A PRAYER BEFORE DEPARTURE
“Lord, guard and guide the people who fly
Through the great spaces of the sky;
Be with them traversing the air
In darkening storms or sunshine fair.
Thou who dost keep with tender might
The balanced birds in all their flight,
Thou of the tempered winds, be near,
That, having thee, they know no fear.
Aloft in solitudes of space,
Uphold them with thy saving grace.
O God, protect the people who fly
Through lonely ways beneath the sky. Amen”
Mary C.E. Hamilton
Monday, February 16, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Hezekiah's tunnel
The brave crew that ventured into Hezekiah's
tunnel. The tunnel was about 5 feet tall and the water was above the knees. They sloshed
thru the tunnel for 40 minutes until they
emerged and saw the light.
Model of Jerusalem
We stopped at the Holyland Hotel
and checked out what Jerusalem
looked like in the days of Jesus. The
model was on a 1/50 scale that brought
the whole week together as we saw
many of the places we visited.
and checked out what Jerusalem
looked like in the days of Jesus. The
model was on a 1/50 scale that brought
the whole week together as we saw
many of the places we visited.
Holocaust Museum
We were deeply moved at the Holocaust Museum.
This is a tree planted by Oscar Schlinder in
the Garden of the Righteous.
This is a tree planted by Oscar Schlinder in
the Garden of the Righteous.
February 15, Site #1
YAD VASHEM HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL
The museum in Jerusalem which serves as a powerful reminder that 6 million Jews were murdered by the Nazis during World War II.
Psalm 2 (the most quoted Psalm in the New Testament)
Why do the nations conspire, and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and his anointed, saying,
“Let us burst their bonds asunder, and cast their cords from us.”
He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord has them in derision.
Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying,
“I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill.”
I will tell of the decree of the Lord: He said to me, “You are my son; today I have begotten you.
Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.
You shall break them with a rod of iron, and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth.
Serve the Lord with fear, with trembling kiss his feet, or he will be angry, and you will perish in the way; for his wrath is quickly kindled. Happy are all who take
refuge in him.
Psalm 13 (a prayer for deliverance from enemies)
How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I bear pain in my soul, and have sorrow in my heart all day long? How long shall my enemy be exalted
over me?
Consider and answer me, O Lord my God! Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,
and my enemy will say, “I have prevailed”; my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.
But I trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me.
The museum in Jerusalem which serves as a powerful reminder that 6 million Jews were murdered by the Nazis during World War II.
Psalm 2 (the most quoted Psalm in the New Testament)
Why do the nations conspire, and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and his anointed, saying,
“Let us burst their bonds asunder, and cast their cords from us.”
He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord has them in derision.
Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying,
“I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill.”
I will tell of the decree of the Lord: He said to me, “You are my son; today I have begotten you.
Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.
You shall break them with a rod of iron, and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth.
Serve the Lord with fear, with trembling kiss his feet, or he will be angry, and you will perish in the way; for his wrath is quickly kindled. Happy are all who take
refuge in him.
Psalm 13 (a prayer for deliverance from enemies)
How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I bear pain in my soul, and have sorrow in my heart all day long? How long shall my enemy be exalted
over me?
Consider and answer me, O Lord my God! Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,
and my enemy will say, “I have prevailed”; my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.
But I trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me.
February 15, Site #2
SHRINE OF THE BOOK
The Jerusalem museum completed in 1964 to house the Dead Sea Scrolls found in Qumran.
Deuteronomy 6:1-9 (the “Shema”)
Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the ordinances—that the Lord your God charged me to teach you to observe in the land that you are about to cross into and occupy, so that you and your children and your children’s children, may fear the Lord your God all the days of your life, and keep all his decrees and his commandments that I am commanding you, so that your days may be long. Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe them diligently, so that it may go well with you, and so that you may multiply greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has promised you.
Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
The Jerusalem museum completed in 1964 to house the Dead Sea Scrolls found in Qumran.
Deuteronomy 6:1-9 (the “Shema”)
Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the ordinances—that the Lord your God charged me to teach you to observe in the land that you are about to cross into and occupy, so that you and your children and your children’s children, may fear the Lord your God all the days of your life, and keep all his decrees and his commandments that I am commanding you, so that your days may be long. Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe them diligently, so that it may go well with you, and so that you may multiply greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has promised you.
Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
February 15, Site #3
THE MODEL OF JERUSALEM
What Jerusalem looked like in the day of Jesus. It is located at the Holyland Hotel.
Psalm 122:1-9 (the importance of Jerusalem)
I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord!”
Our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem.
Jerusalem—built as a city that is bound firmly together.
To it the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, as was decreed for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the Lord.
For there the thrones for judgment were set up, the thrones of the house of David.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May they prosper who love you.
Peace be within your walls, and security within your towers.”
For the sake of my relatives and friends I will say, “Peace be within you.”
For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your good.
EIN KAREN
This picturesque village west of Jerusalem was once called Beth Haccherem (Jeremiah 6:1). The New Testament describes it as a “city of Judah” (Luke 1:39-40) It is where Zachariah and Elizabeth, the parents of John the Baptist lived (Luke 1:5-25, 57-80). Zachariah was a priest, but not all priests lived in Jerusalem. It was to Ein Karen that Mary went when she found out she was pregnant (Luke 1:39-56). There are many churches in Ein Karen, including the Church of St. John the Baptist and the Church of the Visitation.
Luke 1:39-56 (the Magnificat)
In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.” And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.” And Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home.
What Jerusalem looked like in the day of Jesus. It is located at the Holyland Hotel.
Psalm 122:1-9 (the importance of Jerusalem)
I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord!”
Our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem.
Jerusalem—built as a city that is bound firmly together.
To it the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, as was decreed for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the Lord.
For there the thrones for judgment were set up, the thrones of the house of David.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May they prosper who love you.
Peace be within your walls, and security within your towers.”
For the sake of my relatives and friends I will say, “Peace be within you.”
For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your good.
EIN KAREN
This picturesque village west of Jerusalem was once called Beth Haccherem (Jeremiah 6:1). The New Testament describes it as a “city of Judah” (Luke 1:39-40) It is where Zachariah and Elizabeth, the parents of John the Baptist lived (Luke 1:5-25, 57-80). Zachariah was a priest, but not all priests lived in Jerusalem. It was to Ein Karen that Mary went when she found out she was pregnant (Luke 1:39-56). There are many churches in Ein Karen, including the Church of St. John the Baptist and the Church of the Visitation.
Luke 1:39-56 (the Magnificat)
In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.” And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.” And Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home.
February 15, Site #4
CITY OF DAVID ARCHEOLOGICAL GARDENS
An exhibit showing Jerusalem during the time of King David.
II Samuel 7:1-17 (God’s covenant with David)
Now when the king was settled in his house, and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, the king said to the prophet Nathan, “See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God stays in a tent.” Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that you have in mind; for the Lord is with you.”
But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan: Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the Lord: Are you the one to build me a house to live in? I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle. Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?” Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David: Thus says the Lord of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be prince over my people Israel; and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and evildoers shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. When he commits iniquity, I will punish him with a rod such as mortals use, with blows inflicted by human beings. But I will not take my steadfast love from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever. In accordance with all these words and with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.
SPRING OF GIHON
This is the only perennial spring in Jerusalem. The water of the spring gushes periodically and fills a subterranean pool in a cave reached by a flight of 32 steps. It was thought to be a holy place. This explains why the ceremony of the anointing of the Kings took place here (I Kings 1:38). During the reign of King Hezekiah (715-787 BC) vertical shafts and sloping tunnels were dug to enable the inhabitants of Jerusalem to reach the spring water safely and remain behind the protection of the city wall, thus protecting the city against siege. Hezekiah’s tunnel protected Israel during the siege of the Assyrians (II Chronicles 32:3-4, 30). This tunnel was discovered in 1867. The tunnel diverted the water of the Gihon Spring to the Pool of Siloam. The tunnel, which is 1760 feet long, is an engineering marvel for the time. Access to the spring, which was outside the city wall, was closed and hidden from the enemy.
I Kings 1:28-40 (the anointing of King Solomon)
King David answered, “Summon Bathsheba to me.” So she came into the king’s presence, and stood before the king. The king swore, saying, “As the Lord lives, who has saved my life from every adversity, as I swore to you by the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Your son Solomon shall succeed me as king, and he shall sit on my throne in my place,’ so will I do this day.” Then Bathsheba bowed with her face to the ground, and did obeisance to the king, and said, “May my lord King David live forever!”
King David said, “Summon to me the priest Zadok, the prophet Nathan, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada.” When they came before the king, the king said to them, “Take with you the servants of your lord, and have my son Solomon ride on my own mule, and bring him down to Gihon. There let the priest Zadok and the prophet Nathan anoint him king over Israel; then blow the trumpet, and say, ‘Long live King Solomon!’ You shall go up following him. Let him enter and sit on my throne; he shall be king in my place; for I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and over Judah.” Benaiah son of Jehoiada answered the king, “Amen! May the Lord, the God of my lord the king, so ordain. As the Lord has been with my lord the king, so may he be with Solomon, and make his throne greater than the throne of my lord King David.” So the priest Zadok, the prophet Nathan, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites, went down and had Solomon ride on King David’s mule, and led him to Gihon. There the priest Zadok took the horn of oil from the tent and anointed Solomon. Then they blew the trumpet, and all the people said, “Long live King Solomon!” And all the people went up following him, playing on pipes and rejoicing with great joy, so that the earth quaked at their noise.
An exhibit showing Jerusalem during the time of King David.
II Samuel 7:1-17 (God’s covenant with David)
Now when the king was settled in his house, and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, the king said to the prophet Nathan, “See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God stays in a tent.” Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that you have in mind; for the Lord is with you.”
But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan: Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the Lord: Are you the one to build me a house to live in? I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle. Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?” Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David: Thus says the Lord of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be prince over my people Israel; and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and evildoers shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. When he commits iniquity, I will punish him with a rod such as mortals use, with blows inflicted by human beings. But I will not take my steadfast love from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever. In accordance with all these words and with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.
SPRING OF GIHON
This is the only perennial spring in Jerusalem. The water of the spring gushes periodically and fills a subterranean pool in a cave reached by a flight of 32 steps. It was thought to be a holy place. This explains why the ceremony of the anointing of the Kings took place here (I Kings 1:38). During the reign of King Hezekiah (715-787 BC) vertical shafts and sloping tunnels were dug to enable the inhabitants of Jerusalem to reach the spring water safely and remain behind the protection of the city wall, thus protecting the city against siege. Hezekiah’s tunnel protected Israel during the siege of the Assyrians (II Chronicles 32:3-4, 30). This tunnel was discovered in 1867. The tunnel diverted the water of the Gihon Spring to the Pool of Siloam. The tunnel, which is 1760 feet long, is an engineering marvel for the time. Access to the spring, which was outside the city wall, was closed and hidden from the enemy.
I Kings 1:28-40 (the anointing of King Solomon)
King David answered, “Summon Bathsheba to me.” So she came into the king’s presence, and stood before the king. The king swore, saying, “As the Lord lives, who has saved my life from every adversity, as I swore to you by the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Your son Solomon shall succeed me as king, and he shall sit on my throne in my place,’ so will I do this day.” Then Bathsheba bowed with her face to the ground, and did obeisance to the king, and said, “May my lord King David live forever!”
King David said, “Summon to me the priest Zadok, the prophet Nathan, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada.” When they came before the king, the king said to them, “Take with you the servants of your lord, and have my son Solomon ride on my own mule, and bring him down to Gihon. There let the priest Zadok and the prophet Nathan anoint him king over Israel; then blow the trumpet, and say, ‘Long live King Solomon!’ You shall go up following him. Let him enter and sit on my throne; he shall be king in my place; for I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and over Judah.” Benaiah son of Jehoiada answered the king, “Amen! May the Lord, the God of my lord the king, so ordain. As the Lord has been with my lord the king, so may he be with Solomon, and make his throne greater than the throne of my lord King David.” So the priest Zadok, the prophet Nathan, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites, went down and had Solomon ride on King David’s mule, and led him to Gihon. There the priest Zadok took the horn of oil from the tent and anointed Solomon. Then they blew the trumpet, and all the people said, “Long live King Solomon!” And all the people went up following him, playing on pipes and rejoicing with great joy, so that the earth quaked at their noise.
February 15, Site #5
THE POOL OF SILOAM
Siloam means “sender.” The Pool of Siloam is on the southwest corner of the City of David. David conquered the Jebusites by entering the city through water shafts that led from the pool inside the city gates (II Samuel 5:8; I Chronicles 11:6). After Hezekiah’s tunnel was dug, this diverting water from the Gihon Spring to the Pool of Siloam, the spring water of the pool was considered pure. It was used in the Temple ceremonies, such as the conclusion of the Feast of Tabernacles (John 7:37-39). Jesus told a blind man he healed to wash in the Pool of Siloam (John 9:7). Jesus also mentioned thirteen people who were killed when a tower near this pool fell on them (Luke 13:1-4).
John 9:1-12, 24-25 (the healing of a blind man)
As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see. The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ Then I went and washed and received my sight.” They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”
So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, “Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner.” He answered, “I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”
GOLDEN GATE
It is the name of the blocked-up double gate in the center of the eastern wall of the Temple Mount. The southern of the two gates is called the Gate of Mercy, and the northern one, the Gate of Repentance. Behind them on the Temple Mount is an elaborate gatehouse surrounded by two domes and supported by decorated columns. The rooms in the gatehouse are now closed, but until the fifteenth century they were used as Muslim prayer rooms. This gate was built in the late Byzantine era. Prior to it the Beautiful Gate stood in its place (Acts 3:2). Because it is the gate opposite the Mount of Olives, it was the gate Jesus entered on Palm Sunday (Mark 11:11; John 12:13). The Golden Gate was blocked after Saladin conquered Jerusalem in 1187. This gate is holy to the Jews as well, because of the tradition that the Messiah will come to the Mount of Olives and enter Jerusalem through it. The Muslims established a cemetery on the slope outside the gate to prevent the entry of the Jewish Messiah.
Mark 11:1-11 (Palm Sunday)
When they were approaching Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden; untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately.’” They went away and found a colt tied near a door, outside in the street. As they were untying it, some of the bystanders said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” They told them what Jesus had said; and they allowed them to take it. Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it; and he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple; and when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.
Acts 3:1-10 (a healing at the Beautiful Gate)
One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, at three o”clock in the afternoon. And a man lame from birth was being carried in. People would lay him daily at the gate of the temple called the Beautiful Gate so that he could ask for alms from those entering the temple. When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked them for alms. Peter looked intently at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.” And he took him by the right hand and raised him up; and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. Jumping up, he stood and began to walk, and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. All the people saw him walking and praising God, and they recognized him as the one who used to sit and ask for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
Siloam means “sender.” The Pool of Siloam is on the southwest corner of the City of David. David conquered the Jebusites by entering the city through water shafts that led from the pool inside the city gates (II Samuel 5:8; I Chronicles 11:6). After Hezekiah’s tunnel was dug, this diverting water from the Gihon Spring to the Pool of Siloam, the spring water of the pool was considered pure. It was used in the Temple ceremonies, such as the conclusion of the Feast of Tabernacles (John 7:37-39). Jesus told a blind man he healed to wash in the Pool of Siloam (John 9:7). Jesus also mentioned thirteen people who were killed when a tower near this pool fell on them (Luke 13:1-4).
John 9:1-12, 24-25 (the healing of a blind man)
As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see. The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ Then I went and washed and received my sight.” They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”
So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, “Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner.” He answered, “I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”
GOLDEN GATE
It is the name of the blocked-up double gate in the center of the eastern wall of the Temple Mount. The southern of the two gates is called the Gate of Mercy, and the northern one, the Gate of Repentance. Behind them on the Temple Mount is an elaborate gatehouse surrounded by two domes and supported by decorated columns. The rooms in the gatehouse are now closed, but until the fifteenth century they were used as Muslim prayer rooms. This gate was built in the late Byzantine era. Prior to it the Beautiful Gate stood in its place (Acts 3:2). Because it is the gate opposite the Mount of Olives, it was the gate Jesus entered on Palm Sunday (Mark 11:11; John 12:13). The Golden Gate was blocked after Saladin conquered Jerusalem in 1187. This gate is holy to the Jews as well, because of the tradition that the Messiah will come to the Mount of Olives and enter Jerusalem through it. The Muslims established a cemetery on the slope outside the gate to prevent the entry of the Jewish Messiah.
Mark 11:1-11 (Palm Sunday)
When they were approaching Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden; untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately.’” They went away and found a colt tied near a door, outside in the street. As they were untying it, some of the bystanders said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” They told them what Jesus had said; and they allowed them to take it. Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it; and he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple; and when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.
Acts 3:1-10 (a healing at the Beautiful Gate)
One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, at three o”clock in the afternoon. And a man lame from birth was being carried in. People would lay him daily at the gate of the temple called the Beautiful Gate so that he could ask for alms from those entering the temple. When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked them for alms. Peter looked intently at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.” And he took him by the right hand and raised him up; and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. Jumping up, he stood and began to walk, and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. All the people saw him walking and praising God, and they recognized him as the one who used to sit and ask for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
February 15, Site #6
TWO VALLEYS:
VALLEY OF KIDRON / THE VALLEY OF JEHOSHAPHAT
The valley runs east of the Old City of Jerusalem and separates it from the Mount of Olives. It is the eastern boundary of the city, and at no time has the city expanded beyond it. Absalom built a monument to himself here that still stands (II Samuel 18:18). It was called the Valley of Jehoshaphat, meaning “God judges,” because it was believed to be the place where the last judgment will take place. It was from the Mount of Olives, overlooking this valley (John 18:1), that Jesus talked about the last things (Mark 13:3-36). Perhaps because of the prophesy of the last judgment it has been a favored Jewish burial site since the First Temple period.
Mark 13:3-36 (the last things)
When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?” Then Jesus began to say to them, “Beware that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birthpangs.
“As for yourselves, beware; for they will hand you over to councils; and you will be beaten in synagogues; and you will stand before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them. And the good news must first be proclaimed to all nations. When they bring you to trial and hand you over, do not worry beforehand about what you are to say; but say whatever is given you at that time, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
“But when you see the desolating sacrilege set up where it ought not to be (let the reader understand), then those in Judea must flee to the mountains; the one on the housetop must not go down or enter the house to take anything away; the one in the field must not turn back to get a coat. Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing infants in those days! Pray that it may not be in winter. 19For in those days there will be suffering, such as has not been from the beginning of the creation that God created until now, no, and never will be. And if the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would be saved; but for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, he has cut short those days. And if anyone says to you at that time, ‘Look! Here is the Messiah!’ or ‘Look! There he is!’ —do not believe it. False messiahs and false prophets will appear and produce signs and omens, to lead astray, if possible, the elect. But be alert; I have already told you everything.
“But in those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory. Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.
“From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
“But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. Therefore, keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly.
VALLEY OF KIDRON / THE VALLEY OF JEHOSHAPHAT
The valley runs east of the Old City of Jerusalem and separates it from the Mount of Olives. It is the eastern boundary of the city, and at no time has the city expanded beyond it. Absalom built a monument to himself here that still stands (II Samuel 18:18). It was called the Valley of Jehoshaphat, meaning “God judges,” because it was believed to be the place where the last judgment will take place. It was from the Mount of Olives, overlooking this valley (John 18:1), that Jesus talked about the last things (Mark 13:3-36). Perhaps because of the prophesy of the last judgment it has been a favored Jewish burial site since the First Temple period.
Mark 13:3-36 (the last things)
When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?” Then Jesus began to say to them, “Beware that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birthpangs.
“As for yourselves, beware; for they will hand you over to councils; and you will be beaten in synagogues; and you will stand before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them. And the good news must first be proclaimed to all nations. When they bring you to trial and hand you over, do not worry beforehand about what you are to say; but say whatever is given you at that time, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
“But when you see the desolating sacrilege set up where it ought not to be (let the reader understand), then those in Judea must flee to the mountains; the one on the housetop must not go down or enter the house to take anything away; the one in the field must not turn back to get a coat. Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing infants in those days! Pray that it may not be in winter. 19For in those days there will be suffering, such as has not been from the beginning of the creation that God created until now, no, and never will be. And if the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would be saved; but for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, he has cut short those days. And if anyone says to you at that time, ‘Look! Here is the Messiah!’ or ‘Look! There he is!’ —do not believe it. False messiahs and false prophets will appear and produce signs and omens, to lead astray, if possible, the elect. But be alert; I have already told you everything.
“But in those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory. Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.
“From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
“But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. Therefore, keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly.
February 15, Site #7
THE VALLEY OF HINNOM / GEHINNON
The valley runs west and south of the old city of Jerusalem. This valley is associated with bad things in Israel’s history. It was here that people worshipped the Ammanite deity, Molech, by sacrificing humans (II Kings 16:3; II Chronicles 28:3; 33:6). Jesus associated it with judgment and hell or Gehinnon (Matthew 5:22, 29, 30; 10:28; 18:9; 23:15-33). Aceldama/Akeldama (field of blood) or potter’s field was located on the southern bank of the Hinnon Valley. This is the site purchased by the high priests for thirty pieces of silver, the price of Judas’ betrayal of Jesus (Matthew 26:14-16; 27:3-8; Acts 1:19).
Matthew 18:6-9 (temptation and hell)
and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, in terrible distress.” And he said to him, “I will come and cure him.” The centurion answered, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only speak the word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and the slave does it.”
The valley runs west and south of the old city of Jerusalem. This valley is associated with bad things in Israel’s history. It was here that people worshipped the Ammanite deity, Molech, by sacrificing humans (II Kings 16:3; II Chronicles 28:3; 33:6). Jesus associated it with judgment and hell or Gehinnon (Matthew 5:22, 29, 30; 10:28; 18:9; 23:15-33). Aceldama/Akeldama (field of blood) or potter’s field was located on the southern bank of the Hinnon Valley. This is the site purchased by the high priests for thirty pieces of silver, the price of Judas’ betrayal of Jesus (Matthew 26:14-16; 27:3-8; Acts 1:19).
Matthew 18:6-9 (temptation and hell)
and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, in terrible distress.” And he said to him, “I will come and cure him.” The centurion answered, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only speak the word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and the slave does it.”
Saturday, February 14, 2009
He Was Looking at God
I was not prepared for the emotions that were stirred on our visit to Mt Nebo. This is the place where Moses learned that he would not be allowed to go into the Promised Land Deut 34:1-12. Jim J suggested that it would have been akin to a pastor who led a church for several years then found it was time to move on. We looked out upon a vista that encompassed the distant cities of Hebron, Jerusalem, Jericho, Ramallah, and others all invisible to the naked eye.
It was suddenly heartbreaking to think of the sadness Moses must have felt. Jim Turley said "Look up there-that is the church some pastors never get to have." That statement had the effect of tying the past to the present. It gave me a sense of what some pastors in the itineracy system might experience each year. The combination of comments by the two Rev Jim's said to me sometimes you need to say goodbye to some places, people in your care, and with whom you have a relationship. In other cases you may never get to the place you sensed God called you to go. Bruce Feiler gives a perspective on Moses inability to enter the Promised Land that I found helpful. "The actual physical dimensions to the Promised Land matter less than it's spiritual dimensions." He described the fulfillment Moses did achieve. "Looking out will not show him what he sees. The only way for Moses to see the complete dimensions-the full glory of the Promied Land-is by looking inward to his own internal geography, the true reflection of divine glory. John 17:10 All mine are yours and yours are mine and I have been glorified in them. Moses may not get to the land, but he gets the promise... The land alone is not the destination; the destination is the place where human beings live in consort with the Divine. Ultimately it does not matter that what the Bible describes is impossible to see. It doesn't matter because Moses wasn't seeing as we do. At the end, he wasn't even looking at the land. He was looking where we should look. He was looking at God." It was quite fitting as we were leaving the lookout point on Mt. Nebo a sandstorm obscured our view. Over the last few days several people have quoted Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." This has been a much needed reminder to me that what I cannot see does not really matter. God has a plan and infinitely better plan. Mary B
It was suddenly heartbreaking to think of the sadness Moses must have felt. Jim Turley said "Look up there-that is the church some pastors never get to have." That statement had the effect of tying the past to the present. It gave me a sense of what some pastors in the itineracy system might experience each year. The combination of comments by the two Rev Jim's said to me sometimes you need to say goodbye to some places, people in your care, and with whom you have a relationship. In other cases you may never get to the place you sensed God called you to go. Bruce Feiler gives a perspective on Moses inability to enter the Promised Land that I found helpful. "The actual physical dimensions to the Promised Land matter less than it's spiritual dimensions." He described the fulfillment Moses did achieve. "Looking out will not show him what he sees. The only way for Moses to see the complete dimensions-the full glory of the Promied Land-is by looking inward to his own internal geography, the true reflection of divine glory. John 17:10 All mine are yours and yours are mine and I have been glorified in them. Moses may not get to the land, but he gets the promise... The land alone is not the destination; the destination is the place where human beings live in consort with the Divine. Ultimately it does not matter that what the Bible describes is impossible to see. It doesn't matter because Moses wasn't seeing as we do. At the end, he wasn't even looking at the land. He was looking where we should look. He was looking at God." It was quite fitting as we were leaving the lookout point on Mt. Nebo a sandstorm obscured our view. Over the last few days several people have quoted Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." This has been a much needed reminder to me that what I cannot see does not really matter. God has a plan and infinitely better plan. Mary B
Floating on the Dead Sea
The crew floating on the Dead Sea. This was
incredible. It is impossible to sink so the
only option is to float.
Masada
On top of Masada at an altitude
of zero because the Dead Sea is
below sea level.
We took a cable car to
the top. The view went all
the way up the Jordan River
Valley.
of zero because the Dead Sea is
below sea level.
We took a cable car to
the top. The view went all
the way up the Jordan River
Valley.
February 14, Site #1
DEAD SEA
It is sometimes called “the Salt Sea” (Genesis 14:3; Numbers 34:3, 12; Deuteronomy 3:17; Joshua 12:3) the Sean of Arabah (“Sea of the Plain,” Deuteronomy 3:17), or “the Eastern Sea” (Ezekiel 47:18; Joel 2:20; Zechariah 14:8). It is the earth’s lowest surface, 1292 feet below sea level. It is part of a geologic fault that extends 300 square miles, from Syria, through the Red Sea, and into Africa. The salt concentration reaches 25%, four times that of ocean water. Organic life cannot survive in the Dead Sea. According to Genesis 13:10 the area was once like a well-watered garden, so some disaster must have taken place.
Genesis 19:1-29 (the destruction of Sodom)
The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and bowed down with his face to the ground. He said, “Please, my lords, turn aside to your servant’s house and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you can rise early and go on your way.” They said, “No; we will spend the night in the square.” But he urged them strongly; so they turned aside to him and entered his house; and he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.
But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house; and they called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, so that we may know them.” Lot went out of the door to the men, shut the door after him, and said, “I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. Look, I have two daughters who have not known a man; let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please; only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.” But they replied, “Stand back!” And they said, “This fellow came here as an alien, and he would play the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them.” Then they pressed hard against the man Lot, and came near the door to break it down. But the men inside reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. And they struck with blindness the men who were at the door of the house, both small and great, so that they were unable to find the door.
Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city—bring them out of the place. For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.” So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, “Up, get out of this place; for the Lord is about to destroy the city.” But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting.
When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Get up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or else you will be consumed in the punishment of the city.” But he lingered; so the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and left him outside the city. When they had brought them outside, they said, “Flee for your life; do not look back or stop anywhere in the Plain; flee to the hills, or else you will be consumed.” And Lot said to them, “Oh, no, my lords; 19your servant has found favor with you, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life; but I cannot flee to the hills, for fear the disaster will overtake me and I die.
Luke 17:22-37 (Jesus’ words about Sodom)
Then he said to the disciples, “The days are coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. They will say to you, ‘Look there!’ or ‘Look here!’ Do not go, do not set off in pursuit. For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. But first he must endure much suffering and be rejected by this generation. Just as it was in the days of Noah, so too it will be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking, and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed all of them. Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot: they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day that Lot left Sodom, it rained fire and sulfur from heaven and destroyed all of them —it will be like that on the day that the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, anyone on the housetop who has belongings in the house must not come down to take them away; and likewise anyone in the field must not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife. Those who try to make their life secure will lose it, but those who lose their life will keep it. I tell you, on that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding meal together; one will be taken and the other left.” Then they asked him, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.”
It is sometimes called “the Salt Sea” (Genesis 14:3; Numbers 34:3, 12; Deuteronomy 3:17; Joshua 12:3) the Sean of Arabah (“Sea of the Plain,” Deuteronomy 3:17), or “the Eastern Sea” (Ezekiel 47:18; Joel 2:20; Zechariah 14:8). It is the earth’s lowest surface, 1292 feet below sea level. It is part of a geologic fault that extends 300 square miles, from Syria, through the Red Sea, and into Africa. The salt concentration reaches 25%, four times that of ocean water. Organic life cannot survive in the Dead Sea. According to Genesis 13:10 the area was once like a well-watered garden, so some disaster must have taken place.
Genesis 19:1-29 (the destruction of Sodom)
The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and bowed down with his face to the ground. He said, “Please, my lords, turn aside to your servant’s house and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you can rise early and go on your way.” They said, “No; we will spend the night in the square.” But he urged them strongly; so they turned aside to him and entered his house; and he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.
But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house; and they called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, so that we may know them.” Lot went out of the door to the men, shut the door after him, and said, “I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. Look, I have two daughters who have not known a man; let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please; only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.” But they replied, “Stand back!” And they said, “This fellow came here as an alien, and he would play the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them.” Then they pressed hard against the man Lot, and came near the door to break it down. But the men inside reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. And they struck with blindness the men who were at the door of the house, both small and great, so that they were unable to find the door.
Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city—bring them out of the place. For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.” So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, “Up, get out of this place; for the Lord is about to destroy the city.” But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting.
When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Get up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or else you will be consumed in the punishment of the city.” But he lingered; so the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and left him outside the city. When they had brought them outside, they said, “Flee for your life; do not look back or stop anywhere in the Plain; flee to the hills, or else you will be consumed.” And Lot said to them, “Oh, no, my lords; 19your servant has found favor with you, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life; but I cannot flee to the hills, for fear the disaster will overtake me and I die.
Luke 17:22-37 (Jesus’ words about Sodom)
Then he said to the disciples, “The days are coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. They will say to you, ‘Look there!’ or ‘Look here!’ Do not go, do not set off in pursuit. For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. But first he must endure much suffering and be rejected by this generation. Just as it was in the days of Noah, so too it will be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking, and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed all of them. Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot: they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day that Lot left Sodom, it rained fire and sulfur from heaven and destroyed all of them —it will be like that on the day that the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, anyone on the housetop who has belongings in the house must not come down to take them away; and likewise anyone in the field must not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife. Those who try to make their life secure will lose it, but those who lose their life will keep it. I tell you, on that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding meal together; one will be taken and the other left.” Then they asked him, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.”
February 14, Site #2
MASADA
This is the fortress built by Herod the Great a short distance from the Dead Sea on the rock of Masada. In 40 BC Herod left his family there with 800 soldiers ordered to protect them while he fled from the Parthian Army. However, the cisterns dried up and his family was about to die. He turned around and rescued them. Later Herod enlarged the complex into a palace-fortress. It contained twelve cisterns which could contain 1,412,588 cubic feet of water. When Jerusalem fell in 70, Jewish zealots captured the fortress and held it for 3 years. In 73 Roman General Flavius Silva and the Tenth Legion built a huge ramp to capture the stronghold. Rather than surrender, 960 men, women and children committed mass suicide.
Psalm 137 (remembering Jerusalem)
By the rivers of Babylon— there we sat down and there we wept when we remembered Zion.
On the willows there we hung up our harps.
For there our captors asked us for songs, and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
How could we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?
If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither!
Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy.
Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites the day of Jerusalem’s fall, how they said, “Tear it down! Tear it down! Down to its
foundations!”
O daughter Babylon, you devastator! Happy shall they be who pay you back what you have done to us!
Happy shall they be who take your little ones and dash them against the rock!
This is the fortress built by Herod the Great a short distance from the Dead Sea on the rock of Masada. In 40 BC Herod left his family there with 800 soldiers ordered to protect them while he fled from the Parthian Army. However, the cisterns dried up and his family was about to die. He turned around and rescued them. Later Herod enlarged the complex into a palace-fortress. It contained twelve cisterns which could contain 1,412,588 cubic feet of water. When Jerusalem fell in 70, Jewish zealots captured the fortress and held it for 3 years. In 73 Roman General Flavius Silva and the Tenth Legion built a huge ramp to capture the stronghold. Rather than surrender, 960 men, women and children committed mass suicide.
Psalm 137 (remembering Jerusalem)
By the rivers of Babylon— there we sat down and there we wept when we remembered Zion.
On the willows there we hung up our harps.
For there our captors asked us for songs, and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
How could we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?
If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither!
Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy.
Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites the day of Jerusalem’s fall, how they said, “Tear it down! Tear it down! Down to its
foundations!”
O daughter Babylon, you devastator! Happy shall they be who pay you back what you have done to us!
Happy shall they be who take your little ones and dash them against the rock!
February 14: Historial readings
We will be reading from the Jewish historian Josephus, particuarly two chapters of his writing.
Josephus War of the Jews, Book 7, Chapters 8 and 9
Find it online and read along with us. (It was too long to post here!!)
Josephus War of the Jews, Book 7, Chapters 8 and 9
Find it online and read along with us. (It was too long to post here!!)
February 14, Site #3
QUMRAN
Qumran is probably the “city of salt” referred to in Joshua 15:61-62. In the first century Qumran was a religious community that lived near the Dead Sea. This community was made up of a Sect of Jews called Essenes. Some scholars believe that John the Baptist (John 1:19-34) was an Essene because of his preaching and practice of baptismal repentance. The Essenes were baptized many times, every time they sinned (Acts 18:25, 19:2-5). Baptismal pools abound in Qumran. Apparently the Essenes hid their library in the caves surrounding Qumran a short time before their community was destroyed by the Romans in connection with the Jewish revolt. The scrolls in these caves were discovered from 1947-1958. The scrolls are of two varieties: scrolls of various Old Testament books, including a complete scroll of Isaiah; and other written documents relevant to the Essene community’s organization and worship.
Psalm 119:1-8, 33-40 (the importance of sacred scripture)
Happy are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord.
Happy are those who keep his decrees, who seek him with their whole heart,
who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways.
You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently.
O that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes!
Then I shall not be put to shame, having my eyes fixed on all your commandments.
I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous ordinances.
I will observe your statutes; do not utterly forsake me.
Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes, and I will observe it to the end.
Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart.
Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it.
Turn my heart to your decrees, and not to selfish gain.
Qumran is probably the “city of salt” referred to in Joshua 15:61-62. In the first century Qumran was a religious community that lived near the Dead Sea. This community was made up of a Sect of Jews called Essenes. Some scholars believe that John the Baptist (John 1:19-34) was an Essene because of his preaching and practice of baptismal repentance. The Essenes were baptized many times, every time they sinned (Acts 18:25, 19:2-5). Baptismal pools abound in Qumran. Apparently the Essenes hid their library in the caves surrounding Qumran a short time before their community was destroyed by the Romans in connection with the Jewish revolt. The scrolls in these caves were discovered from 1947-1958. The scrolls are of two varieties: scrolls of various Old Testament books, including a complete scroll of Isaiah; and other written documents relevant to the Essene community’s organization and worship.
Psalm 119:1-8, 33-40 (the importance of sacred scripture)
Happy are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord.
Happy are those who keep his decrees, who seek him with their whole heart,
who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways.
You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently.
O that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes!
Then I shall not be put to shame, having my eyes fixed on all your commandments.
I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous ordinances.
I will observe your statutes; do not utterly forsake me.
Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes, and I will observe it to the end.
Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart.
Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it.
Turn my heart to your decrees, and not to selfish gain.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Garden Tomb
The Garden Tomb ended a powerful day
in Jerusalem where we received communion.
This may be Jesus burial site.
Upper Room
We visited the upper room where Jesus shared
the last supper, and where the Holy Spirit came
at Pentecost.
the last supper, and where the Holy Spirit came
at Pentecost.
Wailing Wall
This is the men's section of the wailing wall. Chapelwood folks left written prayers at the wall.
February 13, Site #1
BETHLEHEM
It is a small town (Micah 5:2) five miles southwest of Jerusalem, in the hill country of Judea. In Jacob’s time it was called “Ephrath” (fruitful) and was the burial place for Rachel (Genesis 35:16, 19; 48:7). After the conquest of Canaan it was called “Bethlehem-Judah” (Ruth 1:1) to distinguish it from the Bethlehem in Zebulun (Joshua 19:15). It was “the city of David” (Luke 2:4, 11) because it was the hometown of David’s family for three generation prior to his birth (Ruth 1:1-2; 2:1, 4) and the place where he was anointed King of Israel (I Samuel 17:12-15). In Jeremiah’s time (41:17) there was a caravan inn near Bethlehem (II Samuel 19:37-40) that was the usual starting place for journeys to Egypt. The Bethlehem inn mentioned in Luke 2:7 may have been the same inn. Here the Messiah was born (Matthew 2:1; Luke 2:7). By the time the magi from Persia arrived the infant Jesus was living with his parents in a home here (Matthew 2:11). Some time after the departure of the magi, Herod the Great killed all the male children in the region in order to prevent a coup (Matthew 2:16). The place of Jesus’ birth was identified by Helena, mother of Constantine, in 326. Helena built the first Church of the Nativity over the grotto where Jesus was born.
Matthew 2:1-12 (the birth of Jesus from Joseph’s perspective)
In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.” When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet: ‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.’” Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.”
When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.
Luke 2:1-21 (the birth of Jesus from Mary’s perspective)
In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!” When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.
After eight days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
It is a small town (Micah 5:2) five miles southwest of Jerusalem, in the hill country of Judea. In Jacob’s time it was called “Ephrath” (fruitful) and was the burial place for Rachel (Genesis 35:16, 19; 48:7). After the conquest of Canaan it was called “Bethlehem-Judah” (Ruth 1:1) to distinguish it from the Bethlehem in Zebulun (Joshua 19:15). It was “the city of David” (Luke 2:4, 11) because it was the hometown of David’s family for three generation prior to his birth (Ruth 1:1-2; 2:1, 4) and the place where he was anointed King of Israel (I Samuel 17:12-15). In Jeremiah’s time (41:17) there was a caravan inn near Bethlehem (II Samuel 19:37-40) that was the usual starting place for journeys to Egypt. The Bethlehem inn mentioned in Luke 2:7 may have been the same inn. Here the Messiah was born (Matthew 2:1; Luke 2:7). By the time the magi from Persia arrived the infant Jesus was living with his parents in a home here (Matthew 2:11). Some time after the departure of the magi, Herod the Great killed all the male children in the region in order to prevent a coup (Matthew 2:16). The place of Jesus’ birth was identified by Helena, mother of Constantine, in 326. Helena built the first Church of the Nativity over the grotto where Jesus was born.
Matthew 2:1-12 (the birth of Jesus from Joseph’s perspective)
In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.” When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet: ‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.’” Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.”
When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.
Luke 2:1-21 (the birth of Jesus from Mary’s perspective)
In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!” When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.
After eight days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
February 13, Site #2
ST. JEROME’S GROTTO
The cave where Jerome translated the New Testament from Greek to Latin, around 400, is within the walls of the Church of St. Catherine. So also is his first tomb. His bones were later moved to the Church of St. Mary Major in Rome.
RACHEL’S TOMB / RAMAL RAHEL
Rachel was the second wife of Jacob; Jacob’s first wife was Leah, Rachel’s sister (Genesis 29:1-30). Rachel and Leah were actually Jacob’s first cousins, the daughters of his mother’s brother, Laban. Rachel bore two of Jacob’s male children, Joseph and Benjamin. Because Rachel was Jacob’s favorite wife, her sons were his favored children. When Rachel died Jacob buried Rachel here (Genesis 35:16-20) rather than in Hebron, the traditional burial place for his family (Genesis 23:17-20; 25:9; etc.) because Jacob’s first wife, Leah, was to be buried in Hebron. Jeremiah pictures Rachel as rising from the grave to weep over her children being carried to Babylonian captivity, never to return (Jeremiah 31:15). Matthew takes it instead as a prophesy of the “slaughter of the innocents” by Herod the Great (Matthew 2:18).
Matthew 2:13-23 (the slaughter of the innocents)
Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.”
When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah: “A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.” When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.” Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, “He will be called a Nazorean.”
The cave where Jerome translated the New Testament from Greek to Latin, around 400, is within the walls of the Church of St. Catherine. So also is his first tomb. His bones were later moved to the Church of St. Mary Major in Rome.
RACHEL’S TOMB / RAMAL RAHEL
Rachel was the second wife of Jacob; Jacob’s first wife was Leah, Rachel’s sister (Genesis 29:1-30). Rachel and Leah were actually Jacob’s first cousins, the daughters of his mother’s brother, Laban. Rachel bore two of Jacob’s male children, Joseph and Benjamin. Because Rachel was Jacob’s favorite wife, her sons were his favored children. When Rachel died Jacob buried Rachel here (Genesis 35:16-20) rather than in Hebron, the traditional burial place for his family (Genesis 23:17-20; 25:9; etc.) because Jacob’s first wife, Leah, was to be buried in Hebron. Jeremiah pictures Rachel as rising from the grave to weep over her children being carried to Babylonian captivity, never to return (Jeremiah 31:15). Matthew takes it instead as a prophesy of the “slaughter of the innocents” by Herod the Great (Matthew 2:18).
Matthew 2:13-23 (the slaughter of the innocents)
Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.”
When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah: “A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.” When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.” Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, “He will be called a Nazorean.”
February 13, Site #3
ST. STEPHEN’S GATE / LION’S GATE
Stephen was one of the seven deacons appointed to look after the daily food distribution to the poor in the early church (Acts 6:1-6). The need for deacons rose out of a complaint from the Greek-speaking Jews that their widows were not receiving their fair share of the relief. Stephen was described as “a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 6:5). Stephen’s ministry was not limited to serving food. He also did “great wonders and signs” (Acts 6:8). He became the first Christian martyr when he preached a sermon saying that the Holy Spirit did not reside exclusively in the Temple. They stoned him as a blasphemer (Deuteronomy 17:7) as Saul of Tarsus, later Paul, held the garments of those casting stones (Acts 7:57-58). Stephen’s Gate is the gate where the stoning took place.
Acts 6:1-15; 7:54-60 (the ministry and martyrdom of Stephen)
Now during those days, when the disciples were increasing in number, the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food. And the twelve called together the whole community of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should neglect the word of God in order to wait on tables. Therefore, friends, select from among yourselves seven men of good standing, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this task, while we, for our part, will devote ourselves to prayer and to serving the word.” What they said pleased the whole community, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, together with Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. They had these men stand before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them. The word of God continued to spread; the number of the disciples increased greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith. Stephen, full of grace and power, did great wonders and signs among the people. Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and others of those from Cilicia and Asia, stood up and argued with Stephen. But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke. Then they secretly instigated some men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” They stirred up the people as well as the elders and the scribes; then they suddenly confronted him, seized him, and brought him before the council. They set up false witnesses who said, “This man never stops saying things against this holy place and the law; for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses handed on to us.” And all who sat in the council looked intently at him, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
When they heard these things, they became enraged and ground their teeth at Stephen. But filled with the Holy Spirit, he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. “Look,” he said, “I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” But they covered their ears, and with a loud shout all rushed together against him. Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him; and the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he died.
Stephen was one of the seven deacons appointed to look after the daily food distribution to the poor in the early church (Acts 6:1-6). The need for deacons rose out of a complaint from the Greek-speaking Jews that their widows were not receiving their fair share of the relief. Stephen was described as “a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 6:5). Stephen’s ministry was not limited to serving food. He also did “great wonders and signs” (Acts 6:8). He became the first Christian martyr when he preached a sermon saying that the Holy Spirit did not reside exclusively in the Temple. They stoned him as a blasphemer (Deuteronomy 17:7) as Saul of Tarsus, later Paul, held the garments of those casting stones (Acts 7:57-58). Stephen’s Gate is the gate where the stoning took place.
Acts 6:1-15; 7:54-60 (the ministry and martyrdom of Stephen)
Now during those days, when the disciples were increasing in number, the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food. And the twelve called together the whole community of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should neglect the word of God in order to wait on tables. Therefore, friends, select from among yourselves seven men of good standing, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this task, while we, for our part, will devote ourselves to prayer and to serving the word.” What they said pleased the whole community, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, together with Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. They had these men stand before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them. The word of God continued to spread; the number of the disciples increased greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith. Stephen, full of grace and power, did great wonders and signs among the people. Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and others of those from Cilicia and Asia, stood up and argued with Stephen. But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke. Then they secretly instigated some men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” They stirred up the people as well as the elders and the scribes; then they suddenly confronted him, seized him, and brought him before the council. They set up false witnesses who said, “This man never stops saying things against this holy place and the law; for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses handed on to us.” And all who sat in the council looked intently at him, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
When they heard these things, they became enraged and ground their teeth at Stephen. But filled with the Holy Spirit, he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. “Look,” he said, “I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” But they covered their ears, and with a loud shout all rushed together against him. Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him; and the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he died.
February 13, Site #4
THE POOL OF BETHESDA
Bethesda means “house of grace.” It was a spring-fed pool in Jerusalem, surrounded by five porches (John 5:1-10). Located near the Sheep Gate, it was originally a sheep dip in order to purify sheep before they were sacrificed. In Jesus’ day it was a place of healing. People waited to step down into the waters whenever it bubbled up from the bottom, because the fresh waters were thought to have healing properties. In 1888, while the Church of St. Anne (the Virgin Mary’s Mother), over which the pool is built, was being repaired, a reservoir was discovered. On the wall was a fresco which depicted an angel troubling the water. The pool today is 55 feet long and 12 feet wide. It was originally much larger, probably 300 feet long and 180 feet wide. It was one of seven open-air reservoirs built during the second Temple period. They provided water for the growing population of Jerusalem.
John 5:1-18 (a healing at the Pool of Bethesda)
After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. In these lay many invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.” Jesus said to him, “Stand up, take your mat and walk.” At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk. Now that day was a sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had been cured, “It is the sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.” But he answered them, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Take up your mat and walk.’” They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take it up and walk’?” Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had disappeared in the crowd that was there. Later Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you have been made well! Do not sin any more, so that nothing worse happens to you.” The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. Therefore the Jews started persecuting Jesus, because he was doing such things on the sabbath.
But Jesus answered them, “My Father is still working, and I also am working.” For this reason the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because he was not only breaking the sabbath, but was also calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God.
Bethesda means “house of grace.” It was a spring-fed pool in Jerusalem, surrounded by five porches (John 5:1-10). Located near the Sheep Gate, it was originally a sheep dip in order to purify sheep before they were sacrificed. In Jesus’ day it was a place of healing. People waited to step down into the waters whenever it bubbled up from the bottom, because the fresh waters were thought to have healing properties. In 1888, while the Church of St. Anne (the Virgin Mary’s Mother), over which the pool is built, was being repaired, a reservoir was discovered. On the wall was a fresco which depicted an angel troubling the water. The pool today is 55 feet long and 12 feet wide. It was originally much larger, probably 300 feet long and 180 feet wide. It was one of seven open-air reservoirs built during the second Temple period. They provided water for the growing population of Jerusalem.
John 5:1-18 (a healing at the Pool of Bethesda)
After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. In these lay many invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.” Jesus said to him, “Stand up, take your mat and walk.” At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk. Now that day was a sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had been cured, “It is the sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.” But he answered them, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Take up your mat and walk.’” They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take it up and walk’?” Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had disappeared in the crowd that was there. Later Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you have been made well! Do not sin any more, so that nothing worse happens to you.” The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. Therefore the Jews started persecuting Jesus, because he was doing such things on the sabbath.
But Jesus answered them, “My Father is still working, and I also am working.” For this reason the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because he was not only breaking the sabbath, but was also calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God.
February 13, Site #5
ANTONIA FORTRESS
In 35 BC Herod the Great built a large fortress next to the Temple by which his soldiers could monitor the events taking place there. It was probably by means of this fortress that Paul’s life was saved (Acts 21:27-36). The fortress was named for Marc Antony, Herod’s patron. In the time of Jesus it was the headquarters of Pontius Pilate, the Roman procurator, and called the Praetorium (“fortress”). This is where the civil trial of Jesus took place. The fortress was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. The site where the Antonia Fortress once stood is now a vast complex occupied by several churches:
· Convent of the Sisters of Zion – It is built over the courtyard of the Praetorium.
· Monastery of the Flagellation – It where Jesus was flogged with a cat of nine tails (John 19:1).
· Lithostrothom – You will see where the Roman soldiers carved games into the stones.
· “Ecce Homo” Basilica and Arc – This is the place where Pontius Pilate presented the scourged Jesus to the crowd and said, “Behold, the man (John 19:5).”
This area is the beginning of the “Via Dolorosa.”
Psalm 22:1-15 (a Psalm prophesying Jesus’ death)
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my
groaning?
O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night, but find no rest.
Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.
In you our ancestors trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them.
To you they cried, and were saved; in you they trusted, and were not put to shame.
But I am a worm, and not human; scorned by others, and despised by the people.
All who see me mock at me; they make mouths at me, they shake their heads;
“Commit your cause to the Lord; let him deliver— let him rescue the one in whom he delights!”
Yet it was you who took me from the womb; you kept me safe on my mother’s breast.
On you I was cast from my birth, and since my mother bore me you have been my God.
Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help.
Many bulls encircle me, strong bulls of Bashan surround me;
they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion.
I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast;
my mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death.
Isaiah 53:1-12 (Isaiah’s prophesy of Jesus’ death)
Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity; and as one from whom others hide their faces he was despised, and we held him of no account.
Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By a perversion of justice he was taken away. Who could have imagined his future? For he was cut off from the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people. They made his grave with the wicked and his tomb with the rich, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.
Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him with pain. When you make his life an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, and shall prolong his days; through him the will of the Lord shall prosper. Out of his anguish he shall see light; he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge. The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he poured out himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
Luke 23:1-25 (the trial of Jesus before Pontius Pilate)
Then the assembly rose as a body and brought Jesus before Pilate. They began to accuse him, saying, “We found this man perverting our nation, forbidding us to pay taxes to the emperor, and saying that he himself is the Messiah, a king.” Then Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” He answered, “You say so.” Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no basis for an accusation against this man.” But they were insistent and said, “He stirs up the people by teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee where he began even to this place.” When Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean. And when he learned that he was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him off to Herod, who was himself in Jerusalem at that time. When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had been wanting to see him for a long time, because he had heard about him and was hoping to see him perform some sign. He questioned him at some length, but Jesus gave him no answer. The chief priests and the scribes stood by, vehemently accusing him. Even Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him; then he put an elegant robe on him, and sent him back to Pilate. That same day Herod and Pilate became friends with each other; before this they had been enemies.
Pilate then called together the chief priests, the leaders, and the people, and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was perverting the people; and here I have examined him in your presence and have not found this man guilty of any of your charges against him. Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us. Indeed, he has done nothing to deserve death. I will therefore have him flogged and release him.” Then they all shouted out together, “Away with this fellow! Release Barabbas for us!” (This was a man who had been put in prison for an insurrection that had taken place in the city, and for murder.) Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, addressed them again; but they kept shouting, “Crucify, crucify him!” A third time he said to them, “Why, what evil has he done? I have found in him no ground for the sentence of death; I will therefore have him flogged and then release him.” But they kept urgently demanding with loud shouts that he should be crucified; and their voices prevailed. So Pilate gave his verdict that their demand should be granted. He released the man they asked for, the one who had been put in prison for insurrection and murder, and he handed Jesus over as they wished.
In 35 BC Herod the Great built a large fortress next to the Temple by which his soldiers could monitor the events taking place there. It was probably by means of this fortress that Paul’s life was saved (Acts 21:27-36). The fortress was named for Marc Antony, Herod’s patron. In the time of Jesus it was the headquarters of Pontius Pilate, the Roman procurator, and called the Praetorium (“fortress”). This is where the civil trial of Jesus took place. The fortress was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. The site where the Antonia Fortress once stood is now a vast complex occupied by several churches:
· Convent of the Sisters of Zion – It is built over the courtyard of the Praetorium.
· Monastery of the Flagellation – It where Jesus was flogged with a cat of nine tails (John 19:1).
· Lithostrothom – You will see where the Roman soldiers carved games into the stones.
· “Ecce Homo” Basilica and Arc – This is the place where Pontius Pilate presented the scourged Jesus to the crowd and said, “Behold, the man (John 19:5).”
This area is the beginning of the “Via Dolorosa.”
Psalm 22:1-15 (a Psalm prophesying Jesus’ death)
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my
groaning?
O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night, but find no rest.
Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.
In you our ancestors trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them.
To you they cried, and were saved; in you they trusted, and were not put to shame.
But I am a worm, and not human; scorned by others, and despised by the people.
All who see me mock at me; they make mouths at me, they shake their heads;
“Commit your cause to the Lord; let him deliver— let him rescue the one in whom he delights!”
Yet it was you who took me from the womb; you kept me safe on my mother’s breast.
On you I was cast from my birth, and since my mother bore me you have been my God.
Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help.
Many bulls encircle me, strong bulls of Bashan surround me;
they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion.
I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast;
my mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death.
Isaiah 53:1-12 (Isaiah’s prophesy of Jesus’ death)
Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity; and as one from whom others hide their faces he was despised, and we held him of no account.
Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By a perversion of justice he was taken away. Who could have imagined his future? For he was cut off from the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people. They made his grave with the wicked and his tomb with the rich, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.
Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him with pain. When you make his life an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, and shall prolong his days; through him the will of the Lord shall prosper. Out of his anguish he shall see light; he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge. The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he poured out himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
Luke 23:1-25 (the trial of Jesus before Pontius Pilate)
Then the assembly rose as a body and brought Jesus before Pilate. They began to accuse him, saying, “We found this man perverting our nation, forbidding us to pay taxes to the emperor, and saying that he himself is the Messiah, a king.” Then Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” He answered, “You say so.” Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no basis for an accusation against this man.” But they were insistent and said, “He stirs up the people by teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee where he began even to this place.” When Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean. And when he learned that he was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him off to Herod, who was himself in Jerusalem at that time. When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had been wanting to see him for a long time, because he had heard about him and was hoping to see him perform some sign. He questioned him at some length, but Jesus gave him no answer. The chief priests and the scribes stood by, vehemently accusing him. Even Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him; then he put an elegant robe on him, and sent him back to Pilate. That same day Herod and Pilate became friends with each other; before this they had been enemies.
Pilate then called together the chief priests, the leaders, and the people, and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was perverting the people; and here I have examined him in your presence and have not found this man guilty of any of your charges against him. Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us. Indeed, he has done nothing to deserve death. I will therefore have him flogged and release him.” Then they all shouted out together, “Away with this fellow! Release Barabbas for us!” (This was a man who had been put in prison for an insurrection that had taken place in the city, and for murder.) Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, addressed them again; but they kept shouting, “Crucify, crucify him!” A third time he said to them, “Why, what evil has he done? I have found in him no ground for the sentence of death; I will therefore have him flogged and then release him.” But they kept urgently demanding with loud shouts that he should be crucified; and their voices prevailed. So Pilate gave his verdict that their demand should be granted. He released the man they asked for, the one who had been put in prison for insurrection and murder, and he handed Jesus over as they wished.
February 13, Site #6
THE VIA DOLOROSA / THE WAY OF THE CROSS
After each station breathe of the words of “Kyrie eleison” – “Lord have mercy…Christ have
mercy…Lord have mercy”
Station One: Jesus is Scourged, Judged Before Pilate (Church of the Flagellation)
John 18:28-19:15 - 28Then they took Jesus from Caiaphas to Pilate’s headquarters. It was early in the morning. They themselves did not enter the headquarters, so as to avoid ritual defilement and to be able to eat the Passover. So Pilate went out to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?” They answered, “If this man were not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you.” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and judge him according to your law.” The Jews replied, “We are not permitted to put anyone to death.” (This was to fulfill what Jesus had said when he indicated the kind of death he was to die.) Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?” Pilate replied, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.” Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate asked him, “What is truth?” After he had said this, he went out to the Jews again and told them, “I find no case against him. But you have a custom that I release someone for you at the Passover. Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” They shouted in reply, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a bandit.
Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. And the soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they dressed him in a purple robe. They kept coming up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and striking him on the face. Pilate went out again and said to them, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no case against him.” So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!” When the chief priests and the police saw him, they shouted, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him; I find no case against him.” The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has claimed to be the Son of God.” Now when Pilate heard this, he was more afraid than ever. He entered his headquarters again and asked Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. Pilate therefore said to him, “Do you refuse to speak to me? Do you not know that I have power to release you, and power to crucify you?” Jesus answered him, “You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above; therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.” From then on Pilate tried to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are no friend of the emperor. Everyone who claims to be a king sets himself against the emperor.” When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus outside and sat on the judge’s bench at a place called The Stone Pavement, or in Hebrew Gabbatha. Now it was the day of Preparation for the Passover; and it was about noon. He said to the Jews, “Here is your King!” They cried out, “Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!” Pilate asked them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but the emperor.”
Station Two: Jesus Receives His cross (the Church of Condemnation)
John 19:16-17 - 16 Then he handed him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus; 17and carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called The Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha.
Station Three: Jesus Falls For the First Time (Armenian Catholic Church)
Isaiah 53:4 - 4 Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted.
Station Four: Jesus Meets His Mother (Church of Our Lady of the Spasm)
Luke 2:25-35 - 25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying, “Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.” And the child’s father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too.”
Station Five: Simon of Cyrene Helps Jesus Carry the Cross (Small oratory built by the
Franciscans)
Luke 23:26 - 26 As they led him away, they seized a man, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming from the country, and they laid the cross on him, and made him carry it behind Jesus.
Station Six: Veronica Wipes Jesus’ Brow (Little Sisters of Jesus Convent)
“Veronica” means “true icon or image.”
Isaiah 53:2-3 - 2 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity; and as one from whom others hide their faces he was despised, and we held him of no account.
Station Seven: Jesus Falls a Second Time (2 chapels, one over the other one).
This was the place where the city gate was in Jesus’ day. He was crucified outside the city gates.
I Peter 2:24 - 24He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.
Station Eight: Jesus Talks to the Weeping Women
Note the cross engraved in the wall and the Greek word “Nika,” meaning “In Jesus the
Christian is victorious”
Luke 23:27-31 - 27A great number of the people followed him, and among them were women who were beating their breasts and wailing for him. But Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For the days are surely coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.’ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us’; and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
Station Nine: Jesus Falls a Third Time (Coptic Church, near the entrance of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher)
Hebrews 4:15-16 - 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Station Ten: Jesus is Stripped of His Garments (Golgatha, Calvary, the Skull)
John 19:18-24 - 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus between them. Pilate also had an inscription written and put on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” Many of the Jews read this inscription, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek. Then the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’” Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.” When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one for each soldier. They also took his tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top. So they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see who will get it.” This was to fulfill what the scripture says, “They divided my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots.”
Station Eleven: Jesus Is Crucified
John 19: 25-29 - 25And that is what the soldiers did. Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home. After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfill the scripture), “I am thirsty.” A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth.
Station Twelve: Jesus Dies on the Cross
Mark 15:37-39 - 37 Then Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. Now when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was God’s Son!”
John 19:30-37 - 30 When Jesus had received the wine, he said, “It is finished.” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. Since it was the day of Preparation, the Jews did not want the bodies left on the cross during the sabbath, especially because that sabbath was a day of great solemnity. So they asked Pilate to have the legs of the crucified men broken and the bodies removed. Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who had been crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came out. (He who saw this has testified so that you also may believe. His testimony is true, and he knows that he tells the truth.) These things occurred so that the scripture might be fulfilled, “None of his bones shall be broken.” And again another passage of scripture says, “They will look on the one whom they have pierced.”
Station Thirteen: Jesus’ Body is Removed from the Cross
John 19:38-42 - 38 After these things, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, though a secret one because of his fear of the Jews, asked Pilate to let him take away the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission; so he came and removed his body. Nicodemus, who had at first come to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds. They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, according to the burial custom of the Jews. Now there was a garden in the place where he was crucified, and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. And so, because it was the Jewish day of Preparation, and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
Station Fourteen: Jesus’ Body is Placed in the Tomb
Matthew 27:55-66; 28:6 - 55 Many women were also there, looking on from a distance; they had followed Jesus from Galilee and had provided for him. Among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee. When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who was also a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus; then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. So Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock. He then rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb. The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, “Sir, we remember what that impostor said while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ Therefore command the tomb to be made secure until the third day; otherwise his disciples may go and steal him away, and tell the people, ‘He has been raised from the dead,’ and the last deception would be worse than the first.” Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers; go, make it as secure as you can.” So they went with the guard and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone.
28:6 - 6He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.
After each station breathe of the words of “Kyrie eleison” – “Lord have mercy…Christ have
mercy…Lord have mercy”
Station One: Jesus is Scourged, Judged Before Pilate (Church of the Flagellation)
John 18:28-19:15 - 28Then they took Jesus from Caiaphas to Pilate’s headquarters. It was early in the morning. They themselves did not enter the headquarters, so as to avoid ritual defilement and to be able to eat the Passover. So Pilate went out to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?” They answered, “If this man were not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you.” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and judge him according to your law.” The Jews replied, “We are not permitted to put anyone to death.” (This was to fulfill what Jesus had said when he indicated the kind of death he was to die.) Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?” Pilate replied, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.” Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate asked him, “What is truth?” After he had said this, he went out to the Jews again and told them, “I find no case against him. But you have a custom that I release someone for you at the Passover. Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” They shouted in reply, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a bandit.
Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. And the soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they dressed him in a purple robe. They kept coming up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and striking him on the face. Pilate went out again and said to them, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no case against him.” So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!” When the chief priests and the police saw him, they shouted, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him; I find no case against him.” The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has claimed to be the Son of God.” Now when Pilate heard this, he was more afraid than ever. He entered his headquarters again and asked Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. Pilate therefore said to him, “Do you refuse to speak to me? Do you not know that I have power to release you, and power to crucify you?” Jesus answered him, “You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above; therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.” From then on Pilate tried to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are no friend of the emperor. Everyone who claims to be a king sets himself against the emperor.” When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus outside and sat on the judge’s bench at a place called The Stone Pavement, or in Hebrew Gabbatha. Now it was the day of Preparation for the Passover; and it was about noon. He said to the Jews, “Here is your King!” They cried out, “Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!” Pilate asked them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but the emperor.”
Station Two: Jesus Receives His cross (the Church of Condemnation)
John 19:16-17 - 16 Then he handed him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus; 17and carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called The Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha.
Station Three: Jesus Falls For the First Time (Armenian Catholic Church)
Isaiah 53:4 - 4 Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted.
Station Four: Jesus Meets His Mother (Church of Our Lady of the Spasm)
Luke 2:25-35 - 25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying, “Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.” And the child’s father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too.”
Station Five: Simon of Cyrene Helps Jesus Carry the Cross (Small oratory built by the
Franciscans)
Luke 23:26 - 26 As they led him away, they seized a man, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming from the country, and they laid the cross on him, and made him carry it behind Jesus.
Station Six: Veronica Wipes Jesus’ Brow (Little Sisters of Jesus Convent)
“Veronica” means “true icon or image.”
Isaiah 53:2-3 - 2 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity; and as one from whom others hide their faces he was despised, and we held him of no account.
Station Seven: Jesus Falls a Second Time (2 chapels, one over the other one).
This was the place where the city gate was in Jesus’ day. He was crucified outside the city gates.
I Peter 2:24 - 24He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.
Station Eight: Jesus Talks to the Weeping Women
Note the cross engraved in the wall and the Greek word “Nika,” meaning “In Jesus the
Christian is victorious”
Luke 23:27-31 - 27A great number of the people followed him, and among them were women who were beating their breasts and wailing for him. But Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For the days are surely coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.’ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us’; and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
Station Nine: Jesus Falls a Third Time (Coptic Church, near the entrance of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher)
Hebrews 4:15-16 - 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Station Ten: Jesus is Stripped of His Garments (Golgatha, Calvary, the Skull)
John 19:18-24 - 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus between them. Pilate also had an inscription written and put on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” Many of the Jews read this inscription, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek. Then the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’” Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.” When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one for each soldier. They also took his tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top. So they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see who will get it.” This was to fulfill what the scripture says, “They divided my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots.”
Station Eleven: Jesus Is Crucified
John 19: 25-29 - 25And that is what the soldiers did. Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home. After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfill the scripture), “I am thirsty.” A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth.
Station Twelve: Jesus Dies on the Cross
Mark 15:37-39 - 37 Then Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. Now when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was God’s Son!”
John 19:30-37 - 30 When Jesus had received the wine, he said, “It is finished.” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. Since it was the day of Preparation, the Jews did not want the bodies left on the cross during the sabbath, especially because that sabbath was a day of great solemnity. So they asked Pilate to have the legs of the crucified men broken and the bodies removed. Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who had been crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came out. (He who saw this has testified so that you also may believe. His testimony is true, and he knows that he tells the truth.) These things occurred so that the scripture might be fulfilled, “None of his bones shall be broken.” And again another passage of scripture says, “They will look on the one whom they have pierced.”
Station Thirteen: Jesus’ Body is Removed from the Cross
John 19:38-42 - 38 After these things, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, though a secret one because of his fear of the Jews, asked Pilate to let him take away the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission; so he came and removed his body. Nicodemus, who had at first come to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds. They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, according to the burial custom of the Jews. Now there was a garden in the place where he was crucified, and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. And so, because it was the Jewish day of Preparation, and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
Station Fourteen: Jesus’ Body is Placed in the Tomb
Matthew 27:55-66; 28:6 - 55 Many women were also there, looking on from a distance; they had followed Jesus from Galilee and had provided for him. Among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee. When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who was also a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus; then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. So Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock. He then rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb. The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, “Sir, we remember what that impostor said while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ Therefore command the tomb to be made secure until the third day; otherwise his disciples may go and steal him away, and tell the people, ‘He has been raised from the dead,’ and the last deception would be worse than the first.” Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers; go, make it as secure as you can.” So they went with the guard and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone.
28:6 - 6He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.
February 13, Site #7
CRUCIFIXION
Crucifixion was a form of capital punishment used by the Romans for slaves, violent criminals, and those involved in revolution. Judea was littered with crosses after each of the revolts against Rome (4, 70, 135 AD). Josephus, the Jewish historian, describes a time when there was a cross on every hilltop. Victims were normally naked. They were rarely buried – their corpses being left for birds of prey. People impelled to a tree were considered cursed by God (Deuteronomy 21:22-23). People who were crucified were nailed to the cross through their forearms just above the wrist and through their heels. Their legs were pushed up so that their arms had to carry the body’s full weight. This then caused the nails to tear through the flesh of the forearm until they reached the wrist. The victim had no place to rest. Normally their legs were broken to make rest more difficult. Eventually they would die of suffocation, unable to pull themselves up sufficiently to breathe.
CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHER
This church includes under its roof the events that happened at stations ten through fourteen of the Via Dolorosa. It is where Jesus was crucified, buried, and was raised from the dead. It is a compound of churches divided between six Christian communities: Greek Orthodox, Armenians, Franciscans, Ethiopians, Coptics, and Syrian Jacobites. Each group zealously protects its rights. Through the years the various sects have had difficulty uniting to maintain the complex. The first church here was built by Helena, mother of Constantine, in 326.
I Peter 1:3-9 (our faith in the risen Christ)
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith—being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Crucifixion was a form of capital punishment used by the Romans for slaves, violent criminals, and those involved in revolution. Judea was littered with crosses after each of the revolts against Rome (4, 70, 135 AD). Josephus, the Jewish historian, describes a time when there was a cross on every hilltop. Victims were normally naked. They were rarely buried – their corpses being left for birds of prey. People impelled to a tree were considered cursed by God (Deuteronomy 21:22-23). People who were crucified were nailed to the cross through their forearms just above the wrist and through their heels. Their legs were pushed up so that their arms had to carry the body’s full weight. This then caused the nails to tear through the flesh of the forearm until they reached the wrist. The victim had no place to rest. Normally their legs were broken to make rest more difficult. Eventually they would die of suffocation, unable to pull themselves up sufficiently to breathe.
CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHER
This church includes under its roof the events that happened at stations ten through fourteen of the Via Dolorosa. It is where Jesus was crucified, buried, and was raised from the dead. It is a compound of churches divided between six Christian communities: Greek Orthodox, Armenians, Franciscans, Ethiopians, Coptics, and Syrian Jacobites. Each group zealously protects its rights. Through the years the various sects have had difficulty uniting to maintain the complex. The first church here was built by Helena, mother of Constantine, in 326.
I Peter 1:3-9 (our faith in the risen Christ)
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith—being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
February 13, Site #8
GARDEN TOMB / GORDON’S CALVARY
British General Charles George Gordon came to Jerusalem in 1883. His gaze rested on a hill north of the Damascus Gate which seemed to resemble a skull (just above the Bus Station today). Someone years before had dig and discovered a rock-cut tomb nearby. An ancient cistern was also discovered proving that the place had been a garden in antiquity. Each of these matched the description of the crucifixion and the resurrection in the New Testament. Because Jesus was alive it never occurred to Christians in the early church to identify the precise location of the tomb.
John 20:1-18
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes.
But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.
British General Charles George Gordon came to Jerusalem in 1883. His gaze rested on a hill north of the Damascus Gate which seemed to resemble a skull (just above the Bus Station today). Someone years before had dig and discovered a rock-cut tomb nearby. An ancient cistern was also discovered proving that the place had been a garden in antiquity. Each of these matched the description of the crucifixion and the resurrection in the New Testament. Because Jesus was alive it never occurred to Christians in the early church to identify the precise location of the tomb.
John 20:1-18
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes.
But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
February 12, Site #1
JERUSALEM
Jerusalem was occupied from 3500 BC. During the era of Abraham it was called Salem, “City of Peace” (Genesis 14:18-20) It was territorially assigned to the tribe of Judah, but they were unable to drive out the Jebusites (Judges 1:21). The Jebusites were finally conquered by David around 1000 BC (II Samuel 5:6-9; I Chronicles 11:4-7). David changed the name from Jebus to Jerusalem and moved the capital (II Samuel 5:9) and the Ark of the Covenant there (II Samuel 6:1-23). Jerusalem was completely destroyed twice: in 597 BC by Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon; and in 70 AD by Titus, the Roman general. The character of Jerusalem was altered when Constantine, Emperor of Byzantium, declared Christianity the official state religion in 332. His mother, Helena, went on a relic-finding mission, after which, he ordered the building of four churches: the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the Church of Mount Zion, the Church of Eleona, and the Church of Gethsemane. The Arab conquest of Palestine in 1638 initiated a long period of Muslim domination. The magnificent Dome of the Rock and El Agsa Mosque were built in this period. The Crusaders conquered Jerusalem in 1199 and held it until the Kurdish ruler Saladin restored Muslim rule.
II Samuel 5:6-9; 6:1-23 (David makes Jerusalem his capital)
The king and his men marched to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who said to David, “You will not come in here, even the blind and the lame will turn you back” —thinking, “David cannot come in here.” Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion, which is now the city of David. David had said on that day, “Whoever would strike down the Jebusites, let him get up the water shaft to attack the lame and the blind, those whom David hates.” Therefore it is said, “The blind and the lame shall not come into the house.” David occupied the stronghold, and named it the city of David. David built the city all around from the Millo inwards.
David again gathered all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. David and all the people with him set out and went from Baale-judah, to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the name of the Lord of hosts who is enthroned on the cherubim. They carried the ark of God on a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were driving the new cart with the ark of God; and Ahio went in front of the ark. David and all the house of Israel were dancing before the Lord with all their might, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals. When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen shook it. The anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah; and God struck him there because he reached out his hand to the ark; and he died there beside the ark of God. David was angry because the Lord had burst forth with an outburst upon Uzzah; so that place is called Perez-uzzah, to this day. David was afraid of the Lord that day; he said, “How can the ark of the Lord come into my care?” So David was unwilling to take the ark of the Lord into his care in the city of David; instead David took it to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. The ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months; and the Lord blessed Obed-edom and all his household. It was told King David, “The Lord has blessed the household of Obed-edom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God.” So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom to the city of David with rejoicing; and when those who bore the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fatling. David danced before the Lord with all his might; David was girded with a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet. As the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal daughter of Saul looked out of the window, and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord; and she despised him in her heart. They brought in the ark of the Lord, and set it in its place, inside the tent that David had pitched for it; and David offered burnt offerings and offerings of well-being before the Lord.
When David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the offerings of well-being, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts, and distributed food among all the people, the whole multitude of Israel, both men and women, to each a cake of bread, a portion of meat, and a cake of raisins. Then all the people went back to their homes. David returned to bless his household. But Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and said, “How the king of Israel honored himself today, uncovering himself today before the eyes of his servants’ maids, as any vulgar fellow might shamelessly uncover himself!” David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me in place of your father and all his household, to appoint me as prince over Israel, the people of the Lord, that I have danced before the Lord. I will make myself yet more contemptible than this, and I will be abased in my own eyes; but by the maids of whom you have spoken, by them I shall be held in honor.” And Michal the daughter of Saul had no child to the day of her death.
Jerusalem was occupied from 3500 BC. During the era of Abraham it was called Salem, “City of Peace” (Genesis 14:18-20) It was territorially assigned to the tribe of Judah, but they were unable to drive out the Jebusites (Judges 1:21). The Jebusites were finally conquered by David around 1000 BC (II Samuel 5:6-9; I Chronicles 11:4-7). David changed the name from Jebus to Jerusalem and moved the capital (II Samuel 5:9) and the Ark of the Covenant there (II Samuel 6:1-23). Jerusalem was completely destroyed twice: in 597 BC by Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon; and in 70 AD by Titus, the Roman general. The character of Jerusalem was altered when Constantine, Emperor of Byzantium, declared Christianity the official state religion in 332. His mother, Helena, went on a relic-finding mission, after which, he ordered the building of four churches: the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the Church of Mount Zion, the Church of Eleona, and the Church of Gethsemane. The Arab conquest of Palestine in 1638 initiated a long period of Muslim domination. The magnificent Dome of the Rock and El Agsa Mosque were built in this period. The Crusaders conquered Jerusalem in 1199 and held it until the Kurdish ruler Saladin restored Muslim rule.
II Samuel 5:6-9; 6:1-23 (David makes Jerusalem his capital)
The king and his men marched to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who said to David, “You will not come in here, even the blind and the lame will turn you back” —thinking, “David cannot come in here.” Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion, which is now the city of David. David had said on that day, “Whoever would strike down the Jebusites, let him get up the water shaft to attack the lame and the blind, those whom David hates.” Therefore it is said, “The blind and the lame shall not come into the house.” David occupied the stronghold, and named it the city of David. David built the city all around from the Millo inwards.
David again gathered all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. David and all the people with him set out and went from Baale-judah, to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the name of the Lord of hosts who is enthroned on the cherubim. They carried the ark of God on a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were driving the new cart with the ark of God; and Ahio went in front of the ark. David and all the house of Israel were dancing before the Lord with all their might, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals. When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen shook it. The anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah; and God struck him there because he reached out his hand to the ark; and he died there beside the ark of God. David was angry because the Lord had burst forth with an outburst upon Uzzah; so that place is called Perez-uzzah, to this day. David was afraid of the Lord that day; he said, “How can the ark of the Lord come into my care?” So David was unwilling to take the ark of the Lord into his care in the city of David; instead David took it to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. The ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months; and the Lord blessed Obed-edom and all his household. It was told King David, “The Lord has blessed the household of Obed-edom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God.” So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom to the city of David with rejoicing; and when those who bore the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fatling. David danced before the Lord with all his might; David was girded with a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet. As the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal daughter of Saul looked out of the window, and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord; and she despised him in her heart. They brought in the ark of the Lord, and set it in its place, inside the tent that David had pitched for it; and David offered burnt offerings and offerings of well-being before the Lord.
When David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the offerings of well-being, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts, and distributed food among all the people, the whole multitude of Israel, both men and women, to each a cake of bread, a portion of meat, and a cake of raisins. Then all the people went back to their homes. David returned to bless his household. But Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and said, “How the king of Israel honored himself today, uncovering himself today before the eyes of his servants’ maids, as any vulgar fellow might shamelessly uncover himself!” David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me in place of your father and all his household, to appoint me as prince over Israel, the people of the Lord, that I have danced before the Lord. I will make myself yet more contemptible than this, and I will be abased in my own eyes; but by the maids of whom you have spoken, by them I shall be held in honor.” And Michal the daughter of Saul had no child to the day of her death.
February 12, Site#2
THE MOUNT OF OLIVES
There were olive trees on the Mount of Olives in the day of Jesus. The Garden of Gethsemane was a private garden loaned to Jesus as a place of prayer. It contained an olive press (Gethsemane). From the Mount of Olives there is a panoramic view of Jerusalem. There are several important churches on the Mount of Olives:
· the Church of the Ascension – Russian Orthodox, built 1880
· the Church of Pater Noster (Lord’s Prayer) Church of All Nations / Basilica of Eleona (Olive Grove), first in the fourth century; the church is covered with the “Our Father” written in 85 languages.
· the Church of Dominus Flevit (“Jesus wept”) – originally built in 1955
· the Church of the Gethsemane – originally built in 379
· Bethany – means “house of figs,” located just over the Mount of Olives(Luke 10:32-42; 21:37; John 11:18)
Luke 22:39-53 (Jesus prays and is arrested in Gethsemane)
He came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples followed him. When he reached the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not come into the time of trial.” Then he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, knelt down, and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done.” Then an angel from heaven appeared to him and gave him strength. In his anguish he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground.
When he got up from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping because of grief, and he said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not come into the time of trial.” While he was still speaking, suddenly a crowd came, and the one called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him; but Jesus said to him, “Judas, is it with a kiss that you are betraying the Son of Man?” When those who were around him saw what was coming, they asked, “Lord, should we strike with the sword?” Then one of them struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his right ear. But Jesus said, “No more of this!” And he touched his ear and healed him. Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple police, and the elders who had come for him, “Have you come out with swords and clubs as if I were a bandit? When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness!”
John 17:1-26 (Jesus’ high priestly prayer)
After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed.
I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them.
And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.
Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.
”I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. “Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
There were olive trees on the Mount of Olives in the day of Jesus. The Garden of Gethsemane was a private garden loaned to Jesus as a place of prayer. It contained an olive press (Gethsemane). From the Mount of Olives there is a panoramic view of Jerusalem. There are several important churches on the Mount of Olives:
· the Church of the Ascension – Russian Orthodox, built 1880
· the Church of Pater Noster (Lord’s Prayer) Church of All Nations / Basilica of Eleona (Olive Grove), first in the fourth century; the church is covered with the “Our Father” written in 85 languages.
· the Church of Dominus Flevit (“Jesus wept”) – originally built in 1955
· the Church of the Gethsemane – originally built in 379
· Bethany – means “house of figs,” located just over the Mount of Olives(Luke 10:32-42; 21:37; John 11:18)
Luke 22:39-53 (Jesus prays and is arrested in Gethsemane)
He came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples followed him. When he reached the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not come into the time of trial.” Then he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, knelt down, and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done.” Then an angel from heaven appeared to him and gave him strength. In his anguish he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground.
When he got up from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping because of grief, and he said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not come into the time of trial.” While he was still speaking, suddenly a crowd came, and the one called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him; but Jesus said to him, “Judas, is it with a kiss that you are betraying the Son of Man?” When those who were around him saw what was coming, they asked, “Lord, should we strike with the sword?” Then one of them struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his right ear. But Jesus said, “No more of this!” And he touched his ear and healed him. Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple police, and the elders who had come for him, “Have you come out with swords and clubs as if I were a bandit? When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness!”
John 17:1-26 (Jesus’ high priestly prayer)
After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed.
I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them.
And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.
Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.
”I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. “Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
February 12, Site #3
HOUSE OF CAIAPHAS
It is marked by the Armenian Church on the summit of Mount Zion, close to the Zion Gate of the Old City. This is the site of the high priest Caiaphas, where Jesus was taken after his arrest. It is called the Church of St. Peter in Gallicantu, or the Church of the Crowing Cock.
Mark 14:53-65 (the trial of Jesus before Caiaphas)
They took Jesus to the high priest; and all the chief priests, the elders, and the scribes were assembled. Peter had followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest; and he was sitting with the guards, warming himself at the fire. Now the chief priests and the whole council were looking for testimony against Jesus to put him to death; but they found none. For many gave false testimony against him, and their testimony did not agree. Some stood up and gave false testimony against him, saying, “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another, not made with hands.’” But even on this point their testimony did not agree. Then the high priest stood up before them and asked Jesus, “Have you no answer? What is it that they testify against you?” But he was silent and did not answer. Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?” Jesus said, “I am; and ‘you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power,’ and ‘coming with the clouds of heaven.’”
Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, “Why do we still need witnesses? You have heard his blasphemy! What is your decision?” All of them condemned him as deserving death. Some began to spit on him, to blindfold him, and to strike him, saying to him, “Prophesy!” The guards also took him over and beat him.
It is marked by the Armenian Church on the summit of Mount Zion, close to the Zion Gate of the Old City. This is the site of the high priest Caiaphas, where Jesus was taken after his arrest. It is called the Church of St. Peter in Gallicantu, or the Church of the Crowing Cock.
Mark 14:53-65 (the trial of Jesus before Caiaphas)
They took Jesus to the high priest; and all the chief priests, the elders, and the scribes were assembled. Peter had followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest; and he was sitting with the guards, warming himself at the fire. Now the chief priests and the whole council were looking for testimony against Jesus to put him to death; but they found none. For many gave false testimony against him, and their testimony did not agree. Some stood up and gave false testimony against him, saying, “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another, not made with hands.’” But even on this point their testimony did not agree. Then the high priest stood up before them and asked Jesus, “Have you no answer? What is it that they testify against you?” But he was silent and did not answer. Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?” Jesus said, “I am; and ‘you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power,’ and ‘coming with the clouds of heaven.’”
Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, “Why do we still need witnesses? You have heard his blasphemy! What is your decision?” All of them condemned him as deserving death. Some began to spit on him, to blindfold him, and to strike him, saying to him, “Prophesy!” The guards also took him over and beat him.
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