A Garden, a Tomb and a Mission

A View of Jerusalem from Mt. Scopus

Most places in Israel I find easy to write about: The Road to Switzerland, The Galilee, The Dead Sea and so on. For some reason, I'm discovering that it is tougher to write about Jerusalem. I find myself wondering why and saying to myself "just sit down and pick an area"; and I can do that! But Jerusalem is so complex that I want to do more. I can and will continue to take you to places in Jerusalem and elsewhere in Israel, but it is very difficult to capture such a city in words.

In my last blog, I left you at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the end of the Via Dolorosa and, very possibly, the area of the crucifixion and the burial of Jesus (just thirty feet or so below it). Before we look at a few more places within and without the Old City, I want to take you to the place that I like to visualize as the burial place of our Lord, the Garden of the Tomb.

    

What is know as Skull Hill sits just outside the
Damascus Gate

In 1842 a German theologian named Otto Thenius suggested that an outcropping of rock, just outside the Damascus Gate and near what is today a bus station, resembled a skull and might possibly be "Skull Hill" or Golgotha.  That theory was unexplored for some time until British General Charles Gordon began to publicize similar ideas in 1883. In 1867 an ancient Jewish tomb had been unearthed near to "Skull Hill" and many began to believe that this might be the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. The structure fit the description of the tomb of a wealthy Jew quite well and followed the details given in the 
Gospels: having a low doorway and a trough for a rolling stone that would have sealed the grave. Nearby, a large cistern and wine press from the Second Temple Period were later found, giving even greater credence to the idea that this was the garden and the tomb of a wealthy man. 

The Garden Tomb fits the description of a rich man's tomb of
the Second Temple Period.

Waiting for the Easter Service to Begin

Easter Sunday worshippers wait to
enter the Garden of the Tomb

Today the area is known as The Garden Tomb and has been maintained by the British since the property was purchased by The Garden Tomb Society in 1894.  It is a lovely area, beautifully maintained and open to all who want to tour or worship in the gardens.  On Easter Sunday it is the site of four large celebrations in three different languages attended by thousands of people from all over the world. Attending one of the services is an energizing and enriching experience.

Sharing the Easter Message in the Garden

Whether this is the actual site of the burial of Jesus we do not know at this point. However it is where I prefer to sit and visualize the amazing power (dunamus in the Greek, the word from which we get the word dynamite) of God being manifest as the tomb was opened and Jesus arose.  I can imagine Mary as she ran toward the tomb and saw that the stone was no longer in it's place but rolled away.  Is this where Peter and "the disciple that Jesus loved" looked inside and saw, not a body, but the neatly folded grave clothes and an empty shelf where the body should have been?  Were there angels standing there when Mary finally got the courage to look inside? And was Jesus standing in the trees nearby as she turned to go, looking at first like a gardener to her tear-filled eyes. What joy she must have felt as she realized the truth. This is where I like to think of all of this happening.

As Christians, our faith pivots on one event, the resurrection. Is this where it all began?  From that point, history records that for forty days Jesus appeared to groups of people both large and small before His ascension to heaven. His message to them was of the Kingdom of God. This is the event that changed the world and comes with substantial proof. In a time when most religion is based on the stories of men or even "whatever you want" we have a faith rooted in history and it has been given to us with a mission: to spread the message of the Kingdom of God! Our Christian message is filled with hope both for this life and the one to come (I Corinthians 15 19-21) and we must share it.

The Garden is a lovely spot for
rest and contemplation.

The Scriptures say that one day the nations will gather in battle against Jerusalem and overcome it for a time.  As I look at current events in the Middle East, though we can not really know the day, I wonder if time is getting very short. Following this time of turmoil and defeat, our risen Lord Jesus will return to stand on the Mt. of Olives. The mountain will split down the middle as our Savior returns to rule and reign (Zechariah 14:1-9).  Until then He has given us a job to do!

Visitors wait to enter the tomb.

A City Like No Other

An Old  City Street Scene

The Jaffa Gate at Night

My first visit to  Jerusalem was on the Thursday evening before Easter in 2008.  We entered the Old City through the Jaffa Gate late in the afternoon and proceeded into the Arab Quarter.  Though now I love to wander the streets of the old city and even count some of the shop owners as friends, that evening I found it to be a daunting experience.  Being someone who does not even usually like a clerk looking over my shoulder as I shop, I found the merchants popping out at me, trying to lure me into their stores, the uneven pavements, people darting everywhere and the cacophony of sounds all around me completely overwhelming. Our goal was to have a look around and visit the Western Wall, but within the first fifteen minutes, I was ready to leave. Where it not for my patient husband and my desire to see the streets where Jesus walked, I might have done just that. How I have changed! This trip, we made five different visits to Jerusalem and to the Old City, which I wandered freely both alone and with our many guests.

The Old City of Jerusalem is a relatively small walled area within the modern city of Jerusalem.  It is composed of four distinct, but uneven, quarters: the largest is the Muslim Quarter on the northeast, the Jewish Quarter on the southeast, the Christian Quarter to the northwest and the Armenian Quarter on the southwest.  The Temple Mount sits bordered by the Muslim and Jewish Quarters on the eastern side.  There are seven gates that are used today: the Damascus Gate, Dung Gate, New Gate, Herod's Gate, Lion's Gate, Zion Gate and Jaffa Gate. And there are four that are closed: the Golden (or Eastern) Gate, Single Gate, Double Gate, and Huldah (or Triple)  Gate.

The current Old City walls were built by the
Turks in the 1500s.

It is easy to try to visualize the Old City of today as it might have been during the time of the Kings of Judah or when Jesus and his contemporaries walked the streets. However, that city is gone and the level of those streets is really about 30 feet below the streets of today as a result of thousands of years of destruction

and reconstruction. The walls of the Old City today are not the original ones but were built by the Ottoman ruler Suleiman the Magnificent between 1535 and1538 A.D.  However, there are glimpses of the city of Jesus' time in areas that have been excavated since Israel took possession of Jerusalem during the 1967 Six Day War.

One of those areas is the Cardo, an area that dates from the Roman era and was excavated in the 1970s.  It is a wonderful example of what a street might have looked like during that time and allows us to imagine how the people might have lived in first century Jerusalem.

A wonderful painting in the Cardo depicts life in the
Old City in first century Jerusalem

Friends explore the Cardo

Exploring the Ruins Beneath Robinson's Arch

        

Robinson's Arch was part of the entrance to the
Temple Mount at the time of Herod's Temple

And there are other areas. The Davidson Archaeological Park surrounds the southwestern and southern walls of the Temple Mount.  Excavations since 1967 have revealed what the area around the entrance to the magnificent Temple of Herod's time might have looked like, including an Arch identified by Biblical Scholar Edward Robinson in1880, consequently named Robinson's Arch, which was part of the stairs that led up from the first city streets of Jerusalem onto the Temple Mount. Work around that area has uncovered huge Herodian blocks that made up the walls of thet temple which were hurled down to the streets below during the destruction of Jerusalem by Roman troops in A.D. 70. Portions of the street that ran along the southwestern corner of the mount where street vendors and money changers plied their trades and ritual miqvahs (bathes), which existed for the purification of those who were preparing to ascend the stairs to offer sacrifices, have also been uncovered. To the south, one can ascend the steps often called the Teaching or Rabbi steps to the now closed Huldah Gates. And the work continues on the southern side of the walls.  It is an amazing area to visit and imagine what that magnificent area and temple must have looked like when it stood there in its glory.

The Teaching or Rabbi Steps on the South Side of
the Temple Mount were possibly one of the areas
where Jesus taught.

A Miqvah Near Herod's Temple

This recreation gives us a wonderful look at what the southwest corner of the temple
looked like in the first century.

Good Friday Pilgrims Outside the Church of the Flagellation

Inside the city there are many sites to see: the Via Dolorosa with its fourteen stations begins in the Arab Quarter and winds it way to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which is venerated as the site of Golgotha or Calvary. It is also regarded by many as the site of Jesus' burial, and is home to branches of both Greek and Oriental Orthodox Churches as well as the Roman Catholics and is a highly venerated site.  Though quite possibly the burial of Christ was in this area, (Keep in mind the streets were 30 feet or so lower at that time.)  I will share the area that I prefer to think of as the tomb of Jesus in a later blog.

The Court of the Church Of the Holy Sepulchre on Good Friday

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre

This structure has been built over what is believed
to be the burial site of Christ.

A set of steep and narrow steps leads up
to the site of Calvary in the church.

Many worship at this stone venerated as the place where
Jesus was laid when he was removed from the cross.

There is so much more that I can and will share
about Jerusalem, but I leave you with these
images of the city as it is today. It is a fascinating place of contrast and controversy. And, of course, at some point I will add my commentary on some of what I have shown you. Next time, we visit the Western Wall and its tunnels and the City of David.

Produce Sellers Outside
of the Damascus Gate

A Scene from a Rooftop Restaurant Near
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Coming Down to the Finish Line (or Not)!

Celebrating With the Happy Couple - Mr. and Mrs. Alan Balch

A Beautiful Bride and Her Dad

This last year has been full, full of anticipation and activity. Things really began to move in earnest at around Thanksgiving. I had my usual full house that day and life took off: Christmas with all of its activities, adding an extra person and then two living in our house for a number of months. Kate and Alan's engagement and a wedding to plan, going to Israel to live for four months with many visitors and amazing times. Rushing home, not just for the wedding, but Kate's surgery 17 days before her marriage, and then the wedding.

The Candle that Would Not Light

It has been several weeks since I've written anything and they have been filled with great times and lots to do. When I last wrote, it was the week before the wedding and I was contemplating how I was going to choose to get through that time. Since then, we've had a wonderful wedding. Our house has been filled with bridesmaids, friends and then family (some with
 whom we got to enjoy another week).
We've made three trips to O'Hare International in Chicago (over 1000 miles total) and one to Springfield, IL. I've cooked countless meals, done a little baby sitting, and on and on.

In my last post, I reflected on how to get through all of the busyness, with stress and fretting, or sitting at the feet of Jesus. I'm happy to stay that I managed to stay at the feet of Jesus most of the time, though I had my moments. Key to keeping me in a good place were four verses from Isaiah, verses that I've read many times, but this time I really connected with them and, oh, how sweet they have become to me!




Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint and to him who has no might He increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary and young men shall fall exhausted;  but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings  like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

                                                                                 Isaiah 40:28-30

Some Wedding Fun!

It has been an amazing time!  The happy honeymooners are back from Hawaii, my guests have gone home and it seems like I should be spending all of my time sitting in my sunroom and reordering my life, but not so!  I have a few more guests to entertain, a son and daughter-in-law who are moving, my fall Bible study to plan and a few more trips to make. I also need to finish sharing Israel with you. But the Lord has taught me much in the past weeks.  There is only one way to live - Sitting at the Feet of Jesus!  I will continue to work on this and, hopefully, to do so even better and more consistently, because life goes on and, if you know the Lord, you definitely are not on your own.

And Life Goes On!