Day 6

Today was probably the most difficult day physically for us (and a little bit emotionally too – you’ll see). Last night when we got home it started to rain. We were thankful that it waited until we got home to start raining, but we thought it would be done by morning – nope. It was still pouring this morning. Well, the show must go on! Some people opted to stay inside and do a “plan B” museum tour while the majority of us continued as planned to tour outside. It was pretty tough! The rains from last night brought in some cold weather – so it must have been in the 40s most of the day. But it was also very windy which made it very very cold. And add downpours of rain and you have a pretty nasty day to be touring!! We were all bundled up with jackets and hats and poncho’s/raincoats and walked around in the city (which was already soaked and had puddles everywhere since it had been raining all night!!).

We started at the Pool of Bethesda, which means “House of Mercy” and is where Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath. Quite honestly, it was cold and rainy and I was still trying to figure out the logistics of my poncho while trying to write in my journal while walking and watching out for puddles that I missed most of the commentary on this one!!!

We then spent the rest of the morning walking the Via Della Rosa, or “Walk of Sorrow’s”, which is the path that Jesus walked through Jerusalem when He was carrying the cross. The Catholic church has what are called “Stations of the Cross” and each station represents an event during Jesus’ walk through town as He carry’s the cross to His own crucifixion (when Jesus falls down, when his mother Mary see’s Him, when He falls down a 2nd time, etc). Amy has taken me to a Stations of the Cross ceremony at her previous church and it is very powerful and moving – and how much more moving to actually walk the path where this occurred and to reflect in the various churches/spots the fourteen stations. The pouring rain coming down on us, and the brutally cold & windy weather was symbolic to what Christ had to endure (although, of course, His was different and much more painful I’m sure).

We stumbled as we walked through the small narrow corridors of Jerusalem with people everywhere in the pouring rain. Tired, cold, becoming more and more weary just like Jesus must have. Each Station had a church at the spot (some were small stone buildings that could fit no more than 20-50 people) so we would enter the tiny church, sit down where we could, and read the verse(s) that corresponded with that station. Other stations were simply roman numerals on the wall of the public corridors that we traversed. We would huddle up in the corner of the busy street in the pouring rain underneath the station sign, trying to get out of people & car’s way (yes, some corridors were just about big enough for a single car to fit through as they tried to weave around people, honking their horns, people yelling “look out!”, etc)

Around the 6th station I started to really lose it. We were traversing uphill through a really busy corridor, with a width of maybe two or three people shoulder-to-shoulder (although we were walking single-file), pouring rain, freezing cold, tired and weary. This part of our journey was in a marketplace so, similar to our visit on Day #4, there were peddlers and shop-keepers everywhere trying to sell us their trinkets and force their tourist-items upon us. Imagine in your mind the chaos that already existed with the rain, the cold, the ponchos, the other tourists, and locals speaking all sorts of different languages. Now add the peddlers shouting out prices, feeling the glares of the Arabs who don’t even really care what we believe and really don’t like us anyway, they just want our money. Finally, and this is what broke me, it becomes time for Muslim prayer. As I said before, the Mosque’s have their loud-speakers which blare their chants all over the streets at very loud volumes - bleeding into every corridor of the city. All of a sudden on top of all the existing tension and weariness comes a blatant, disrespectful, spiteful noise which attempts to even further tune-out any glimpse of God from this place. I closed my eyes and started to weep silently as we walked through the city. Where was the reverence for all that Jesus endured? Where was the peace? What happened to this city? Indifferent, secular Arabs were consuming the entire place.

Sorry for the drama, that’s just where I was for a little bit of the day today. Some of it was just pure physical weariness from all the touring and being in a strange land, but the rest of it I believe was real. I was weeping, as Jesus did, for the city. It took me a long while to quietly collect myself as we continued to walk, but I really feel that we need to pray for believers everywhere and that God would protect His Holy city. It really moved me to want to learn everything I can about what is going on over here and to do what I can to pray for it. Thankfully, we serve a God who will take care of everything in His time and for His glory. Those who believe in Him are promised that He will protect us!

The rest of the afternoon was spent with some free time for shopping (Amy and I didn’t do much of that, although I did find a Phish shirt in Hebrew that I had to get ). We then headed to the main courtyard of the holy temple and walked along the upper wall, where the bow-and-arrow people would sit as well as the look-out people. We then walked on the original city street which is where all the main characters of the Bible walked – this street is right along the Western Wall of the temple (but slightly before the ‘Wailing Wall’ section – whew! I need to look at a diagram of the grounds). We finally headed back to the bus and by that time it was about 5pm and time to head back to the hotel.

After dinner there was a lecture in one of the conf. rooms where a representative from the Israeli’s and one from the Palestinians spoke. They outlined the details of the conflict dating back to 1967 when the 6-day war took place (and when Israel became an official state) and it was very interesting. I won’t go into all those details now, but it was very informative and just further emphasized to me how much I need to start praying for this country and for peace.
Tomorrow is our last day!!! It feels like quite a long time that we’ve been here – but on the other hand it feels like we haven’t even scratched the surface of all that is to be studied here. It has really made me want to buy some books and really dig into how all the pieces fit together geographically and historically – because that really helps with the belief side of things. Knowing how the actual locations and structures and cities fit together with the stories we know makes it so much more real.

Anyway – since we have to pack our bags and head right to the airport after dinner tomorrow, I probably won’t be able to blog about our last day until we return home on Thursday morning. I will probably send a little entry from my iPhone when we get back on the ground just for the heck of it, but will probably write my final thoughts on the trip sometime on Thursday or Friday after I semi-recover from the jet-lag.

Thanks to all who have been keeping up with this! It’s been a truly astounding trip and I’m already ready to come back here and dig-in some more in a few years. I strongly recommend visiting Israel to anyone out there wanting to learn more about the Holy Land and where Jesus’ and all the greats of the Bible have walked. Talk to you when we get home!

Only pic for the day - i made some friends while in the Jewish marketplace this afternoon :)