Two miles east of Jerusalem is the town of Bethany, and it was our first stop on the morning of Monday, April 19, 1999. The word Bethani means "house of the poor," and there are still many honorably poor people living here.
We visit the home of the widow Abu Issa Mukhal, a Moslem married to a Christian woman, Shifa. She lives in a small room, built many years ago by the Crusaders. In this room, that is smaller than my living room, she faithfully raised eight children. An additional room and a kitchen hut has been added in recent years. At last count some twenty-eight grandchildren assemble here almost daily or weekly. There is one full time job and some part time jobs to support them all.
This small room is across the street from the entrance to Lazarus' tomb. To the left are two Christian churches and to the right is a Moslem mosque.
Our guide takes me aside asking me to help him with something. He leads me down a narrow, steep, and not very well lit stairwell to the mourning chamber and the tomb. I hide in the tomb itself while he calls the rest of the group down to the mourning chamber. I had to step down into a passageway and I slipped on the last step.
Once gathered the group reads through the account of the raising from the dead of Lazarus by Jesus Christ (see John chapter 11). When our guide reads "Lazarus, come forth" I crouched through the passageway, suddenly appearing from the tomb to the surprise and enjoyment of everyone. On the way back up the stairs I noticed immediately that I had pulled a muscle when I slipped on that step entering the tomb.
Our next stop was the Old City, again through the Dung Gate. We visited the Western or "Wailing" Wall where we witnessed a young boy singing his Bar Mitzvah. We also learned about ancient temple practices.
The men of the group got the better part of the deal because men and women worship in different sections. We were able to go under Wilson's Arch, excavated remains of a bridge that led from Herod's palace to the Temple itself. Today this arch, now more of a tunnel under the city, houses a worship area for Jewish men wishing to be as close to the Holy of Holies as possible. Women are allowed to worship in here on rainy days. Various "arks" containing Torah scrolls are also kept here. Three times a week male worshipers come and collect the scrolls for Bar Mitzvah readings (singing in many cases, actually) or Sabbath readings.
In the wall itself there is also evidence of a very old custom. Here and there one can see nails pounded into the wall. Tradition and older texts reveal the custom of the "sure nails." People would bring there sins or grief to the wall and "nail" them in a sure place. The nails are a reminder of Isaiah's prophecy that man's burden will be removed when the nail in the sure place is taken down.
Bits of paper are also stuck in the cracks of the wall. More secular Jews have started to write prayers or wishes on paper and stuff them into the cracks. Today one can even fax or e-mail a prayer to someone nearby who will stuff it into a crack for you. Some papers contain lists of names of people needing special prayers and are placed there by orthodox Jews.
It is said that non-Jews call the Western Wall the "Wailing Wall" because they may have mistaken the prayers as crying or wailing. This worship area is only a remnant of the entire Western Wall, and Jews gather here to worship because they believe they have no priestly permission or authority to go on the Temple Mount itself. The wall simply serves as the closest gathering spot available and somewhat satisfies their yearning to connect with their past.
The Western Wall has been desecrated by Moslems throughout the centuries, including the period from 1948 to 1967 when Jews were forbidden to enter the Old City or worship at the wall. Huts and hovels crowded the area below the wall, and a portion of the wall was used for public toilets. After the liberation in the Six Day War of 1967 the area was cleared and restored. The Jews have kept a constant vigil ever since and at any hour of the day or night one kind find someone praying or reciting scriptures at the wall.
Our guide informs us that some years ago there was a riot on the Temple Mount between Arabs and Israeli Policemen, much like the one that followed the visit of Prime Minister Sharon in 2000. The riot was reported that night by the international media. However, the international media failed to report that Arabs had been throwing rocks down on the worshipers at the Western Wall, thus prompting the Israeli Police to send officers to the Temple Mount in the first place.
Our next stop is in what was the Upper part of Herod's Jerusalem, it is now just outside the walls of the Old City. Here there is a room considered to be the traditional site of the Last Supper. A second story room, it was built some eight hundred years ago. In reality, the word "upper" may have referred to a room in the Upper part of the city rather than a room upstairs. The Upper part of Herod's Jerusalem was where the priests generally lived and was considered the upper class section of the city.
We take a seat on the floor and relive both the Last Supper, by reading from the Bible, and a traditional Passover meal. In ancient days the Seder table was set up in a U-shape with participants sitting on the outside. The master of the house, or the oldest male, would sit second from the right end looking inward. The oldest would then select a boy, usually the youngest, to sit on his right and assist him in the order (Seder) of the meal and ritual customs. At one point the boy is to sing "What makes this night different from any other night." Opposite the boy, the last seat on the left remains empty and thus available for Elijah. Through the entire meal a door is left open for Elijah, who, by Jewish tradition, would announce the coming of the Messiah.
Modern day preparations include bitter herbs that are symbolic of bondage; there is also a mixture of chopped fruit, nuts, cinnamon, and honey that represent deliverance; parsley or watercress is used as a token of gratitude for the earth's abundance; salted water or vinegar is set out for cleansing use; there is a lamb's shank bone to remind of past sacrifices and an egg which is reminiscent of a sacrifice and new beginning. These and other foods are eaten symbolizing the deliverance from Egypt. Wine is prepared and used four times.
Then there is the unleavened bread. In the week before Passover all the leaven, yeast, and other items that might sprout are removed from the house. A tradition still followed in modern Israel is that the leaven must be "sold." The chief rabbi arranges to sell the entire country's supply of grain, prepackaged breads and leavened products to a non-Jew before Passover begins. In this way, whatever leaven is still around does not really belong to the Jews. The deal usually involves a down payment with delivery to be made when the balance is paid. Somehow the buyer never gets around to paying off the balance and by default "ownership" is returned to the Jews after Passover.
In the Seder, there are three times when the wine is blessed and sipped. Following each sip, a piece of unleavened bread is used. Each piece is blessed, broken, passed and eaten. There is a total of three pieces of bread, but they are used four times. Toward the beginning of the Seder the middle of three pieces is broken in two. One half has to be hidden away, usually in an upper part of the house, or above something. In at least one tradition, the half piece is wrapped in a red cloth before being hidden. The piece will be found later by children and it will be used with a fourth cup of wine.
Considering the Jewish calendar and the scriptural narrative, Jesus led the Passover meal with his disciples on the preparation evening/day, the Passover really began the following evening. This high, holy week always began on the first full moon after the first day of spring. Every year that day becomes an extra Sabbath that week; it is called a High Day. That High Day can occur on any day of the week, including the regular Sabbath. Perhaps, then, we should be celebrating Good Thursday instead of Good Friday.
Jesus did some other significant things at that Passover meal. At one point he changed the order of the wine and bread with the bread first. Jesus also demonstrated his role as servant by washing the feet of his disciples. Then he gave them a new commandment "That ye love one another, as I have loved you. . . ." (See John 13:34)
Our group now concludes our time in the Upper Room by singing a hymn written by Luciane Clark Fox:
As I have loved you, Love one another.
This new commandment:
Love one another.
By this shall men know
Ye are my disciples,
If ye have love one for another.
Chiasmi are word games with subtle meanings, they are words listed in inverted repetitions or in opposites. One can find many a Chiasmus in the Bible. Returning to Jaffa and Acts chapter 10, for a moment, we can find one.
We read first of the dream Cornelius, a gentile, had telling him to send for Peter in Jaffa, then we read about Peter's dream where he is commanded to eat non-kosher food by an angel, then Peter arrives in Caesarea and we read again about Cornelius' dream. In the center, of course, is Peter's dream, the point of which was to tell Peter that he was now commanded to teach the gospel to gentiles because the salvation Jesus' atonement gives is available for everyone.
On the Mount of Olives we find another Chiasmus with the tradition of sacrificing a red calf (whose ashes were used for the purification of sins) on the mount, then Jesus bleeding from every poor as he took the sins of all mankind upon him in the Garden of Gethsemane, and, finally, in the prophecy that Jesus will appear on the Mount of Olives in the last days wearing red clothing. In the center is the atonement of Jesus Christ.
After leaving the Upper Room in what is now called Mount Zion, we went over to the Mount of Olives. There we find an orchard of olive trees. From here we can line up the Golden Gate (the Gate Beautiful) with the Dome of the Tablets on the Temple Mount. Here we sit and read the accounts of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Today there are several traditional churches on the Mount of Olives: Russian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, and Catholic. The garden of the Catholic Church has had olive trees existing for the better part of twenty centuries. The garden mentioned in the scriptures was Gethsemane, a word that means a "wine press" or "olive press," usually found in a vineyard or orchard. There are many such orchards on the Mount of Olives today.
The agony that Jesus went through became so difficult that he prayed to his Father for relief, yet submissively said "thy will be done."
"And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground" (Luke 22:44).
It seems that his clothing must surely have been stained red.
As we sat in this peaceful orchard we had a picnic lunch, those pocket things again. The feeling of peace was so strong and sweet, we just didn't want to leave.
But leave we must, after reading about the betrayal of Jesus by Judas, we head over to the Palace of Caiaphas, where Jesus was taken that fateful night.
