Today we visited the two places that are considered to be the locations of Jesus' crucifixion/burial/resurrection. Our experience at the Garden Tomb was a major highlight of the trip. At this location we had a guide who worked at the site. It turned out that he was from Abilene, Texas. He comes to Israel for 2 months every year to volunteer as a guide here.
He did a great job of explaining why some consider this to be the site. Here is what is thought to be Golgotha. Can you see the eyes and nose in the skull?
This is a photo of a picture he showed us. You can see the eyes and nose better in this one.
Here we are at the entrance to the tomb.
Hannah Cobb read the crucifixion story to us there. It is incredibly meaningful to read Scriptures at the sites.
We had to get a picture with George. He was incredible!
Mason prayed for our group (about 60) at the Garden Tomb.
We sang Low in the Grave He Lay. It was such an emotional, spiritual time. To think that we might be standing where Jesus rose from the dead was so very powerful.
This is the mount of Olives. It was here that Jesus did some of his teaching, and where he ascended into Heaven. It is also here that He will be coming back!! So special to be there.
Here is the Temple Mount area of Jerusalem. The Dome of the Rock (the building with the real gold dome) is a mosque that was built on the site of the Jewish temple. It seemed to be harder for me to keep seeing it than it was for others. George pointed out the wall around the city, and the various gates. (Not the original wall.) Outside one gate of the wall was where Stephen was stoned.
Guess you have to ride a camel here?
A donkey named Peter came by to say hello.
Mal had so much fun with these girls!
Here are thousands of Jewish graves. They are just in front of the Temple Mount area, and they all face the location where the temple was.
This is the second place that is said to be the location of Jesus’ crucifixion and burial. The church built over the site is called the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. We had been told that we could have a very reflective, spiritual experience at the Garden Tomb, but not at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Boy was that true! This place was crazy crowded. In fact, it was the only crowded place we went on the tour. If you went by sheer numbers, you would say this is the more accurate location! The two options are 1/2 mile apart, so it was neat enough to know that we were in the area.
This place was significantly less appealing. It is very ornate, and the visitors were pushy and wanted to kiss everything!
This rock remnant is to the side of the display above. It is said to be part of the stone that the cross was on.
Inside the church was a cave tomb that was from Jesus' time. It is not the one he was said to be buried in. We actually did not go into that area. The crowds were crazy and the area was closed at the time for different denominations to hold a short mass. Everyone told me that I was not missing anything - that is was just more ornate decorations. I would have liked to have seen it anyway. Guess I'll just google it!
These are the ruins of the Pool of Bethesda. This is where Jesus healed the man who had been sick for 38 years.
You can see the depth of the pool from this picture.
Our last stop today was at the museum to see this model of Jerusalem at Jesus’ time. It was really fascinating to walk around it and have George point out all that we saw today. The thing I liked most about it was that we were able to see the Temple! I was a bit weary of looking at the mosque on the temple mount.
The extra plus was that we went into the section of the museum that housed the Dead Sea Scrolls!
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