Once upon a time about 2000+ years ago, in an ancient village called Ein-Karem (translated in Hebrew means ‘Spring of the Vineyard’) in the city of
Judah southwest of Jerusalem, there live an old couple – Zechariah who was a priest and his wife Elizabeth. Angel Gabriel
appeared to Zechariah and promised him a son John who would be the one to come before the Lord. Zechariah did
not believe since he was too old and was stuck dumb for his disbelief. As
promised, Elizabeth conceived and she thanked God for his mercy on her;
Zechariah regained his voice after John was born. The Church of John the Baptist is
built on the remnants of Byzantine church, a mosaic floor and the cave where
John the Baptist is believed to have been born and additionally, there is
evidence of Mikveh or Jewish ritual
bath dating back to the Second Temple
Period.
Six months into John’ conception, Angel
Gabriel also appeared to Mary who
lived in a little town of Galilee
called Nazareth in northern Israel and
was promised to Joseph. Mary was afraid when Angel Gabriel gave her the news
that she was to bear a son but Angel Gabriel assured her of God’ power and
might by citing the example of her cousin Elizabeth now pregnant with a child
in her old age. The Basilica of the Annunciation is a two-storied building constructed over the
Byzantine and Crusader era churches and houses the Grotto of the Annunciation
and the remnants of Mary’s childhood home.
Now Mary was ecstatic over her cousin Elizabeth’s good fortune and
decided to visit her. She drank water from a spring which is now called Mary’s Spring or the Fountain of
the Virgin. She then
proceeded to Zechariah’ house and when she greeted Elizabeth, the baby within
her womb moved and Elizabeth is believed to have said the following words to
Mary “O Blessed among all women, blessed
is the fruit of your womb”. These words now form part of the Hail Mary to
our Blessed Mother. The Church of the Visitation is built on this site
which has the rock venerated as “pietra del nascondimento” (rock of
concealment).
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| The Church of Nativity |
Herod, the King of Judea at that time had been asked by the Three Wise Men
/ Magi / Kings whether a boy was born at the palace. Herod had been disturbed
by this and had asked the Magi to report back to him when they had found Jesus.
However, the Magi having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod went
back to their homes in a different way. This angered Herod so much that he
ordered all young children to be killed and the whole of Judea wept. Joseph
having been forewarned by an Angel of God to leave for Egypt, escaped with baby
Jesus and Mary. They returned back only after Herod died but they were afraid
to go to Judea for fear of Jesus’ life and hence, they settled in Nazareth. Here,
we can see the home of Mary and Joseph believed to be the site
where Jesus spent his life with his parents before he started with his
ministry. The Church of St. Joseph or St.
Joseph’ Workshop has an
underground chamber which is believed to be the workshop of Joseph. The
paintings of the Holy Family, Joseph dream and Joseph’ death lend character to
this otherwise simple monument. There is also Mary’s well and an
adjoining church dedicated to Angel Gabriel which is believed to be site
of the Annunciation by the Greek Orthodox Church.
When Jesus was 12 years old, he was presented in the Holy Temple on Temple Mount as was customary among the Jews. The Temple
Mount is the holiest site in Judaism. The Western Wall refers to the 488m long
part of the west wall of the Temple Mount facing the Jewish Quarter; the rest
of it faces the Muslim Quarter and is the pilgrimage site for the Jews since it
is the sole remnant of the Holy Temple. The Dome of the Rock is a
shrine which is the oldest works of Islamic architecture rests at the site of
the Holy Temple. The Rock or the Foundation Stone is
believed to be the spiritual junction of heaven and earth and has other
significance like being the stone where sacrifices were made to Jehovah by
Adam, Cain, Abel, Abraham. Beneath the Foundation Stone is supposed to be the
resting place of the Ark of the Covenant carried from Egypt. The neighboring Al-Aqsa
Mosque is the site of the ascension; Prophet Muhammad is believed to have been
carried here from the sacred mosque in Mecca.
After the presentation when Mary and Joseph had traveled for 3 days,
they realized that Jesus was missing and that their assumption that Jesus was
with the other was inaccurate. They rushed back to the Holy Temple to find
Jesus in discussion with the priests.
There is not much written in the Bible about Jesus’ life between then up
to the age of thirty.
Jesus performed his first miracle
at the behest / request of his mother Mary. This was at a wedding in Cana where he had gone with his mother and the
marriage party ran out of wine. When Mary came to Jesus and told him about it,
he had told her simply that his time had not yet come. But his ever knowing
mother and his first disciple just told the steward and his helpers to do as
Jesus asked. There were stone jars used for cleaning and Jesus asked them to
fill it up and serve the people. When the people were served, the water had
turned into wine. The Church at Cana is a small two-storied building with chapels
on both floors. The lower chapel has an old jar believed to be one of the 6
jars in which the water turned into wine. A couple can renew their wedding vows
here and they give you a certificate of marriage.
After John the Baptist had been jailed by King Herod, Jesus started
preaching in Galilee. He called four fisherman who became his first apostles
– Simon
(also called Peter) and his brother Andrew, James and John
- the sons of Zebedee. He also called the following people to join him - Philip
and Bartholomew,
Thomas,
Matthew,
James
the son of Alphaeus, Thaddeus or Jude, Simon
the Zealot, Judas Iscariot and they left everything behind and joined him.
Jesus was at the pools of Beithazda which was known
to have curing prowess when he saw a man who had been ill for many years and
had no one to put him into those healing waters. Jesus ordered him to get up
and walk and when he did, he was healed.
Jesus performed many miracles and taught in parables some of which we recounted
during our drive through Galilee and our ride in a replica of
a
Galilean fishing boat of that time. Jesus would sit in a boat and teach
and once he fell asleep in the middle of a terrible storm. The apostles were
terrified and called out to Jesus to help. Jesus is said to have ordered the
storm to calm down and pass them by and when the apostles saw this, they were
awed by him.
Jesus was not accepted at Nazareth since people saw him only as a
carpenter’ son. So he set up his ministry in Capernaum which was the
home of two of his apostles Peter and Andrew. Once he was to dine at Peter’s house where his
mother-in-law was to prepare food. However she could not because a fever had
gripped her. Jesus took her hand and the fever left her and she started waiting
on Jesus and his apostles. Whenever Jesus was at home, huge crowds would gather
and ask him to cure them of their many illnesses. A man who had been paralyzed
for many years asked to be taken to Jesus but his friends could not get him
near Jesus so they dug a hole in the roof and lowered the man through the roof.
Jesus was amazed at the man’s faith and cured him after which he took up his
bed and went out walking. Jesus is said to have gone upon the hill during
another huge gathering and gave us the Sermon
on the Mount which is the site of the
Church of Beatitudes – a Roman Catholic Church overlooking the Sea
of Galilee. It is octagonal in shape with each side representing one beatitude. Another time when
he had been teaching for quite a while, he noticed that the people were tiring
and he asked his disciples to give them food. But they had only five loaves and
two fish. Jesus is said to have multiplied the loaves and fish to feed more
than 5000 men and still have over 12 baskets of food left over. The Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fish is a Roman Catholic church which rests on the site of two
earlier churches - the original church from the 4th century and the
Byzantine church in the 5th century. Jesus sent his disciples and
the people away so that he could pray by himself. After his prayer, he came in
search of his disciples and seeing them in a boat in the Sea of Galilee, he
walked towards them on the water.
Jesus proclaimed that the kingdom of God was close at hand and he spoke
about his suffering and death but the apostles did not understand what he was
saying. The Church of the Primacy of St. Peter is a Franciscan church in
Tabgha, Capernaum that commemorates Jesus appointing Simon Peter as the chief
of his apostles by saying that “Upon this rock, I will build my kingdom”.
Some days later, he took with him Simon Peter, James and John, and went
on Mount Tabor. The apostles saw a change in him, his face and clothes were
shining like the sun and found him talking to Moses and Elijah. The Church of the Transfiguration is a Franciscan church located at a site on Mount
Tabor where the Transfiguration of Jesus is believed to have taken
place.
When the day of the Passover festival drew near Jesus set off from Jericho
reputed to be the oldest town in the world towards Jerusalem. On the way a blind man called out to Jesus loudly
because he was afraid of not being heard among the crowd. Jesus stopped and
asked him what he wanted and when the blind man said that he wanted to see
again, Jesus cured him. Now there was a tax-collector named Zachaeus
who was short in stature and having heard so much about Jesus, he wanted to see
him. So, he climbed a huge Sycamore tree and waited for Jesus to pass. Jesus
stopped in front of the Sycamore tree and said “Get down
Zachaeus, I will dine at your house today”. 
As Jesus reached Jerusalem, huge crowds followed him with branches of
Palm trees chanting praises to God and they found a donkey for him to sit on as
the Scriptures say “Do not be afraid O City of Zion, here comes your King on a
donkey”. We can walk through the Palm Sunday road down to the chapel of Dominus Flevit built in the shape of a tear which makes us recall how Jesus
wept over the fate of Jerusalem after his entry into Jerusalem. Jesus also
taught the Lord’s Prayer i.e. the Our Father to his disciples in a grotto which
is now below the Pater Noster Church so named by the Crusaders
who built this church in the 12th century (Pater Noster translates to Our Father in Latin). The translations
of the Lord’s Prayer is inscribed in around 140
languages on the walls and the cloister of this church.
On the day before the Passover, Jesus gathered with his disciples in the
Large
Upper Room or Cenacle where he tied a towel around his waist and washed
the feet of his disciples. Judas Iscariot had already decided to betray Jesus
for thirty pieces of silver. When they were at supper, Jesus took the bread and
wine to mean his body and blood thus instituting the Eucharist. He also
predicted Judas’ betrayal and Denial of Jesus by Peter. Then he took his
disciples to the Mount of Olives and asked them to pray
that they would not fall into temptation. The Mount of Olives gives a panoramic
view of Jerusalem. Jesus prayed to God in the Garden of Gethsemane near
the foot of the Mount of Olives about the agony that he was to undergo. The Church of All Nations built on the rock beside the garden is believed
to be the site of the Agony of Jesus before he was arrested. When Jesus came
back from prayer the first time, he saw his disciples asleep and he woke them
up and asked them to pray. This Grotto of Gethsemane is where the
disciples slept while Jesus prayed. When Jesus came back after completing his
prayers knowing that his end was near, he found the disciples sleeping again
and admonished them for not staying awake to protect him when he would be
seized.
Judas came there with the soldiers and kissed Jesus on his cheek and the
soldiers seized him and took him to Annas - the father-in-law of Caiaphas who
was high priest that year. Annas questioned Jesus about his teaching and his
soldiers beat him after which he was handed over the Caiaphas. We can see the
traditional house of the High Priest where Jesus was imprisoned before being
handed over to Pilate who was the governor. Pilate did not want to harm Jesus
so he decided to let him go after scourging him. The Chapel of the Flagellation is believed to be the site where the soldiers scourged Jesus and made a
crown of thorns for him and mocked him before taking him back to Pilate who
showed him to the crowd saying “Ecce Homo” meaning “Behold the man”. The Ecce
Homo Arch is built and named after this phrase of Pilate. The crowd incited by
the priests took no pity on Jesus and shouted “Crucify him and Release Barabbas”.
Then Pilate sat on his Judgement Seat and washed his hands
signifying that he had nothing to do with an innocent man’ death and sentenced
Jesus to death by crucifixion. Jesus took the Via
Dolorosa (meaning Way of Grief / Sorrows) all the way to Golgotha. We can also follow the 14 Stations of the Cross
on Via Dolorosa which is the last route that Jesus took before his death on the
cross. The last five Stations of the Cross are inside the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The Chapel of the Franks is the Tenth Station where Jesus is said
to have been stripped of his garments and the soldiers cast lots to see who
could have it. This is also the entrance to the chapels built on the rock of
Calvary. The Chapel of the Nailing of the Cross is the Eleventh Station where
Jesus was nailed to the cross. The Chapel of the Crucifixion is the
Twelfth Station and it has a disc depicting the site of the cross of Christ.
The altar
of the Lady of Sorrows depicts Mother Mary holding the body of Christ
after being taken from the cross and this is the Thirteenth Station. The stone
monument encloses the sepulcher that is believed to be the
tomb
where Jesus was laid and this is the last Station of the Cross. You
can touch some of the original stone that formed part of the sepulcher of
Jesus.
As prophesied by Jesus, while on Via Dolorosa, the cock crowed to
signal Peter’s denial of Jesus three times. This is symbolized in the Church
of St. Peter in Gallicantu (meaning cock crow in Latin) along with his
immediate repentance and subsequent forgiveness from Jesus. The
Monastery of the Cross is so named because the wood from the cross is
said to have come from this site. Judas repented that he had betrayed Jesus and
he even tried to return the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests but
they would not take it back. So he threw the coins and hanged himself. The
chief priests decided that the money could not be put back in the treasury
since it was blood money so they bought Potter’s Field” which is used to
bury foreigners. It is still called the “Field of Blood”.
After three days, Jesus rose from the tomb. Mary Magdalene was the first
to witness Jesus after his resurrection. The Church of St. Mary Magdalene is on
the western side of the Mount of Olives above Garden of Gethsemane and Church
of All Nations and has seven gilded domes which makes it a beautiful church to
behold. It was built in 1888 by Czar Alexander III of Russia, in memory of
his mother, Empress Maria Alexandrovna, whose patron saint was Mary Magdalene.
Jesus appeared multiple times to his scared disciples then gathered in
the Cenacle.
Here, he showed doubting Thomas his hands and his feet so that he believe in
the Resurrection. He also appeared in Capernaum and dined with his apostles. The Mensa
Christi or Table of Christ is present in the Church of the Primacy of
St. Peter where Jesus is said to have broken bread after his resurrection.
Jesus is believed to have then ascended into heaven 40 days after his
resurrection. The Chapel of the Ascension is a shrine on the Mount of Olives which houses
a slab that is believed to contain his footprints.
Mary had come to live with John after Jesus asked him to take her to his
home. In the Church of St. Mark you can find the entrance to Mary’s home
inscribed in ancient Syriac “This is the
house of Mary, mother of John, called Mark. Proclaimed a church by the holy
apostles under the name of the Virgin Mary, mother of God, after the ascension
of our Lord Jesus Christ into heaven. Renewed after the destruction of
Jerusalem by Titus in the year A.D. 73”
The disciples were scared now that Jesus had finally left them so they
gathered together in the Cenacle where the Holy
Spirit descended on them on Pentecost and made them powerful ministers
of Christ. The site below the Cenacle is also believed to house the tomb
of David and is a place of pilgrimage for Jews, Christians and Muslims
alike.
Mother Mary is believed to have fallen asleep / died at the site of The Church of Dormition on Mount Zion. During the Byzantine period the
Church of Hagia Sion (Holy Zion) built by Emperor Constantine, one of the
earliest churches in Jerusalem stood at this site till it was destroyed by
Persians.
The tomb of Mary lies inside the Church of
Assumption at the foot of Mount of Olives near Gethsemane. A wide stairway leads to
the crypt and there are niches dedicated to Mary’s parents St. Joaquim and St.
Anne as well as to St. Joseph, her spouse. Mother Mary is believed to have been
assumed into heaven in her bodily form and crowned Queen Mother of heaven.
Other places of significance in Israel that we visited and I recommend
these –
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| Bahá'í World Centre |
- Jaffa (Joppa): A city on the Mediterranean Sea south of Tel Aviv. What makes it special is that it is mentioned in the Old Testament and in the Acts of the Apostles. Timber for the temple was imported from Lebanon as mentioned in 2 Chronicles 2:16, Jonah sailed from Joppa on a ship to Spain in the opposite direction to get away from God (Jonah 1: 3). Peter was staying at Simon the Tanner’s house and he had gone to the roof to pray when he got the vision of allowing Gentiles into the Church. The Church of St. Peter commemorates Peter raising Tabitha from the dead.
- Haifa: This is Israel’s largest port city on the slope of Mt. Carmel. It is home to the Bahá'í World Centre consisting of the Shrine of Bahá'u'lláh, the Shrine of the Báb and the famous Persian Hanging gardens.
- Muharaqa or The Scorching is the site where Elijah challenged the false prophets of Baal and won. A statue depicting Prophet Elijah with a sword raised to heaven while slaughtering a false prophet of Baal.
- Cave of Elijah: Opposite the Stella Maris Monastery dedicated to the Carmelite nuns, there is a grotto where Elijah meditated before his duel with the false prophets of Baal.
- Grotto of St. Jerome: This is a cave beneath the Church of the Nativity where St. Jerome who was a Dalmatian priest, spent 30 years translating the Scriptures from Hebrew and Greek into Latin.
- Tomb of Rachel: Rachel was the favorite wife of Jacob and mother of his two sons - Joseph and Benjamin. This is a holy site for the Jews (the third holiest site), Christians and Muslims (also called Bilal bin Rabah mosque) alike. Getting here is difficult because it is very close to the border between Israel and Palestine and it is better to ask a local for advice like we did.
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Tips:
1.
While entering Israel through the Taba border
from Egypt, expect to encounter heavy frisking of our person and our baggage. Ditto
while crossing the Israeli and Palestinian territories. A soldier may come
inside the bus to check on the passengers. Maintain eye-contact and do not do
anything that arouses suspicion unnecessarily; they are carrying guns.
2.
If you are travelling with people who are
scared of guns, tanks and men / women in uniform, please explain to them
beforehand and maintain calm.
3.
At Mary’ Spring, many collect water from the
spring and even drink it but the water is known to be polluted.
4.
At the Church of the Nativity, there is
normally a huge queue to see the Grotto of the Nativity and you can use that
time to admire the mosaic columns and floor most of which are from the original
Constantine church. Also, the different altars are just amazing to behold.
Ditto at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
5.
Please wear flat footwear that you can take on
and off and protect yourself from the sun; you would not want a headache to
ruin the day for you.
6.
Carry lot of water and some little biscuits
especially if you have diabetic patients travelling with you.
7.
The Palm Sunday walk and the Via Dolorosa are
through narrow pavements some of which may be uneven. Be careful while taking photographs
and even while praying on this route; we saw many near accidents of falls and
spills while on these walks.
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