“He came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples followed him. ” (Luke 22.39)
Today we went up to the top of the Mount of Olives to get an overview of Jerusalem. Between the Mount and Jerusalem is a huge cemetery. Some of the graves date back to the time of Jesus. Jesus would have walked through the cemetery when he came from the Mount of Olives on Palm Sunday. The view gave new meaning to the verse “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.” It is also quite a walk from the Mount of Olives to the city gate, and an even longer walk from the place of the Last Supper to the Mount of Olives. That was surprising to me. Temple Mount is a formidable structure -awe-inspiring and a bit frightening.
We then went the the Church of the Holy Sepulcher which is built over the sites of Jesus’ crucifixion and burial. We only walked around the church and did not wait in line to see the actual tomb and crucifixion rock. The tour was to give us an orientation. Since we are living here we are to go back on our own between 5 and 6 am when there will be no crowds.
I am so glad I led the study of “The Way” over Lent. It prepared me so well for this program. I recognize the sites and know the history behind them. It’s so exciting to see them in person.
It’s hot. We are walking a lot and climbing a lot of stairs. The college is taking extremely good care of us and have planned things very well. There are 40 in the class from the US, England and Australia, including a group of 10 from Pohick Church in Lorton.
On the Mount of Olives looking toward Jerusalem. The white are the tombs in the cemetery. The gold dome in the distance is the Dome of the Rock which is the Muslim holy site built on the Temple Mount at the former site of the Jewish temple.
Looking Out Seeing Within 