To walk where he walked, to live where he lived, to journey where he journeyed, to witness what he did and to live where he died. Jerusalem the city where it all happened. Just returning from a pilgrimage along with a group of people from the Holy land, during Lent, made the passion of the Christ come alive, as never before. Jerusalem, one of the holiest city in the world is also known as the Golden City. Jerusalem is mentioned in the Bible so many times, but to physically be standing in the same city, where Jesus underwent his passion before his death, is truly a dream come true for many pilgrims and tourists from all over the world.
There are very few instances, recorded in the Bible, where Jesus cried and Dominus Flevit Church, a Roman Catholic Church, located on the Mount of Olives, opposite the walls of the old city of Jerusalem, is one of them. Dominus Flevit in Latin means, ‘The Lord wept’. This was the place where Jesus wept, as he looked in lament over the city Jerusalem and said, “Jerusalem Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing”.
Walking down the slope from the church is the Garden of Gethsemane, the place where Jesus spent the night praying, along with his disciples, before he was arrested. The Garden of Gethsemane holds history and beauty, like no other garden in the world. There remain eight olive trees presently, all from the time of Jesus, still standing tall and spreading its branches wide. In the Garden of Getsamene, there now stands a church known as the ‘Basilica of the Agony’ or The All Nations Church, built by the Italian architect, Antonio Barluzzi, in the year 1924. Inside it is the rock on which Jesus sweated blood. This whole church is constructed in such a way, that it represents a piece of the agony, the painful suffering, the excruciating pain that Christ experienced, before he carried the Cross.
After the soldiers arrested Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, they brought him to Caiaphas, the High priest. As per the Jewish law, a prisoner could not be tried in the night, so they kept him in the dungeon in Caiaphas’ house. Jesus was lowered by a rope from the top and kept in a standing position against the wall with his knees bent forward and arms folding at the elbows on either side the entire night. To imagine, how the King of the World was mistreated, yet he bore everything so he could gain the whole world. Truly, the verse from Isiah 53:5 comes alive, “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities, the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.”
Jesus Christ walked the same streets where he trod and fell with the weight of the Cross, and it was a unique opportunity to see every Station of the Cross come alive. Now, a bustling market place, with lines of shops on either side, but the narrow road remains the same as it was during Jesus’ time. The last Station ending, where the Holy Sepulcher Church begins.
The Holy Sepulcher Church is truly a magnificent church standing tall in Jerusalem, taking in thousands of pilgrims and tourists every day. There are processions held during an hourly basis and prayers whispered evaporating through the walls up to the heavens every minute. The anointing is so strong, at all times. During the Lenten period, there was something even more special about that place. Golgotha or ‘The Place of the Skull’ where Jesus breathed his last, was a touching experience, as one gets to place their hands on the exact same opening where the wooden cross once stood, over 2000 years ago. The Cross, then seen as a symbol of shame, but now as a symbol of reverence.
At the side of the opening where the original Cross once stood, is the 40 foot rock that was cracked when Jesus died. There are lines of people waiting to enter the tomb of Jesus, everyone getting a few minutes inside to see the small tomb where the Savior of the world was laid. The Anointing stone on
which Jesus’ body was kept is displayed at the entrance of the Holy Sepulchre Church.
The presence of the Lord is indeed felt powerfully in Golgotha, Jerusalem, enough to bring people to tears. It is hard for a person to go there, and not return changed. The Jerusalem in the Bible is the Jerusalem that can still be witnessed to this day.