Olives and more Saturday Sept 7

(Basilica of Agony aka Church of All Nations)

(Garden of Gethsemane)

(Church of the Ascension on the top of the Mount of Olives)

(Tomb of Mary- mother of Jesus)



(Tomb of Jehoshaphat)

(Tomb of St. John)

(Tomb of Absalom)
This morning was a great walk through the spiritual tradition around Jerusalem. We, my friend Micah and I, from the school, at 8:30am, on Mt. Zion the south west side of Jerusalem and walked down past the Zion Gate, the southern most gate of the Old City and around the south west corner of the Temple mount. We climbed down into the Kidron Valley to the Tomb’s of Absalom, Zachariah, St. James, and Jehoshaphat. From there we walked up to the Garden of Gethsemane and walked around the garden where Jesus prayed and was taken captive to be led of to the crucifixion. There is a large Basilica called the Basilica of Agony which is one of the many places claimed is actually the spot where Christ cried out to God to have the cup taken from Him if it was God’s will, one of three spots we saw today.

As we came out of the Garden we turned and climbed the Mount of Olives to the Church of the Ascension which is claimed to be the spot where Jesus came after His resurrection and ascended into Heaven. They have a spot marked off on the floor that they claim is an actual foot print of Jesus. I must say I am a little skeptical and not just because the foot print is in solid rock. As we came out of the Chapel we walked up to a small area that is claimed as where Jesus gave the Olivet Discourse. As we looked out across the Kidron Valley and back into the Old City it was an amazing view. We stopped in to a few other churches and places on the way down.

As we came back down we came to a grotto where the wine press in the Garden of Gethsemane is claimed to have been, it is right next to one of the many places claimed as the Tomb of Mary, Jesus’ mother. As we walked down into the tomb you could almost feel an oppressive weight of Catholic Dogma as people offered up prayers to the Virgin and paid homage and sacrifices and offerings in her name. There was an amazing shrine out in front of a small building that is said to house the place where Mary’s body lay. The door was made so that you must bow down to the Virgin to enter it. On the other side of the little shrine are many pictures of the Holy Mother and there are hundreds of lanterns hanging from the ceiling of the cave.

We climbed back up the Kidron Valley to the Damascus gate, on the North side of the City and out to another place that claims to house the tomb of Jesus. It is called the Garden Tomb and is run by the Garden Tomb Association in the UK, http://www.gardentomb.com/ . It was a nice little garden that houses an old wine press and a small rise that they believe to be the hill of skulls, Golgotha, where Jesus was crucified. Then we walked down the little path to a tomb carved out of the side of a hill that is to be the tomb of Christ.

We exited the Garden Tomb and headed into the Damascus gat into the Muslim Quarter of the city. It was a heavy market day and it was packed. It was neat to see all the people shopping through the market where there seemed to be just about everything. It was a fast paced 25-30 minute trek through the hurried crowds out to Jaffa Gate on the west side of the City and about another 10 minutes back down to the school on Mt. Zion. We checked back in a little after 12:30 very tired and a little sad seeing how many people are consumed in the worship of shrines, objects, and holy places and seem to have missed the truth of Christ and the way He bled for them.