The Gillettes' Global News and Views: March 2008

From Petra we took a bus up to Amman, took another bus across to the other side of the city, shared a private car to the King Hussein border, crossed into Israel on a border crossing bus, then took a shuttle bus into Jerusalem. There was room for us at the Inn (joke) where we stayed 3 nights. In two full days we saw as much of Jerusalem as we could. There are so many meaningful things to see that all of this should really be broken down into "subposts".

The Old City

These are pictures taken inside and from the Citadel by the Jaffa Gate. Like the rest of the Old City walls, it is composed of stone blocks from several different dynasties. Built once, then destroyed, rebuilt, touched up by Herod, then destroyed again, then rebuilt again by the Turks, etc. etc.

The famous Western Wall. This is the only part of Jewish temple that the Roman general Titus left standing. He left this one massive wall as a testimony to the might of Roman power, since they were able to destroy the rest of the city completely. The Jews were expelled from the city of Jerusalem for many years, but now pray at this wall because they believe that being closer to the actual temple site provides a more likely chance that their prayers will be answered.

The Dome of the Rock, built on top of the location of Solomon's temple. It was here that Muslims believe Abraham was going to sacrifice Ishmael and God provided a ram instead, and they also believe that Mohammed ascended into heaven on the rock inside. It makes you kind of wonder though, why did they have to claim this exact site, of all the places in the Middle East as a holy site for them as well? It just seems to have added much strife over the centuries, as now the likelihood of the Jews ever rebuilding the temple is over. Christians, however, have an incredible role to play in the midst of this angst: reconciliation.

This blocked in gate is called the "Golden Gate," and was at one time a major entry and exit point to Jerusalem. This is actually the gate where Jesus entered the city on the donkey on Palm Sunday, and was probably Kerry's favorite site in Jerusalem because of its significance. The Jews are still waiting for their Messiah to walk through this gate. We believe He already did!

We walked the Via Dolorosa, the route that follows approximately the path that Jesus was forced to follow, from the place of his trial (The Roman fortress called Antonia,) to the alleged place of the crucifixion where the Church of the Holy Sepulchre now stands. Here is Marcus inside the Church, walking up the stairway to the spot they think Jesus was crucified.

Old City walls (above) and Jaffa Gate (below)

The Garden Tomb

Many Protestants believe this newer claimed site may actually be the hill of the crucifixion. You can't tell from the picture, but the caves in the cliff on the side of the hill resemble two eyes and a mouth, in a skull-like way. Golgatha, where He was crucified, meant 'place of skull'.

The British organization that now owns and operates the garden (strictly by donation and volunteers) have done a marvelous job. The greenery and flowers are striking, and really make it look how it is described in the gospels.

An ancient wine press within the garden. They also discovered an enourmous cistern under the garden, which exemplifies the wealth of the original garden owners.

The entrance to the tomb

Although the similarities between the scriptural account of Christ's tomb and this Garden Tomb site are numerous, scholars couldn't say that the garden tomb is the actual site of Christ's death. I think that most Christians of the non-Orthodox variety can find a spiritual connection to this place that is stronger than what is felt in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre because this place is so peaceful, looks like it might have looked back then, and is so serene. You can imagine the events unfolding here, where it is difficult to imagine the events taking place in the Sepulchre site because it's covered over by a massive, dark church filled with incense and hanging gold things. There are many places to sit and meditate, or have a service with a group of people (lots of church groups visit the site,) so it was one of our favorite places in Jerusalem. The docents will tell you though, and we agree, that the most important thing isn't whether or not this is the actual site, it's that HE'S NOT THERE! HE IS RISEN!

Mount of Olives and Garden of Gethsemane

The garden, with amazing knarled olive trees that most botanists date to be 2,000 years old or older.

This huge Jewish cemetery covers the side of the Mt. of Olives and lies next to the Garden of Gethsemane. It is said to be the oldest still used cemetery in the world.

We stumbled upon the tombs of the prophets by accident, and went underground to explore. Since there are tombs that date to the times of Haggai and Malachi, they are claimed to be the location they were buried, but it's unlikely that that's really true.

A view from inside a more modern Church commemorating the traditional spot where Jesus wept over the Jerusalem, as he predicted its destruction which happened in AD 70 by the Romans. I like this picture for its symbolism. The funny thing is that I was shown an article this morning printed from the internet, and on the advertisements on the side margin of the article there was a short list of pictures with links to other things. Incredible! One of the pictures was taken from this exact place through this window and also had the cross covering the mosque of the Dome of the Rock! It was bizarre.

Looking toward the Mount of Olives. The large church on the bottom is dedicated to the Garden of Gethsemane. This was built and rebuilt (destruction in between by Persians, etc.,) by the Byzantines, then the Crusaders, and finally as it is now in the 20th century.

This is the valley and hillside (right) where David's original ancient city of Jerusalem was located.

And here are ruins from Solomon's expansion of Jerusalem and from the 2nd temple period after Nehemiah rebuilt the city ways, located between David's ancient city and where the Herodian Old City walls stand today.

These two pictures are on Mount Zion. Kerry from the roof of a building looking at the Church of the Dormition, dedicated to where it was traditionally believed that Mary went into eternal rest, and Marcus in a room remade to commemorate the upper room where the Jesus' Last Supper with his apostles took place. The original room was destroyed, and this Gothic room was constructed by the Crusaders. I was really surprised at how much they built! Anyway, it was later converted into a mosque, as you can see the Mihrab pointing to the direction of Mecca is behind Marcus. The Crusader/Muslim look kind of takes away any feeling of what it would have really looked like! Oh well.