He is Risen!

On Friday I posted a tour of the Via Dolorosa.  Well, okay it was pretty late Friday night.  Today it's time to show you the empty tomb.

You saw the tomb that was in the Basilica of the Ascention on Friday.  We had a chance to go to another location that is believed to be where Jesus was laid.

Here is a picture of the hill next to the garden and tomb.  If you look, you can see a skull.

In 1842 A.D., Otto Thenius proposed that a location known as the "place of the skull" was the Calvary (Golgotha) where the crucifixion of Jesus occurred. In 1867 A.D., the discovery of the garden tomb occurred near this believed location of Jesus' death.




There are three reasons that this is believed to be the location of Jesus' death and tomb.

1. The resemblance of the skull on the hill since Golgotha means skull.  
2. The proximity to the old city.  
3. Sephardic Jews believed this was a place where the Romans stoned people and the Romans did crucifixions in the same place as they held stonings.

The tomb is within a few hundred feet of this hill.  There is a garden next to the tomb.   This is not just a decorative garden.  A cistern, a winepress from the first century was found here.

The remains of a fifth century Byzantine chapel was also found here.  On the right, if you look closely you can see something that looks like an anchor.  The anchor was used as a symbol to disguise the shape of the cross.

There are two rooms within the tomb.  There is a weeping chamber where the mourning took place and the burial chamber which has three places for burial.  This tomb was a privately owned tomb by someone of some wealth.  Getting pictures inside the tomb was pretty difficult and they didn't turn out very well but I did get a decent picture outside the tomb.

You can see the size of this tomb is pretty big.
Now compare this size to the the one at Nazareth...

We also saw some tombs along side the road one day..  If you notice, the one I'm standing next to is a whole lot bigger.  Isn't it something, Jesus wasn't put in any tomb, he was laid in one of the best tombs.  Just like he had an unused donkey to ride into Jerusalem.   Only the best for our Lord, even if it was only for three days.  

I did a little "artistic" work on the tomb photo in honor of today.  I praise God for this empty tomb.  Because of what Jesus did, I know I will be with Him for eternity.  It's not by my works, or my abilities, it's this empty tomb.  Jesus did this for us so we can be with him.

Hallelujah!

Via Dolorosa - Taking a walk.

Via Dolorosa - on Good Friday

Hey all, get your walking shoes on.  In honor of today we are going to take a walk following the Via Dolorosa.   This post is going to be showing the Stations of the Cross.  The stations are considered where important events happened on this day.  (Good Friday)

First an overview map of the route.  The bigger size (when you click on this one) is nearly 400k so give it a moment to load.  This is from a brochure we received.

It's a good way to see the route through Jerusalem.

Station 1

Then the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor.  - John 18:28

Here's our group under the Antonio Fortress at the Praetorium.

Station 2

Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. - John 19:1
Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. - John 19:16 

This is a picture from our brochure since we didn't actually stop here.
"This shows the Chapels of the Condemnation and flagellation.  The two chapels of the Fransiscans stand partially over the Lithostrotos where Jesus traditionally was condemned to death." - Quote from the brochure.

The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called together the whole company of soldiers. They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. - Mark 15:16-17 

This image shows scratches on the floor which are part of the games the soldiers played.  This is in the Antonio Fortress and the marks are part of a game called the kings game.  It is believed that the game was played over Jesus.

Station 3

This is where Jesus fell the first time.   It must have been so hard carrying that heavy cross after being whipped and beaten.  The struggle had to have been incredible yet He continued on for our sakes.
I remember reading one time about how the angels must have been ready to come down and rescue Jesus and minister to him.  The only thing holding them back was God.  It was fiction but it must have been like that.  To see their King being treated as such.

This is a Polish chapel.  The high-relief above the entrance is by Thaddeus Zielinsky.

I took the exterior photo but we did not go into the church so the interior shot is from the brochure.

Station 4

Jesus meets his mother the first time.

Can you imagine being Mary and seeing your son in this condition?  Although she knew who Jesus was and why he had come to earth it still must have been heartbreaking to see Him in this condition.

At the same time, It had to have been both difficult for him to see her seeing him yet at the same time, like most of us, he likely took some strength from seeing his mother.  How often, when we are going through something, would we like to just have a big hug from Mom?

Station 5

A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and they forced him to carry the cross. - Mark 15:21

This station is marked by a Franciscan oratory.  At this point the Via Dolorosa becomes steep on it's way to Golgotha.

This is not a station but this stone is considered to be a stone that Jesus leaned on at this point on his trip up the Via Dolorosa.  This is not a station but it between station five and station six.  Jesus was of such importance, people did not displace a stone that is believed to have leaned on.

How important is He to you?  He went through this for you.

Station 6

This is where Veronica wiped Jesus' face.  There is a chapel there that is the convent of the Little Sisters of Jesus.   This is the traditional site of Veronica's house.

The name Veronica comes from the words vera and icon.  Vera means true and icon means image.   Veronica = true image.

God is amazing.  He has a woman assist Jesus and her name means true image.  Isn't that beautiful?

Station 7

This is the doors to a Franciscan chapel.  It marks the second place where Jesus fell just as He was leaving the city through the gate.    The Christian name for this site is "Judgement Gate".   Tradition states that Jesus' death notice was posted here.

I don't know if you notice the circle doohicky (that is a technical term) with the number seven in Roman numerals.  Each station has that showing the station.

It's quite a feeling walking along the route that Jesus took.

Station 8

Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. - Luke 23:28

I wasn't able to get a photo at station eight so this one again is from our brochure.

This is where Jesus is believed to have stopped to console the women of Jerusalem.  This is a Latin cross on the wall of a Greek monastery.

Station 9

This is where Jesus fell for the third time.  A Roman column marks this station.  In the picture to the left, you can see the Roman colum on the right of the right portion of the picture.  The cross leaning against the column is a reminder of what happened here.  This is the location of St. Helen Coptic Church.

In the left portion of the picture on the left you can see the roof of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.  The Church of the Holy Sepulcher was built over the place where it is traditionally believed that Jesus was buried.  That means that at this point, Jesus could see the location of where his crucifixion was.  Mind you, all the buildings you see were not there in Jesus' time so Golgotha was easily visible.

There is a lot of interesting information about the Church of the Holy Sepulcher but it will be in another post because this one is about the journey Jesus made on this day.

Station 10

Oops, I had my camera  angle just a tad high for this picture.  As you can see from the top, restoration work is going on.   This station is the little room you see sticking out.  From this station on, all are within the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

This room sticking out has an external flight of stairs going to it.  This is considered the place where Jesus was stripped of this garments.

Believe it or not, this is called the Chapel of the Stripping of Jesus'  Garments.  They build a chapel for everything related to Jesus around here... well maybe not EVERYTHING.

Station 11

Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). There they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle. - John 19:17-18

This is another picture I was not able to get but here's one from the brochure.

This is a Latin shrine that, in 1938 was decorated with the mosaics you see.  This marks the place where Jesus was nailed to the Cross.

Station 12

About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli,[c] lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”) - Matthew 27:46

Here is another image from the brochure.  When we were at the church it was packed with people.  I got the feeling I knew what a sardine felt like in the can.  I couldn't get any decent pictures.

Anyway, this i a Greek altar in the Eastern style.  It stands over the Rock of Calvary where the crosses of Jesus and the two thieves were erected.

At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split - Matthew 27:51
In the bedrock beneath this altar is a large crack caused by the earthquake on the day Jesus died.  Are you a non believer?  Well, don't you think this is interesting?  In Matthew's account, he tells of the rock splitting and there is a split rock.  Coincidence?  I don't think so.

Station 13

It was Preparation Day (that is, the day before the Sabbath). So as evening approached, Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. - Mark 15:42-43

The larger part of the picture is from the brochure and the inset if my photo.  You can see why I used the brochure picture.  The stone you see is believed to be the stone that Jesus' body was laid on after his death when they prepared him for burial.

While we were there, it was nearly impossible to see the stone let alone get near it.  It was surrounded by worshipers who were rubbing crosses, rosary beads and whatever else they had, on it. They were doing this to make those items holy.

Now (personal opinion here so skip this paragraph if you don't want to hear it.) although the stone is important to the historical account of what happened to Jesus', I don't believe that the stone itself is holy.  Jesus is holy, not objects.  We need to make sure that we are worshiping the Holy One and not something else.

Okay, personal opinion over, on to the final station.

Station 14
Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 60 and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. - Matthew 27:59-60

We have now arrived at the final station.  This is the location where it is believed that Jesus was buried.  This is where things went dark for the followers of Jesus.  King of the Jews?  But He's dead.  He was supposed to free the Jews from their bondage.  What happened?  He did all those miracles.  His teaching was so different.  It looked so good.  He was now dead.  Picture yourself a follower of Jesus.  You've been hanging on his every word for months.  You've yearned to be with Him every moment you can.

OR, maybe you are James, Jesus' brother.  You knew the man had a loose screw or two.  Here's proof.  Son of God.  But he's dead.  Hung on a cross.  Died.    What a way to start Shabbat.  How depressing.  You go back to your homes and just sit, wondering how life will go on.

In the photo, you see hundreds of people cued up to see the tomb.  They wait for hours to see a little bitty tomb (inset) where it is believed Jesus was buried.  To touch the area.  It would have been nice to see but egad, the wait and all.  Our group had other things to see so we were off on our excursion.

The Tomb is the focal point of the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher.  The chapel, which is the framing you see in the bigger picture, was erected by the Crusaders on  Byzantine foundations, dating back to Constantine the Great.

Now that we've ended this post on a low note, stay posted for the Easter post.  Yeah!!

Allowing Comments / Introductions

Hi all,

I realized while looking at settings that one needs to have a Google account to post on the blog.  Oops, sorry about that.  It's a setting that is set by default.  I changed it so that you can post comments to your heart's content.

I'm also still having issues with getting others who don't have a gmail account to be able to make posts so that's why I'm still the main poster on the blog.  Hopefully it hasn't been too boring.

Oh my, I should post a few pictures since I have a post.  Don't want it to be boring.

How about some of the folks from the trip?  I haven't gone into much detail about the people so here's a good time to do so.

Oh my goodness.  I just went through the pictures and have a bunch.  Ready?

Let's start with a very important person of our group.  Irit Doron (that's pronounced eereet).  She was pressed into service because the group we were a part of was so big that they divided it into two buses.  Her knowledge of the places we visited and the information she shared was immensely valuable.

One could tour the country without a guide but I wouldn't recommend it for the first visit.  There are so many bits of information that she shared, not only while we were at locations but on the bus between them.  If you read Anita's post, you know what I mean.  Anita was writing furiously while Irit was telling us information.  I think if I had it to do over again I would have a little recorder and anchor it to Irit's neck to get every tidbit of information she gave us.  Even with all the notes, I feel as if I've lost some of it.

Next is our driver Gabriel.  I don't remember his last name.  His English was pretty weak but he spoke volumes with his terrific smile.  Sadly we lost him as a driver half way through the tour, he had another tour to drive for.  He was a joy for that first half though.

Of course, I have to introduce you to Pastor Sam Newman, who agreed to be our pastor for the tour.  He was recruited when we wound up with an overflow bus.

Pastor Sam had some excellent messages to coincide with different parts of the trip.  Not only could he give a good message but the man can sing as well.  He led us in several songs a capella.

I have a video of Pastor Sam baptizing all of us.  Bless his heart, he did such a good job.  After he was done, we were looking for someone to baptize him as well.  It is the Jordan after all.  The place where John the Baptist baptized Jesus.  Well, Sue volunteered for the job and she did a great one.   Here is a video of several of us being baptized in the Jordon River.

Thank you Pastor Sam for all that you did for us on the trip.  Your messages made the tour even more poignant.

If you read Anita's post you might remember her talking about a Muslim man in charge of the Church of the Ascension because there are so many churches in the same building.  They wanted someone who was a an outsider to be in charge so there would be no favoritism.  This is the man she spoke of.  If I have my notes right his name is Waji Nuseba.   He is also a friend of our guide Irit.  I think she knows all the interesting people in Israel.  She's such a doll.

How about our Nazareth guide?  I totally forget his name but he was wonderful.. He is a soft spoken Messianic Jew and had such fascinating information for us about Nazareth, the vineyard, the trees, Jesus, many of the words.  He is a fount of information.  I actually video taped our entire trip through Nazareth which I'm glad.  Eventually I will transcribe the whole thing.  I would put it up but ack, the video is terrible since I was also taking notes and taking still shots while recording video.  I needed another head and three more hands.   Then again, some folks think I need another head already.

Oh dear.  I just realized I didn't get a picture of Tim and Ginny Powell.  They were our "buddies" on the bus.  We all had buddies we were responsible to make sure they were on the bus after each outing.  They are the sweetest, nicest couple.  You can see them in our group picture on the post about the purple bus group.

Here are Jake Bennett and Marie Stoltze.  Jake and Jim Savage (who I also don't have a decent picture of) are chaplains at Friendship Village which is a retirement village.  Marie is one of the residents there.  We fell in love with all of the residents in our group.  It was like having a bunch of Moms.

Jake has a tender and serving heart.  After we visited the garden tomb, I broke down in tears because of a deep touching of the Holy Spirit.   Jake was right there ministering to me while I shared with him some of the thoughts I have.  He was there for many of us during the tour.  He was like a loving son to the residents of Friendship Village.

It was so cool because during our tour, Jake's wife sent him a video of his son taking his first steps.  Technology is wonderful at times like that.  Although Jake was in Israel serving others, he was still able to see his son's first steps almost right after they happened.

You met Joseph (Yoseph) in one of our first posts from Israel.  He was so cute that I had to tell you a little more about him.  He, like many Israelis is fond of the United States.  He said that Israel is the 51st state.  I do hope that we, as a country will continue to support Israel.  We met Joseph in Netanya after an air raid siren went off close to where we were all standing.  He was excited to practice his English which, I must admit is MUCH better than my Hebrew.  Joseph was one of our first experiences in Israel.  What a great start to our tour.  

Here's Abraham in his tent.  We were Guests of Abraham for lunch that day.  His tent is made of goat hair.  The interesting thing about goat hair is that when it gets wet after a rain it becomes waterproof due to swelling of the hair fibers.

You will note the authentic garb on Abraham.  I'm sure that those pants that look like jeans were woven with the finest wool from his own flock of sheep.  On the right, is a group of us sitting around the table, reclining for some of us which is the way people ate back then.  You can see Abraham teasing Sis Allaire.

Here we have pictures of us riding camels.  On the left is Sue and I with Eliazar (Abraham's servant) giving us a hand.  Riding camels isn't terribly hard but the getting up and down part is a bit tricky.  The rump rises first and tries to tilt you forward off the front of the camel.  You can see us leaning back to keep our seat.  There are hand holds in front of each of us to help.  In spite of thorough instruction, Eliazar was careful to make sure that we didn't flip off on our faces.  You can see his hand in front of Sue to make sure she stays on the camel.  On the right you can see, from left to right, Goris Ewell, Mark Ewell (the hat behind Goris), me, Tracey Savage and Jim Savage.  Oh, I said I didn't have a decent picture of him but this one isn't bad. 

Since that ride, we all received licenses of authorized persons to ride a camel.  I'm sure that will come in handy some day.

This is Goris's husband Marc.  Marc and Goris are missionaries in China and Marc also works for Wycliff as well as a photographer for some travel magazines.  Is there nothing this young man doesn't do?

By the way, see that camera bag?  He toted that thing all over Israel snapping away constantly.  I'm hoping he will share some of his pictures.  He must have the strongest back in the world.  That bag had to weigh a ton.

We saw a few people in uniform as well.  This is a guard at one of the checkpoints where you can cross over to Jordan from Israel.  Even though we weren't going that way we passed this close to the checkpoint. Sue and I also got our pictures taken with some Israeli soldiers.

Tough looking guys aren't they.  They were really nice about letting all these silly tourists getting their pictures taken with them.  It was an honor to be able to.

Sticking with the uniform theme, I managed to get my picture taken with a couple of policemen.  I guess I had to since I had such a wonderful one waiting back home for me.  Well, retired one at least.  

The one on the left is in Bethlehem (duh, from the picture) about where we got off the bus for our tour. The one on the right was in our hotel in Jerusalem our last day we were there.  He wasn't sure about getting a picture with me until I told him my husband was a retired policeman.  The one on the left was nice but egad, the expression on his face.  I can tell he wasn't sure about all this.

My list of people wouldn't be complete without including Chuck and Cindy Jackson.  They were on the other bus but we managed to get to know them as well as many others from the yellow bus.  I hope to have some of the yellow bus folks posting here eventually as well.  

I think that covers a lot of the folks on the trip.  Sadly there are many that I don't have more pictures of.  

More posts later.

Caesarea Philippi

While exploring around in the Northeast of Israel, we visited Caesarea Philippi although on the map it's shown as Banias.  It's a little to the East of the town of Dan.  Caesarea Philippi is at the foot of Mt Hebron and is one of the sources of the Jordan River.

It's also the location of an ancient temple of the god Pan.  "Good greif", you ask, "why are you visiting the temple of the god pan?"

The grotto

A close up of the grotto of the god Pan

Well, a wonderful thing happened here.  This is where Jesus was identified by Peter as the Son of God and the Messiah.  Now that makes it worth visiting.   Can you imagine standing in the place where the Holy Spirit revealed to Peter who Jesus was?  WOW!

Caesarea Philippi was established by Philip the Tetrarch who was the son of Herod the Great.   Not much is left of the area except for the remnants of the temple.

This picture of the plants has no special meaning.  It's just pretty so I wanted to include it.



I thought this tree was pretty cool too.

I did a short, less than one minute video of the water around the temple area. It is quite beautiful.  There are little waterways all around the walking area.

I think it is special that one can stand in an area that people set up to an idol yet experience a place where the Holy Spirit was at work.  There are so many incredible places in Israel.  God truly made it a promised land.  It still is.  The people, the places.  So much points to God and to Jesus the Messiah!