Passion Week

Our last day in Jerusalem and all of Israel was spent walking the roads and visiting the spots Jesus was at during Passion Week. Many of us had been waiting for the opportunity to see the city from one of the best vantage points, the Mount of Olives. Personally, I was really looking forward to it because Jesus spent so much of His time there. - Spectacular views, beautiful gardens, and ancient olive trees (some possibly dating back to the days of Jesus)

We first stood out on a ridge overlooking the
Old City so we could get the classic view of the Temple Mount, where the Dome of the Rock
now stands. In the picture foreground there is a Jewish cemetery - even thousands of years ago Jewish people wished to be buried facing the Golden Gate, which is now sealed off, because this is where the Messiah is to come into the city. In the middle of the picture you can see the gold top of the Dome of the Rock - the cemetery just below it spanning along the city wall is a Muslim cemetery which is being used to try and prevent Christian and Jewish prophecies about the coming Messiah from coming to pass. The tree line below that is in the middle of the Kidron Valley. The church with the Russian Orthodox-like golden spires is the Church of Mary Madelene, which is off to the right of the valley and the old city. This is the location of her birth.














The following pictures are various angles of the Garden of Gethsemane and the
Church of All Nations. The tree by the gate is the oldest olive tree on the Mount of Olives
and may even have been living when Jesus was here.

Jewish History and Jesus' Last Days

On this morning we headed off to the Jerusalem Museum to see a small scale model of Ancient Jerusalem. Soon after we were bused off to another location to see fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls, including portions of the Psalms and the book of Daniel. Next we were taken to Israel's Holocaust Memorial where we saw hundreds of names inscribed on walls in a rock labyrinth commemorating the loss of entire communities of Jews around Europe, Russia, Africa, and the Middle East during WWII. We also solemnly walked through the museum where we recounted the horrible details of the Holocaust and WWII. I was most stunned by learning about the events and conditions of the world leading up to this era.

Today we also took time to visit The House of Caiaphas where Jesus was held prior to His trial.
we stood in two caves, one used as a stable for animals and another - simply a rock pit with one small hole at the top, which Jesus would have been lowered through after being beaten. We remembered how Jesus had stayed in this place because of our sins, but it was because of God's love and forgiveness for us that He willingly did so.




























A stop was also made at the Upper Room where Jesus had The Last Supper with His Disciples and we went to a church resting over where it is believed Mary, the mother of Jesus, may have lived and died after His ascension. There is another location in Ephesus which is the other traditional site, depending on if she stayed in Jerusalem or traveled with John the Disciple.