Wed (5/27) - On the Steps of Jesus

Wednesday was another good day. It was also the first day in which we saw clouds, which passed overhead in patches most all day, giving us welcome shade now and then. In truth, the weather here has been generally awesome so far! We've had highs of mid-70s numerous times, with lows at night in the 50s, really wonderful weather. It's also been dry, so not much of that oppressive humidity. We have already been told that things will be a wee bit different when we hit the Dead Sea or the coastal areas later in our stay. :-)

Wednesday morning we had classes on the natural world of Palestine: the water systems, growing seasons, agricultural life, all of which helps illuminate the Bible in deep ways. After lunch, we spent the next few hours exploring the new archaeological park at the southern edges of the Temple Mount area, which explain a lot of the excavations that have been done in this area up until recently. One of the neat things to see was a well-excavated Roman street that passed by the SE corner of the Mount (the so-called "Pinnacle of the Temple").

As Dr. Wright explained, we know Jesus would have walked down this street at some point surely...but the paving stones we see were put in about 30 years after Jesus' time as part of regular road construction work to redo the old street, so NO we didn't actually walk in the steps of Jesus there. However, we next went to the excavated steps along the southern flank of the Temple Mount, where in the time of Jesus (as indeed the whole Second Temple Period 516 BC - AD 70) rows and rows of steps led worshipers up toward the Grand Portico, the ritual baths, and the entrances onto the Temple precinct itself. We do know that Jesus would have passed this way on his way into and out of the Temple area, and it is likely that some of his speeches from the last week of his life would have taken place here. What a thrill it was to find out that the lowest rows of excavated steps were actually from the First Century! Now that's a feeling of suddenly encountering the real force of history come alive! Needless to say, we were all pretty excited!

For me, climbing the steps (even if the upper tiers are modern reconstruction) and touching the places on the walls where the ancient entrances once stood (now they're walled in) was quite moving. It is odd to think that now what lies on the other side is a holy precinct entirely dedicated to Islam. I also found some little folded slips of paper tucked into the cracks in the rocks, much like you find at the Western Wall.

These are written prayers to God tucked in there carefully by observant Jews asking for God's blessings and peace and of course ultimately the restoration to them of their Temple.

After that we headed to the Church of St. Anna, built in the Crusader Period (~12th century) to honor the alleged birthplace of Mary, mother of Jesus. This church was beautiful in its simplicity and especially in its acoustics! What an amplifying echo sound in this stone church! To take advantage of the moment, we all sat in rows and sang three songs. What an amazing experience. Voices raised in harmony and community is a powerful thing. (see below!)

Here we also visited the Pools of Bethesda where Jesus healed the crippled man (John 5:1-9).

As you can see, we have fun spots to hold class outside on our field trips!

On our way out, we bumped into one of the main priests of the White Fathers order which maintains the St. Anna Church, and a fairly hilarious conversation ensued with this kind elderly man that eventually ended up on how he is learning Russian on Skype from some other churchmen he met recently. Ah, a reminder that we are always students and learners, no matter our age or stage in life!

Our final stop on our way home was the Austrian Hospiz (think fancy hostel for adults) and its wonderful roof-top view. Apparently, most people don't know about this gem, which the public can access for free if they but ask politely at the front desk!

What a place to catch a sunrise as one looks south and east over the rest of the tight streets of the Old City, filled to overflowing with its homes, shops, churches, mosques, synagogues, steeples, minarets, Jews, Muslims, Christians, soldiers with guns, and of course tourists who jump into the mix. I hope that the picture above conveys just how tightly packed everything is -- Westerners really need to leave their ideas about "city space" behind when talking about this essentially medieval city where everything is pretty much stacked on top of each other. An amazing place.

Speaking of amazing...
1) There are rumors that one of our students knows someone who knows one of the priests who lives in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and can get some of our group into the church after it is locked at night (which is a whole story in and of itself...for another time)! They're going tonight if they can! (more on this to come...)

2) Listen to the sounds of Wheaton in Jerusalem!

Until next time...