Holy Thursday Walk and More...

Well, today was much more upbeat day. This morning we walked our little legs off. Beginning on the Mount of Olives where the Galilean Jews would stay during Passover and was the site of the Ascension of Jesus. Supposedly the footprint of Jesus remains there still today, but after seeing it, the fact is suspect at best. Again, while exact facts are unknown, the broad details remain in place. After riding a camel, we walked down to the Mount of Olives, in what is believed to be the Palm Sunday route Jesus used to enter Jerusalem found in Matthew 21:1-11. Along the way down we stopped at the Dominus Flerit Church, which was the spot where Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem, Matthew 23:37-39. The church itself is a beautiful structure with its top shaped like a tear drop with tear jars surrounding it. From the church, you have one of the best views of the entire old city of Jerusalem. Jesus would ahve easily been able to look over the city when he said, "Jerusalem, O Jerusalem." Toward the bottom of the Mount of Olives, we arrived at the Garden of Gethsemane. We learned that 'Gethsemane' means Olive press and the idea was that Jesus on that fateful night was crushed with despair like an olive in a press, so much so that he sweated blood, Matthew 26:36-46. The olive trees in the garden have been dated to well before the time of Christ. If you want a moving experience, try singing "In the Garden" looking at the same trees that Jesus was among when he was turned over by the betrayer. Several couldn't finish the song. The church on this location has three names, The Church of Gethsemane, The Church of All Nations (b/c of donations to build it), and lastly, and most appropriately, The Church of Agony. The design of the building completely captures the somber mood of the site. It would be hard to truly worship in such a beautifully, gut wrenchingly symbolic sanctuary. After boarding the bus, we made a quick visit to the Jerusalem Princess Basma Center for Disabled Children. It helps over 20 kids in the area with different disabilities, most of whom are hearing impaired, as well as a school with 600 kids on site. The kids were very cute and no different from those in American Schools. Interestingly enough, the school has mostly Muslim students with several Christian students and Christianity is part of their curriculum. Megan was yet again reminded of her kids back home, whom she misses tremendously at Epworth. Leaving the Center, we headed down to Jericho and Qumran. Along the way, we passed the Church of the Good Samaritan honoring the place where the traveller fell into the hands of the robbers and the sacrificial deed of the Samaritan. Also along the journey, the countryside was noticeably different. Travelling through the Judean Desert, we came to see what many of us expected to see, sandy, arid, mountainous region. In these mountains, we came to Qumran. Qumran is teh place in which the Essenes, a Jewish sect lived in the time of Jesus. in the 1970s, a little shepherd boy found some scrolls in jars that contained the writings of the Old Testament, that were dated back to the first century, also known as the Dead Sea Scrolls. Leaving Qumran we experienced another checkpoint as we passed into the Palestinian land of Jericho. Jericho in the New Testament was the place Jesus healed a man and also the same place he called Zacchaeus down out of the tree in Luke. The only sycamore tree that is still in Jericho is over 2000 years old. Is it the same one? who knows, but you know we stopped and took pictures. Right outside of Jericho we visited a lookout spot at the base of the mountain where Jesus encountered the devil and experienced temptation. Built into the side of the mountain is a really amazing monastery served by only one monk. I hope he is an introvert. After that, we made our way slowly back to Jerusalem because our bus had some serious trouble climbing back up from the lowest point in the world, the Dead Sea. We closed the day today by celebrating Ellen Smith's birthday in which the wait staff sang 'Happy Birthday' and gave her a cake with a sparkler in it. It was the perfect ending to a wonderful day. Once again we saw some great things under some fantastic weather. Thanks for reading and for praying for us. To each of you, Shalom, Salaam and Peace!