cup from Me. Nevertheless, not My will, but yours, be
done.” And there appeared to Him an angel from
heaven, strengthening Him”. (Luke 22:42-43)
·
He did His final miracle before
His crucifixion in the Garden of Gethsemane by healing Malchus’ ear which Peter
had cut off with his sword when they came to arrest Him. Jesus restored the ear by touching it with His
hand. (John 18:10, Luke 22:50-51)
·
Jesus was
betrayed to the Romans by Judas Iscariot one of the twelve disciples. He was
tried, found guilty and crucified along with two thieves. He died and was
buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. He rose again and ascended into
heaven. (Luke 22:47- 24:53)
By the side of the Garden of Gethsemane is The Church
of All Nations. A magnificent building with amazing architecture. The murals
inside and outside the church express historical and religious ideals of the
Christian faith. They provoke deep thought and meditation of the images and
scenery depicted in them. It was a sacred experience. No noise is allowed
inside the church, so we could not worship as in the previous sites. It was
another opportunity to offer silent, heartfelt prayer to our Father and it was
a precious time with Him.
THE
GARDEN TOMB
In a somber mood, we arrived at the Garden Tomb,
located outside the city walls of Jerusalem. The gospel of John 19:41, describes the Garden Tomb: “at the place where Jesus was crucified there was a garden, and
in the garden a new tomb in which no-one had ever been laid”. Here we saw the skull-shaped
Hill, Golgotha, the site of Jesus' Crucifixion. It is referred to in all four Gospels (Matthew 27:33, Mark
15:22, Luke 23:33 and John 19:17). We could identify the eye and part of the nose but the rest of the Hill’s
‘skull-like’ features have been eroded with the passing of time, and at the
foot of the Hill is a bus depot. The briefing we had here was a recounting of
the crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and ascension of our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ. Then we went to see the tomb itself which has been
recreated. We entered a few at a time. What an awesome presence, even in the
empty tomb, so many thousands of years later. There was a silence that came
upon us as we walked out of the tomb and proceeded to the room where communion
had been prepared for us. We were all in reflective mode. There was silence in
the room. No one spoke. Someone came in humming a worship song and it spread
like fire among us. From humming we went on to singing and soon we were
worshipping at full volume, at the top of our lungs! The worship was heavenly,
divinely inspired and it went on for probably 30-40 minutes, after which we
took communion with a deeper understanding of what the Communion meant for our
lives, which is our salvation through reconciliation with God brought about by
the death and resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We give glory
to God for the empty tomb.
THE
WESTERN WALL
Our last stop for the day was The Western Wall,
located in the Jewish quarter in Jerusalem’s Old City. It is also known as the
Wailing Wall. The Wall is a
remnant of the Second Temple courtyard built by King Herod and it is the
holiest site in Judaism. At the Wall, women and men pray in separate places. The Wall had many prayers placed
in its cracks and there were a lot of people, praying and making their
petitions.
What a momentous first day! I returned to the hotel with vivid memories of the day. realised that all the visits were carefully orchestrated to build up to a crescendo at the Garden Tomb, following which the prayer at the Western Wall was the climax of the day. It was dinner and then rest in anticipation of Day Two and what it would bring us.
 |
| UPPER ROOM |
 |
| MOUNT OF OLIVES |
 |
| CHURCH OF ALL NATIONS |
 |
| GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE |
 |
Comments
Post a Comment