Sunday - Inside the Holy City

on February 27, 2011 by Walt Dilg

Sunday – Inside the Holy City

                We spilled out of the bus at Herod’s Gate, sometimes called the Flower Gate.  A couple quick turns and we were winding our way through the Moslem Quarter, residential and business areas, emerging at the Antonio Fortress – Ecce Homo stops on the Via Dolorosa.  Here is the location where Jesus was interrogated, flogged, and condemned by Pilot.  There were Roman games chiseled into the pavement that the soldiers were reputed to play.   The Chapels created a backdrop for contemporary pilgrims to voice hymns of faith and shed tears of sorrow over the passion of their Lord.  We all were moved by the display of piety surrounding us and welling up within. 

                At St. Anne’s, the church commemorating the mother of Mary and the birth of Mary, we had the opportunity to observe our Sabbath.  We paused after learning about the Bethsaida pools at St Anne’s, the place where Jesus held a paralytic, to receive the Lord’s Supper.  It was a special moment for us and an ecumenical moment, as all entered into the communion, perfect for the setting and the hopes of the  church that bears Christ’s name.  St. Anne’s is known for its acoustics, and a visit is always accompanied with one group or another singing.  A solo of “I Walked Today Where Jesus Walked” greeted my ears as I entered and could not help but to join in privately and thank god for the serendipity of the moment.

                We left through St. Stephen’s Gate, also known as Lion’s Gate, and meeting up with the bus got deposited on the other side of the Old City at the New Gate.  This gave us the easy opportunity to walk the residential and business streets of the Christian Quarter.   Now saying “streets” is a bit of a misnomer from our point of view, in that a few streets are about one lane wide and the rest are about half that width.  Our Guide Nadar led us to two local eating spots, so we could have a real taste of local cuisine.  Lunch was mostly humus based and delicious. 

                After lunch, we wound our way up and down what appeared to be a maze of streets, locating two more stops on the Via Dolorosa, and ending up on the roof of the Holy Sepulchre at the Ethiopian Convent.  The ancient dwelling whispered of a circumstance hard-scrabbled and put-upon, yet a faith resilient and meaningful.  Great preparation for a narrow descending staircase past two small chapels and an emerging into the main entrance courtyard of the Sepulchre.  You’re greeted by the Crusader church, yet inside one can still see remnants of the Byzantine and Constantine bacilicas.  Within is Mount Calvary, where Jesus was crucified, the marble slab where his body was dressed for burial, and the chapel structure commemorating where he was laid to rest in the tomb.  The altar area at Calvary gives the opportunity to touch the rock in which the crucifix was secured, and a small room off the burial rotunda gives the opportunity to crawl into a Jewish tomb of Jesus’ time.   Many archaeological finds help to raise the certainty that this is the place of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection.   A small piece of an afternoon was not nearly enough time to settle our souls into the power and poignancy of this holy place.  We opened ourselves to God and took what we could from the experience.  Thanks be to God.

                More winding streets through the Moslem Quarter into the Jewish Quarter, a security check-point passed, and we entered the plaza in front of the Western Wall.  Women divided off from the men as we all headed to the wall for some time of prayer.  We didn’t know what to make of the fact that the women’s side was a fifth the size of the men’s side, yet we all know how important the Jewish mother is to the family and its faith development.

                The remarkable archaeological digs on the southern side of the Temple Mount was our last stop.  It is a quick walk from the Western Wall to this other location, and well worth the effort, since you get to see a Roman Road broken apart by the large stone blocks pushed from the top of the Mount by the Romans in 70 ce.  We also walked further to the remains of the Hula Gate and the monumental staircase to stand on some stone steps that Jesus would actually have walked on!  Wham – two mileniums disappeared and we were there… or he was here….

                The only thing that could have made this day better is if it were two or three days long, allowing each one of us to putz around at our own individually satisfying pace, taking every inch of everything in, savoring it, experiencing it, meditating upon it, changing through it.  Nevertheless, the best of that happened anyway, and we’re the richer for it.