Day One In Jerusalem - Part Two

After Bethlehem, we drove back into Jerusalem and went up to the top of the Mount of Olives. We left the bus and walked the Palm Sunday road from the top all the way down to the Garden of Gethsemane. The Mount of Olives overlooks the old city of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount (where the gold Dome of the Rock mosque sits now).

Most of the olive trees are long since gone and much of the hillside is taken up with a Jewish cemetery. These folks are paying 10-20k for a spot on the Mount of Olives to have front row seats for when the Messiah comes back to rule and build a new temple.

This is a closer view of the eastern mercy gate that the Messiah is supposed to come back through, which explains why the Muslims have blocked it off and also created a Muslim cemetery right in front of it.

The Jewish people are actually buried in the ground but these boxes serve as their tombstones, with very detailed inscriptions upon them. The rocks on top are put there by family members when they visit and some of boxes have small alcoves in them for loved ones to light candles.

Some of the orthodox Jewish men gathering for a service at the cemetery. They had to wait for ten of them to get there to constitute a quorum for a service.

One of the places we stopped on the way down was at this church, which is shaped like a tear because it is said that this was where Jesus stood when we wept over the city of Jerusalem.

Outside this church some burial caves have been found with several ossuaries. These boxes were used to place the bones of people in later after burial, so that more people could be buried in a family tomb.

Also here in a little garden area, we found some examples of the thorns that they would have used to make Jesus' crown.

Finally at the bottom we reached the Garden of Gethsemane. Several ancient olive trees have been preserved here in a garden outside of a church. Our friend BJ got to give the devotional this day here in the Garden and we both picked up small olive branches to keep as souvenirs.

Daryl standing in front of a little sculpture showing Jesus in prayer in the Garden.



The Catholic Basilica of the Agony next to the Garden.





And right across the road from the Garden is another church, the Greek Orthodox Church of the Assumption, where the tomb Jesus' mother Mary is said to be located.

Later as we were driving back to the hotel, we passed another gate in the old city walls called the Damascus Gate. In the second picture on the bottom left, you can see the level of the gate in Jesus' day.

We called it a day and headed back to the hotel for dinner, our meeting and bed. Tomorrow was set to be our big day in Jerusalem exploring the old city for ourselves.