Today, we head for the
Mount of Olives, the place where Jesus ascended into Heaven.
We’re in a small building called the Chapel of Ascension and there’s a rock in there that’s meant to be the place Jesus ascended from.
Down the road a bit at a 5th century French church called St. Helena’s, we learn that this is one of the celebrated locations for the giving of the Lord’s Prayer by Jesus. Many, many languages are represented by plaques on the wall and I take pictures of English, Chinese and Latvian We say the Lord’s Prayer in the languages represented by our group.
Glen gets us together and we read Zechariah 14:1-9 where the prophecy is that the Mount of Olives will be split in two when the Lord comes and reigns. This will be “a day known to the Lord.” Glen also reads Acts 1:1-12 where Jesus’ ascension from the Mount of Olives is described. Glen homily lets us know that Jesus’ being raised from the dead is more than a miracle. Jesus comes as the new Adam, God turning back the wheels of time to Adam, making us new creations.
In a final reading at the Mount of Olives, Glen reads 1 Kings 11:6. King Solomon turns to idols, not pleasing to the Lord. At the Mount of Olives, Solomon sets up idols for some of his wives.
We move on to the Garden of Gethsemene – the place Jesus and the disciples came to after the Last Supper. They would have walked through the Golden Gate and we look up and see the two bricked up arches.
Jesus came here to pray and Kim leads us by reading Matthew 26:30-50. It’s a critical time and the disciples are sleeping! – three times! Jesus tells Peter he will deny Him three times. Building on this three times theme, Kim challenges us by asking if we’re alert for the times when Jesus speaks to us in our lives?
After Kim’s homily, we find a quiet place for reflection and prayer in the garden and I read John 17 where Jesus prays for Himself, His disciples and for all believers. I look over and see Marilyn in her time of reflection.
Back into Old Jerusalem, we walk the Via Dolorosa. Winding along the narrow streets of Jerusalem’s Old City, this is the traditional route Jesus followed bearing His cross from Pilate’s Judgment Hall to Calvary, the site of the crucifixion. Today’s narrow, interesting streets are full of vendors which would have the situation in Jesus’ time. We stop at the place where Simon of Cyrene was forced by the Romans to carry the Cross, reading Mark 15:21.
In order to get to the final stations at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, we cross a roof and go down through the Ethiopian Church. Kim reminds us of the incredibly important role of the early churches in Africa and how they kept the Christian faith alive in the first centuries. Some of the earliest Christian manuscripts came from them.
The final Stations of the Cross on the Via Dolorosa are at the Holy Sepulchre Basilica. As an eastern church, I was amazed at the number of Russian pilgrims crowding in.
Our next stop was Caiaphus’ house. Caiaphus was the high priest of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish religious authority and here Jesus stands before him and is acused of blasphemy. Kim reads Matthew 26:57-27:1 which describes the details of his trial with Caiaphus and Peter’s denial of Jesus.
We go down into the pit of Caiaphus’ house where people would be held, possibly including Jesus. It would have been an awful place and Tom reads Psalm 88, where “down to the pit” and “the lowest pit” give us some idea of what Jesus might have endured there.
Outside the house, we walk on the very steps that Jesus would have used as he was taken to Pilate.
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