It is a clear,crisp winters day in Jerusalem. As this is the low season, the crowds have been small as we have moved around. As for the previous days, we left our hotel at 8am, returning a little after 5pm. Today we spent most of our time inside the walls of the Old City.
We began on the Temple Mount. After getting through security (metal detectors, impossibly young Israeli soldiers with guns) we ascended some rickety wooden steps to the platform King Herod enlarged in the years immediately before Jesus. The whole Temple Mount is under the authority of the Muslims. It is now dominated by the Al As-qa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock. We could enter neither. The Dome of the Rock is said to be built over the rock where Abraham was to sacrifice Isaac, and where later the Holy of Holies was located at the center of the Temple Precinct. We were able to walk around unescorted but always watched. The temple area is huge; I could easily imagine in my mind's eye the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims congregating there for Passover and other festivals.
We left the Temple Mount to travel the traditional Way of the Cross, beginning at the point where Jesus was flogged and ending at the site of his crucifixion and burial. We wound our way through the narrow Jerusalem streets in what is now the Muslim quarter. It was fascinating and disconcerting at the same time - most especially the church of the Holy Sepulcher at the end of our journey. There we joined with hundreds of pilgrims in a church complex that is a mixture of architectural styles and church traditions and art work. It all felt a little kitsch. I have to acknowledge my protestant suspicions of shrines, which this felt like. My reflections are not helped by the fact the various traditions responsible for the church regularly find small and large disputes to fight over, sometimes to the point of violence (as recent as Easter this year). Not too edifying.
After lunch we traveled to the Old City of David, just outside the current city walls where Jerusalem was first established by the Canaanites and then by the kings of Israel. The archeology is amazing and awe-inspiring. We saw ancient walls dated back before the reign of David, the pools of Si-loam and Hezekiah's tunnel which linked the city with the water source that was its heart - the Gi-hod spring.
Finally, we went to what is the second possible site of Jesus' Death and burial - the garden tomb, just outside the Damascus gate. Although the tomb in real and dated to the first century, the evidence that this is the place is at best perhaps conjecture. Having said this, the current setting stands in stark contrast to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (the more likely site) in that it has no major shrines, but still retains a simple garden setting. It was in this setting we finished the day with communion. I have goose bumps just typing that last sentence out.
A bizarre little postscript. At the Church of the Holy Sepulcher I saw a person I cannot fail to recognize - Christian Activist and author, Shane Claiborne. I said hello. The people you meet...
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