In the Footsteps of Christ: Jerusalem

Looking out over Jerusalem from Mount of Olives

When we were growing up, we never dreamed that we’d ever have the opportunity to visit places that we had read about in our Sunday School lessons!  The thought of visiting Israel, where Christ lived 2000 years ago seemed beyond our comprehension! So when we arrived in port on the first of May, we were thrilled to realize that we were truly in the Holy Land! 

However, before we were actually able to journey anywhere, we had to jump through several hoops. As had been the case in Morocco, we were advised to dress in such a way that we didn’t show allegiance to any particular country.  So away went the country-specific t-shirts and out came the generic shirts. Amazingly, it appeared that most people on the ship complied with the request!  (I do have to say for the benefit of our friend Carole, though, that on our tour bus there were two men wearing New Zealand caps, and I had my New Zealand visor!  So I think that was the most “advertised” country on the bus!) 

The day before our arrival we had been given instructions about immigration procedures.  We had to do a face-to-passport check-in with Israeli customs, and we would receive a stamped landing card that would be turned in after our day last day in Israel.  And we would NOT be getting our passports stamped!   It was expected of everyone on the ship, regardless of whether they were staying on board or heading ashore.  When going ashore we were instructed to carry passports and the landing card. 

So we were up very early to go through the line.  We had been assigned a later time, but in order to assure that we would be on the same bus as our friends, we had to go through customs with them.  Then we would check in with shore excursions and get stickered for the trip to Jerusalem. 

Our tour was Leisurely Jerusalem, an 8½ hour level 1 tour designed for limited walking, meant that there were many people on the bus with canes and walkers.  I took my wheelchair, but I ended up not using it, either because the walks were short or because the area was not wheelchair accessible.  We were glad that our friends Joan and Paul were on the same excursion. 

As we headed out of Ashdod, we became part of the slow-moving stream of traffic until we managed to escape the city.  Our guide explained that Israel has a population of almost 8 million, 75% of which is Jewish; the other 25% is made up of the other religions, mostly Christian and Muslim. 1/3 of the country is desert, and Israel, though surrounded by countries that produce oil, has none itself.  She told us that a standard joke is that Moses made a wrong turn, landing in an area without oil. 

Israel is a democracy with a 120-member parliament.  The number of members is based upon a Sanhedrin number dating way back their history.  I found it very interesting that the seating within the parliament is in the shape of a menorah! 

Israel was born in 1948.  The Jewish people wanted to keep Jerusalem since it had been the capital since 1000 BC, so the Arabs put a siege on the city.  So the city was divided until 1967; it is now reunited as a result of the Six Day War.  Before 1973 people in Israel were very innocent and naïve, but after the Yom Kippur War of 1973 when they almost lost their country, they woke up.  Just as an example of being naïve and backward, when the Beatles asked to visit Israel in 1966, they were denied the privilege of coming because of their long hair. 

As we headed toward Jerusalem, we could see that all road signs were written in three different languages – Hebrew is the primary language, but Arabic is the second language.  Signs are now also written in English.  Good thing because there was no way at all to make any sense out of the lines, dots, and squiggles that make up both the other written languages!  One interesting place we passed on our drive was a monastery erected over the site where the two thieves crucified with Christ are believed to have been buried.

Nearing Jerusalem, the traffic became a tangled web of roads crisscrossing all over the place, and the traffic was incredibly slow!  Our first stop was on the Mount of Olives near a Hebrew University where we were able to get a panoramic view of Jerusalem.  The guide pointed out various landmarks, but it was very difficult to pick them out so sadly our pictures are just nice scenic views of the city.  Never having been to Israel, we were overwhelmed with the scope of history, and although we are very familiar with the Bible stories, we are not enough of Biblical scholars to remember all the details!  (Chuck told me he was glad I was doing these blogs because it was too hard to remember everything!) 

When the Israelites returned after having been exiled in Egypt, Judea was divided into 12 different sections for the 12 tribes of Jacob.  Jerusalem was a neutral area between the 12 tribes so in 1000 BC it became the capital.  King Solomon built the first temple there in 986 BC; this was the historic temple where Jesus overturned the tables of the moneychangers.  The temple is no longer there, but we did see the walls that had been built around the temple. 

Our first major stop was the Garden of Gethsemane.  I’m not sure what I expected, but it was definitely much smaller than I had imagined.  Those of you who have seen my house will know what I mean when I say that the garden was about the size of my front yard!  Of course things have changed in the past 2000 years, and buildings have grown up around it, so I would imagine that it was originally larger.  Next to the garden was the Basilica of the Agony of Jesus Christ.  We entered quietly and spent a few moments studying the artwork that depicted the scenes that took place there two millennia ago.  It was very moving! 

Outside the garden, chaos seemed to reign as tour groups tried to reassemble amid the vendors pushing their wares.  (No, I did not need ten postcards, nor did I need jewelry or scarves.)  Buses would pull up and load their passengers amid the honking of horns; drivers certainly were impatient in the gridlock of traffic.  We waited for what seemed like a long time before our bus finally arrived.  In fact we even had one member of our tour group who seemed to feel called upon to give unrequested assistance to the tour guide by telling the rest of us what to do.  When I went to sit on a bench a bit farther than she thought I should be, she told Chuck I was getting too far away, but he let her know that I had to sit and wait and there were no places any closer for me to sit.  She kept her eye on me to make sure I didn’t escape too far away!

Heading toward lunch, we drove along the walls of Jerusalem, passing various gates into the city.   Our lunch was at a former kibbutz.  A kibbutz describes a way of life that began about 100 years ago.  The idea was that everyone would share in the work equally and get an equal amount of profit. Sounds familiar, but of course they eventually found out that it didn’t work.  So kibbutzim (yes, “kibbutzim” is the plural for “kibbutz” – learn something new every day) are now remnants of a society that didn’t work.  We didn’t see much evidence of that past way of life as we entered the kibbutz, where we had a buffet lunch.  It was an interesting experience, particularly due to the birds and cats that seemed to be wandering the dining area!  Enough said…

After lunch, we stopped for another beautiful panoramic view of Jerusalem from a different angle, followed by a stop at a shopping area where we had a few minutes to browse before heading toward our final stop, the Wailing Wall.  Unfortunately the bus couldn’t get close, so I wasn’t able to make the trek uphill and up the stairs into that area so I missed it.  Chuck found it fascinating.  I would have liked to go in, but I had reached my limit of endurance for the day. 

Our trip back to Ashdod was even slower than the reverse trip in the morning.  It looked like everyone in Israel was trying to exit Jerusalem at the same time; it was a rush hour that would easily rival that of the Dan Ryan at 4:00 PM!  Despite this, we came away from Jerusalem having felt like we had truly walked in the footsteps of Christ!

BT