Thoughts On [insert religious topic(s) here]

Today was our last full day of the trip. Tomorrow everyone leaves for Florida and Jac’line and I stay behind to continue our journey. It’s bittersweet, but by the end of the day, we realized that everyone on the trip had been changed for the better from this experience.

We started the day with a visit to the Pool of Bethesda, where Jesus healed the paralyzed man in John. The pool is located right next to the Church of St Anne, where Mary’s parents supposedly lived. Both the pool and the church are located in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City, in a rather sketchy section, right by the entrance to St. Stephen’s Gate. I’m not stereotyping Arab men with this statement, but many of the men in the quarter were very rude and persistent when we would walk by their shops. The area is known for pick-pocketing as well so we all kept an eye on our wallets and bags.

St. Stephen's Gate

To get to St. Stephen’s Gate, we had to walk southward along the eastern edge of the city walls. This section appeared to be a common place for homeless people. Various trash heaps were smoking from what was probably a fire set the night before. Interestingly the trash heaps and charred rubbles were right by a Muslim cemetery. In fact, some of it was in the Muslim cemetery, which I thought would have been kept clean and holy; apparently not.

Trash littering the cemetary by St. Stephens Gate

The pool of Bethesda was located about 15 feet below the area we were standing on. We could look down on it, but couldn’t get down to it. The pool is interesting because in the time of Jesus, it was seen as a place to go to be healed from ailments. However-as was the custom at the time-the rich and privileged typically received priority access to the pool. Therefore, Jesus was healing a poor man who couldn’t reach the pool that was seen as a privilege for the wealthy. This Jesus guy can be pretty rebellious sometimes.

We went into the Church of St. Anne and enjoyed the wonderful acoustics of the cathedral. Ruthie led us in singing “How Great Though Art” and Jeremy sang a piece “I Walked Where Jesus Walked.”Both songs sounded amazing. The sound would carry up to the roof then bounce back down so when you stopped singing, there was a chorus effect on your voice.

Ruthie Geva, our tour guide, leads us in singing at St. Annes Church

From the Church, we travelled further into the Muslim quarter toward the Ecce Homo. This is the place where it is believed that Pilate asked the assembled crowd whether they wanted to set free Barabbas or Jesus. The crowd replied “That man!” (Ecce Homo) and Barabbas was released. The Ecce Homo is also the location of an underground ruin where carvings of a Roman torture practice were found. The carvings depict the humiliation done to a criminal before they are crucified. It is interesting because the chain of events shown in the carvings is similar to the acts committed against Jesus.

Under the ground further were two large cisterns that remain from the time of King Hezekiah. The cisterns were located under Antonia Fortress during the temple period, further affirming that this is where the Roman legions would have mocked Jesus and where Pilate would have shown him before the people.

This was the final location where Jac’line taught. Let me just echo what everyone on the trip was feeling: Jac’line did an AMAZING job putting everything together over the twelve days to form a lesson that enriched us all. We now know more than many groups that come to the Holy Land. We understand the historical and contextual significance of many of the Gospel stories. Jac’line walked us through the land, being our guide, teacher, and friend, allowing us to grow and ask questions. This trip wouldn’t have been as life-changing if it weren’t for Jac’line’s great insight and teaching ability.

We boarded the bus and headed over to Jaffa Gate, right by the hostel that Jac’line and I will be staying at starting Friday night. I didn’t get a chance to see it, instead, we funneled down David Street-a VERY busy thoroughfare-towards the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. This church is the “mother of all holy sites,” containing four of the Stations of the Cross and two supposed burial site of Jesus. And it was PACKED! You couldn’t maneuver through to anything. Right at the entrance to the church is the place where Jesus was laid after being taken off the cross-talk about an immediate traffic jam. I didn’t get a chance to see anything except the exterior of the supposed Greek Orthodox tomb of Jesus. I’ll be sure to go see it later with Jac’line.

While we were walking out of the Holy Sepulcher, I noticed a coffee shop called Geo’s down the road from the church. It had a sign for free wi-fi and the price of drinks was relatively cheap. I’ll definitely be stopping by there when I’m on my own in the city.

After a little shopping, some lunch (I’m starting to love falafels) and another walk up David Street, we drove to the Garden Tomb, a Christian site located outside the Old City. The site has a tomb at it that-out of all existing tombs-most closely resembles the tomb of Jesus described in the New Testament. The tomb itself was-for me-anti-climatic. It may have been due to the fact that our tour guide was rushing us through the talk that he was supposed to give us, without answering many questions. In my opinion, the Garden Tomb is located too far outside the city walls to be the tomb of Jesus. But enough critiquing…

We held a communion service at the site to remember our entire journey and the bonds we have made together.  I spent time talking to the people that I had gotten close with on the trip, sharing my joy with them that we all had this opportunity together. I’ll really miss them, but look forward to seeing them when we get back. We closed the service with “I Will Never Be The Same Again,” a song that definitely has some new meaning for me after this trip.

Back at the hotel, we all packed up our stuff. Ruthie brought back my laundry so now I’m a clean-clothed young man. I was able to send home a good amount of excess items with Anona people going home so I’ll have a much lighter pack to carry around the country. I also used the time to write a note to my “secret friend” Sally Jo. My inspiration for the note came from Henri Nouwen’s reflection on blessings in Life of the Beloved. If you have never read it, I encourage you to at least skim the book because it has great first-hand experience of ministry in action.

The farewell dinner we had was wonderful. We recognized Richard, Jeremy, Ruthie, David (our bus driver) and Jac’line for all the hard work they did on this trip. Additionally, everyone gave Jac’line and me some extra monies for our journey. What a blessing that was. We are going to use it for a hot air balloon ride in Southern Jordan. BUH! It’s going to be a great month. As the dinner was ending, we revealed our secret friends to each other. Sally Berthy had me as her secret friend.

I led our final devotional of the trip after dinner. I talked about the image of a tapestry, how we are all strands that interweave to form a garment much greater than ourselves. I tied in (no pun intended) our communion service earlier in the day, discussing how the Christian faith is lived out in the remembrance of acts like communion and baptism. When we do these acts, we perpetuate our faith further, sustaining it into the future.

However our small community of 38 people in only a minute part of a vast tapestry. We have to look for ways to interact with and include other people who are close to us in the tapestry. This means that when we all get back to Anona, the focus can be on sharing our experiences so that more people can grow through our pilgrimage.

I felt like the devotional went well. I was confident in my words and delivery. I also had a clear idea of where I wanted to begin and end.

Then I went to bed on a comfy mattress for the last time in a few weeks.

Shalom,

Mat