Tina Huber

Reflections Day 3

January 5, 2012

Each day I have said, “THIS is my favorite” but I have a feeling that today will make the top 10. This was the day we took the New Testament walk. We started today again with class work. I had originally thought that I would come away with more than just an experience of a lifetime with my daughter, I actually thought I would come back with a few credit hours from Jerusalem University College. After a couple of intense days in the class room I’m not so sure! It is all fascinating to me and I feel like I understand it, but I am just not sure I will be able to recall all this information come test time. We’ll see! We headed to a familiar path when we walked to our first stop. It was located right beside the Dormition Abby and was called The Holy Mother of Zion (or Zion, Mother of all Churches). This site is remembered as the first new testament church. It is also remembered as the place of the Last Supper and the Upper Room. If I understood it correctly, there really isn’t any archeological evidence of this but it is more tradition. One thing I’ve observed in this country is they have a way of preserving holy sites. So till someone proves otherwise I am okay with saying that I sat on the roof of where all this occured! I really enjoyed our discussion time at this site. We talked about how the first Christians were Jewish. It is pretty cool to try and picture how the apostles and early Jewish Christians would have incorporated this into their worship as believers in Christ. When we left there I was pretty excited thinking about how this really could have been the place where Christ broke the bread and passed the cup that would represent His redeeming love for us! There is always time to reflect as we walk to the next site. On our way to an archeological park we stopped in front of a huge Menorah or Golden Lampstand. Similar to one that you would find in the tabernacle. This was exciting for me because the bible study I am doing at home had just had a section explaining the concept of the fire was not fueled on its own ability, like a candle, but rather by the olive oil that was in it. The comparison for us as Christians to let God fuel us with His Holy Spirit. Cool moment for me personally. Once we got to the archeological park we discussed how incredibly moving it must have been for a pilgrim to come from a small village and see the temple structure. It surely stirred many emotions and the architecture was built to do just that. We imagined what the arches and entries would have been like as you walk up Temple. We saw part of the western wall. This is a fairly new discovery and is dated to first century. We were told that the road was probably repaved after the time of Jesus but before the time of the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD. You could see the old pools for cleansing, where the grandiose archway would have been, and the road itself. Half of the road was covered in a huge rubble of giant stones from the destruction of the Romans. It is amazes me all the emotions I can feel at one site. Astonishment over the architecture, grief over the destruction, and excitement to explore it all. So, if that wasn’t enough we made our way over to the steps in front of the temple wall. Steps that Jesus most definitely sat on and offered His teaching. Steps that I got to sit on too. You could see how the geography of the land and activity in the Temple area makes its way into His teachings. The white washed tombs line the hillside of Mount of Olives. After our hike yesterday from the City of David, where the living water source was located, and the thought of someone having to haul that water up the hill to the temple, I have a new perspective when He talks of “heavy burdens” and “thirst no more.” I had several teary moments but I had a very emotional ending to my day. We went to the muslim quarter tonight. We entered a church call St. Ann. It is simplistic and glorious. The acoustics that were built in the design of this church were phenominal. Olivia led us in All Creators of Our God and King. It was angelic. The songs sound like you singing with the angels around the throne or at least that is what I imagined it would sound like. I absolutely loved it and took some time to worship my God that I love so much.