Hebrew: Yerushalayam / Arabic: al-Quds
Coordinates: 31°47′N, 35°13′E / Elevation -680
The heart of any pilgrimage to the Holy Land must be Jerusalem. The Bible says Jerusalem is the city of the Great King (Psalm 48:2, Matthew 5:35), the place where the Most High is worshiped (Isaiah 2:3), and the source from which God’s salvation comes (Genesis 22:14; Joel 2:32).
When God came to earth in the flesh, Jerusalem was His ultimate destination (Matthew 16:21), the place that broke His heart (Matthew 23:37; Luke 19:41), the place where He gave His ultimate gift of love (Luke 13:33; John 19:17). To visit Jerusalem is to visit the very throne of God (Jeremiah 3:17).
As we walk the streets of the Old City, you will tread where millions of faithful followers of Christ have trod for two millennia. In the trek, you will brush the truest meaning of “communion of saints.” As you walk, you will worship, as you worship, your prayers and praise (sometimes uttered as a simple “Oh!” of discovery) will be joined with those who have done likewise – maybe two, maybe five or maybe even fifteen hundred years before – and even now still offer praise to the Most High as Saints in light, even as they offer intercession for each one of us as we walk where they walked before (Revelations 6:9, 7:9-17).
The Jerusalem part of our pilgrimage is meant to be different than what we have done ‘til now. Until now, we have focused on history with a nod to faith; in Jerusalem, we will focus on faith with a nod to history – which is not to say that every place we visit in Jerusalem will be Bible intensive. Yet, with eyes of faith, even the most secular of places have the power to induce questions of faith – that is, questions that expose, challenge or deepen what we hold to be true. At least, that is, for those “who have eyes that see and ears to hear” (Proverbs 20:12; Luke 8:10, 10:23).
Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised
in the city of our God!
His holy mountain, beautiful in elevation,
is the joy of all the earth,
Mount Zion, in the far north,
the city of the great King.– Psalm 48:1-2
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St. Anne’s / Pools of Bethesda
Coordinates: 31°46′52.89″N 35°14′11.93″E
To the north of the Lions’ Gate inside the Old City wall is the Pool of Bethesda and St Anne’s Church. The Pool of Bethesda once lay outside the city walls near what was called the Sheep Gate (perhaps now the Lions’ or St Stephen’s Gate).
During the time of Herod the Great, the site, which was originally built to collect rainwater, was developed into curative baths. The colonnaded ruins at the site are impressive and are consistent with the story of the healing of the paralyzed man, as found in John 5:1-15.
St Anne’s, which is adjacent to the pools, is a beautiful Romanesque church built on the traditional location of the home of Joachim and Anne, the parents of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Remains of their home are supposed to exist in a crypt beneath the church which was built between 1131 and 1138AD on the remains of an earlier Byzantine basilica. St Anne’s is remarkable for its classic design and extraordinary acoustics.
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Via Dolorosa (pilgrim pathway)
No one knows for sure if this is the route Jesus took between the Praetorium and Golgotha. That route is open to debate, especially as the locations of both the Praetorium and Golgotha have yet to be settled by scholarly consensus. The traditional route, however, is very well defined. And along the way as we walk it, we will see chapels, churches, pillars, way-stations, lintels and plaques all commemorating the Stations of the Cross. (Such places in Latin parlance are known as “oratories,” which means “a place where the faithful are called to prayer and meditation, other than in a parish church.”)
The Stations of the Cross are meant to call the faithful to prayer, as they bring to mind various aspects of our Lord’s passion and what it means to follow Him. Most of these stations are firmly grounded in the Passion Narratives of the Gospels; others are handed down as centuries-old traditions from various strains of Christianity, East and West.
The beginning of the development of the practice of meditating along the route of the Passion is lost to history, though writings from as early as the 4th century indicate that pilgrims sought out the places where Passion events took place. By the 8th century, several Passion routes, along with rudimentary stations of meditation, were fairly well established in Jerusalem.
Even as Protestants, we should be able to appreciate and even gain from ritualized “calls to prayer and meditation” such as the Stations represent. What better place is there to consider the passion of our Lord, and to thank Him, than when you find yourself in front of one of these oratories on the Way of Sorrows? It is good to remember what Jesus did for our salvation. After all, it was done for us!
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Church of the Holy Sepulchre
Coordinates: 31°46′42.4″N 35°13′47.1″E
Though it may be hard to see beneath the centuries of adoring decoration, the archaeological evidence that Calvary and the Tomb lay beneath the massive edifice of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is stronger than anywhere else in Jerusalem. The tomb itself resides in a monument known as the edicule (Latin, aedicula, a small niche or building used for a shrine) and refers to the ornate structure that surrounds the chamber in which the body was placed. Though many concerted efforts have been made to obliterate the actual tomb, fragments of a 1st century AD kokhim (Hebrew: burial chamber) lay beneath the polished marble and gilded altars that adorn the edicule.
No one knows for sure when the place became a shrine. No doubt, from the very beginning, the curious made their way to Christ’s tomb to see its emptiness. Other first century AD tombs attest that this location was outside the walls of Jerusalem in the days of Jesus.
What is known is that by the time of the Roman Emperor Hadrian the place was so well-known the Romans felt the need to desecrate it by building a shrine to Venus on the spot – inadvertently marking it for future generations. Those generations finally came in 325 AD, when Constantine ordered the removal of the pagan shrine and “a church of wondrous beauty” to be built in its place.
In the midst of the renovation, an expected discovery was made: Hadrian had not destroyed the tomb, but simply backfilled the area and built his shrines on top of the backfill. Also discovered was another shrine built on top of an ancient backfilled quarry near the intersection of two ancient roads. This area too had been “desecrated” by Hadrian who erected the second shrine to defile the place where Christ had been crucified. A third discovery in the excavation was a deep pit or cistern into which several crosses along with other debris had been tossed. Constantine’s mother, who oversaw much of the excavation, declared that the crosses were those spoken of in the Gospel and, through miraculous intervention, was able to discern which was the True Cross.
Without judging the merit of any of the supernatural claims connected with the place, the archaeological claims (if accurate) are highly supportive of the traditions.
Through the centuries, this spot has suffered – and survived – much abuse: conquering kings, insane caliphs, disputing churches. And yet somehow, like Jerusalem itself, it continues to endure.
As with so much that we do on our pilgrimage, be encouraged to be the consummate visitor of faith in this historic Church. Touch things. Smell things. Hold things. Stare at what you see. Kneel and pray. For our hope lies in what this place is meant to remind us of: that we worship a Risen Lord who continues to intercede for us as our Eternal Advocate. Hallelujah! He is risen. He is risen indeed! Hallelujah!
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Southern Steps
Coordinates: 31°46’32.88″N 35°14’10.78″E
Excavations of the Southern Steps were begun in the late 1960’s when massive amounts of debris – much of it from the First Revolt of 70AD – were removed in one of the largest archaeological endeavors in modern Israel. The steps were the main entrance to the Temple complex in Herodian times, allowing worshipers access to the Temple through several gates that led upward through subterranean hallways.
Flanking the steps are a number of ritual baths (Hebrew, mikvot (pl); mikveh (sg)) used by worshipers to purify themselves before entering the Temple area. The steps themselves alternate between shallow and wider steps, which some have suggested forced Temple visitors to adopt a reverential pace as they ascended the Mount; other have suggested the steps force a cadence that corresponds to the 15 Psalms of Ascent that pilgrims would sing as they approached the Temple (Psalms 120-134).
Immediately to the west of the steps at the start of the Western Wall, a 1st century AD street was partially excavated at the same time as the Southern Steps. The street, about 35’ wide, was paved with large slabs of stone up to a foot thick. Many of the slabs were broken by huge stones pushed off the Mount by Roman soldiers during the destruction of the Temple. The street is flanked by what appears to be shops.
Of significance, a cornice stone with the broken inscription “to the place of trumpeting…” was found during the excavation. It has been suggested that the inscription may have been workers’ graffiti indicating where the stone was to be placed during the construction of the wall.
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Western Wall (archaeological & pilgrim site)
Hebrew: HaKotel HaMa’aravi (“Western Wall”) /
Arabic: Ḥā’iṭ Al-Burāq (“Wall of Lightning”)
Coordinates: 31° 46′ 36.12″ N, 35° 14′ 4.2″ E
When Herod the Great set out to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem, the goal was to create a monument that would make a statement to the Roman Empire and endear him to the Jewish people. The work began in 19BC and started with leveling of slopes and filling of valleys that surrounded the existing temple to a single plane that may have been the largest stone platform in the ancient world.
The so-called “Western Wall” is the remnants of this leveling process, being the retaining walls that Herod built to hold the supporting structures and backfill that lies beneath the platform. Herod never lived to see the completion of the project; he died in 4BC, about 60-65 years before the renovations were complete. The Temple which occupied a small portion of the platform was destroyed by the Romans in 70AD.
The Wall as we see it today remains a contentious focus of Jewish zeal. For centuries, Jews were forbidden from even entering the city of Jerusalem to mourn the loss of their nation and the loss of their Temple. During the rise of Islamic rule, this injustice was undone, and for centuries during Islamic, and later, European, rule, the Jews were allowed to pray at this wall – prayers that included laments for the scattering of God’s people throughout the world and the loss of the Promised Land (hence the term, “Wailing Wall,” for the cries of laments offered in this place). From 1948 to 1967, the Jordanians once again prohibited Jews access to the wall. In 1967, the Israelis captured the area and levelled scores of Palestinian homes to create the plaza we now see.
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Temple Mount (al-Sharif)
Hebrew: Har haBayit / Arabic: Al-Haram al-Qudsi al-Sharif or “Noble Sancturary”
Coordinates: 31°46′40.7″N 35°14′8.9″E / Elevation: +2428 (740m)
The Temple Mount is actually a massive platform built by Herod the Great, leveling Mt. Moriah on which Solomon’s Temple (built during the 10th century BC) and the 2nd Temple (rebuilt in 516BC, during the time of Ezra, ) of the Lord sat. By tradition, Mt. Moriah was where Abraham offered Isaac to the Lord. The 2nd Temple and Temple area was greatly enlarged during the Herodian era, with renovation beginning in 19BC and ending in 63AD. It was destroyed by Roman legions on August 4, 70AD. At 930’(S) x 1040’(N) x 1560’(E) x 1600’(W), the mount was one of the largest man-made structures in antiquity.
Currently, the most prominent feature on the Mount is the Dome of the Rock, which was built between 687 and 691AD by the 9th Caliph, Adb al-Malik. Muslim tradition holds that the Dome covers the rock from which Mohammed made a night-long ascent to heaven in 621AD. While the whole Mount area is considered sacred to Muslims, the al-Aqsa Mosque on the southern edge of the Mount is considered the holiest area.
Orthodox Jews are forbidden under threat of Divine curse (Hebrew: karet, Divine retribution) from ascending the Mount, lest they stumble across the area that was the Holy of Holies.
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City of David (archaeological site)
Coordinates: 31°46′25″N 35°14′08″E
The Mount of Olives generally runs in a north-south orientation. At its base to the west lies the Valley of Jehoshophat, also known as the Kidron Valley for the creek that runs through. Directly across from the Mount of Olives lies the Temple Mount, or, more properly, Mount Moriah, the hill on which the Temple sat. Moriah, like the Mount of Olives, generally runs from the north to the south, ultimately sloping to south into a peninsula shaped wedge that descends to a floor where three valleys meet: Kidron on the east, the Tyropean (or “cheesemaker’s”) valley on the west, and the valley of Hinnom, which comes from the west. This peninsula is known as Ophel and in ancient times was the rise on which the city of Jerusalem was built.
In the time of David, Jerusalem was a walled city inhabited by a people called the Jebusites. The Jebusites were at war with Israel and taunted David, saying, “You will not get in here; even the blind and the lame can ward you off.” They were confident in themselves and said, “David cannot get in here.” (2 Samuel 5:6).
This was not the first time David was taunted. Many years before, a giant mocked David, comparing him to a twig used to beat a dog. David replied to the giant, “You come against me with sword, spear and javelin, but I come against you in the Name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied” (1 Samuel 17:43), and he killed Goliath with a rock.
David was no one to mock; though a sinner without peer, he was also a man with a friend in very high places, the Lord of Hosts. So David climbed a water shaft with a handful of men and conquered the city of Jerusalem and made it his city, the city of David (2 Samuel 5:6-10) – a good reminder that with God on your side, even the worst of sinners can conquer the world (Matthew 11:19; Romans 5:8; Romans 8:37).
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St. Peter at Gallicantu
Coordinates: 31°46′17″N, 35°13′55″E
Peter is really every person’s Christian: willing, faithful, frail – full of passion to be there for the Lord, yet unable to pull it off, all at the same moment.
When Jesus in the Upper Room laid out that He was about to be arrested and the disciples would scatter, it was Peter who protested, “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will!” To this, Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times” (Matthew 26:33-34) Before the rooster crows… In Latin, the phrase is antequam gallus cantet. Gallus, rooster. Cantet, sings. Gallicantu, all in one word.
The Church of St Peter’s in Gallicantu was built in 1931 on top of the traditional site of the house of Caiaphas, who was the High Priest on the night in which Jesus was betrayed. It was to this house that Jesus was first brought after His arrest in the Garden; it was here that Peter slipped into the courtyard. It was also here that the rooster crowed (Mark 14:72).
In the basement of the Church of St Peter’s is a cistern which many believe to be the place where Jesus was held between the time of the illegal hearing with the Sanhedrin and when He was taken to Pilate (Matthew 26:57-75; John 18:12-27).
In a courtyard just outside the church, near some Hasmonean steps that wind down the Western Hill (Zion) to the valleys that lead to Gethsemane, there is a courtyard with a statue of people warming themselves by a fire. On top of the Church is a bronze rooster in position to greet the morning. Faith, fervency and failure all meet in this place: a good reminder that what the Lord desires is a humble heart, rather than one that crows (2 Chronicles 7:14; Psalm 51:17; Psalm 149:4; Isaiah 57:15).
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