Riding On a Donkey

We didn't ride on a donkey, but bright eyed and bushy-tailed at 5 am we set out for Jerusalem in our ford focus. Driving on the 90 all the way there was uneventful (except for young shepherds and sheep crossing the highway). Passing Jericho and turning on highway 1, we took the advice of our former hosts and stopped at the shops to buy some souvenirs. One thing that was very evident was the change from the rocky green Galilee to the dry desert leading up to Jerusalem.

Entering Jerusalem, we were completely lost. It didn't help that it was raining quite steadily. We trecked into the city, up to the old city, and just about to Bethlehem when God gracious placed us right on the street where we needed to return our rental car :) . After dropping off the car we took a cab to our new hostel. So far not as impressed as our last hostel, but it could be worse.

We settled in our room and headed off to the Mount of Olives on foot. The city was quiet as it was almost Sabbath. We reached the Mount of Olives and were looking around a bit when a friendly cab driver named Jakob kidnaped us. He took it upon himself to be our personal guide for the rest of the day, so we went with it. First we went to the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus prayed before he was taken captive starting the chain of events that led to his death. Jakob explained the sigificance of the area and drove us up to the top of the Mount of Olives (the highest of the four or five mountians in Jerusalem). It was beautiful with a view of the entire area of Jerusalem, inculding the Old City.

From there we went to Calvary and the Garden Tomb - by far the highlight of our day and probably our trip. The Bible says that Jesus was taken outside the city for execution near a rockface that looked like a skull (Golgotha...the place of a skull. Mark 15:22). In those days the Romans wanted crucifixtions to be public to diswade any further bad behavior, so the location was near a public road for all to see. After Jesus died, Ponitous Pilate had Roman soliders stab a spear into Jesus just to make sure he was dead. As the Bible accounts in John's gospel, blood and water flowed from Jesus when the spear pierced his dead body. Medically, when someone dies the blood and water seperate within the body, showing that Jesus had died on the cross.

Two of Jesus' followers, who happened to be wealthy, took Jesus' dead body and buried it in a tomb with 75 pounds of spices and tradional burial garments. Because Jesus had predicted His rising on the third day, a large stone was placed in front of the tomb and two Roman soliders guarded it's entrace. Two common arguments against the resurrection are 1) Jesus' disciples stole the body, and 2) Jesus wasn't dead and walked out of the tomb. The first argument is unlikely for a couple of reasons. First, there were Roman soilders guarding the tomb. In that day if a Roman soilder failed in his duty of guarding a prisoner he recieved the punishment that was due the priosoner...in this case death. That's good motivation to not mess up your duty and let anyone steal Jesus' body. The next reason has always been the most convincing to me. We know that the early Christians were serverly persecuted during the first century. Out of the twelve disciples (including Paul) eleven of them died horrific deaths and the last one (John) was burned alive in hot oil, but survived. Would anyone be willing to die for a lie. If the disciples stole the body and they knew the resurrection was a lie, why would they contiune to die and be persecuted for something they knew wasn't true? The second argument we talked about in the pervious paragraph with the blood and water. If Jesus wasn't dead but still severely beatened and bloody, he would have had remove the 75 pounds of burial spices, removed the stone, and fought off the Roman guards...highly unlikely. If he was still alive, managed to take off the spices and roll back the stone, then the guards would have just put him back on the cross to finish the job. Instead, the Bible says that Jesus rose on the third day that he "might free those who througth fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives" (Hebrews 2:15). Let those who have the ears to hear let them hear what the Spirt of God is saying.

It was an awe inspiring day and we're glad we get to share a little bit of it real time with you.

All our love and blessings,

Mike and Sara