Tuesday, February 12

This morning I made connection with Bridges for Peace and will have an appointment with the director on Thursday morning. Having set up my trip tomorrow to Haifa and Tiberius, I made my way to the Old City one last time.

I went to the Wailing Wall where I was hit for donations by two different Jews. You would think in such a holy site they would leave people alone. I then found out how to get into the tunnel tour. It was interesting and I’m glad I did it. One very interesting fact is that they attribute the destruction of the second temple as judgment from God for their hatred. The tour does not go undernearth the Temple Mount, but follows the Western Wall underneath the Muslim quarter.

I then made my way to the Church of the Hagulation, which was across the street from where the tour let out. The tour offered a guarded escort back to the Western Wall from those who wanted it. In the Church of the Hagulation there is a stained glass window of Barabbas as well as Christ. Barabbas is depicted as an obviously crazy black man. In the Church of the Condemnation next door, one can see the game carved by the Roman soldiers on the stone.

I then walked over to Gethsemane, but it was closed for two and a half hours for lunch. I walked among the graves on the Mount of Olives – thousands of them. Went down to the floor of the Kidron Walley. Thought a lot about Christ and His arrest. It was peaceful down there. I then went to St. Anne’s Church and walked around the pools of Bethesda. Had to pay 7 shekels to get in. As I walked from there I found the prison where tradition says Jesus and Barabbas were held. It’s down in a carved out stone cavern – down two floors. I asked the attending priest if Barabbas would have been able to hear the riot going on up above, but he couldn’t understand the question. I could hear the Muslim call to prayer over the loudspeakers, however.

I also saw the original walls to the Fortress of Antonia. It was in an Armenian shop. I was invited to coffee and told it would be an insult if I refused. I drank the wild coffee, but did not by anything. I wondered how many cups of coffee this shop keeper drinks a day.

Finally, I returned to the Church of the Holy Spirit to get pictures of the two real graves at the back of the church. It had been raining on and off all day, but I was pretty wet by the time I made it inside the church.

Throughout the day I prayed often and was struck by the devotion of people to inanimate objects from Christ’s life, such as the stone (supposedly) where His body was prepared for burial. I did not sense the presence of God in all these historic places of His life anymore than at home in Seattle. I considered that I am His chosen temple, so His presence is with me wherever I am.