Today started with a brief drive up to the Mt of Olives where we began to consider and “see” Jesus’ passion up close. You can get a great view of the Temple Mount from there. Here’s a panoramic view from a church there.

We stopped at a hill and looked east to see where Jericho is. Then the town of Bethany, which today is called “al-Azariya” which derives from its most famous story/resident: Lazarus. Jesus brought his friend back to life during the last few months of His ministry, what we would call Phase 5. Here are the phases again to review: Preparation, where He learned and grew up, Ministry Foundations, where His ministry started and He called people to Come and See, Ministry Training, where His challenges lead to Follow Me, Expanded Outreach, where He began to teach the disciples how to fish and prepared them for what was next. 

Now He turns to Phase 5 – Multiplying Kingdom Influencers. Here He will make them Apostles, send them out, disciple more people and lead them to do the same. They do things for Him and His glory! They don’t always get it right, but He leads them and guides them back. He starts to let them lead. In this last week of Jesus’ life, He invests in them and reminds them of what the plan is. They still don’t get it. So today we saw it. The family tombs.

The church built where Jesus wept (maybe). We “saw” His triumphal entry. We “saw” the trips back and forth from Jerusalem to Bethany. The crowds welcoming Him to be King. The leaders plotting to kill Him. His careful teaching, crafty answers to questions, His ability to redirect to the Father.

Jesus lived out what it is to Love God and Others (Samaritans, Pereans, Scythians, even the Pharisees and Sadduccees! – He could have just ended them and ended all debates), He studied the Word to know God, He lived worship through obedience to the Father’s will and bore fruit, teaching others to do the same, He depended on prayer and the Holy Spirit’s leading. He didn’t just make disciples, He was the perfect model of one and He calls us to follow and fish and multiply ourselves. Are you doing that? Are others closer to God due to your work in their lives? This is what the morning was all about.

Our afternoon was at Yad Veshem – the holocaust memorial/museum here. Powerful day. I wasn’t allowed to take photos of most of it, but did get this.
This was from the end lookout of the main display. It was hard to take in all the displays. The big idea of the memorial is that 6 million died, but they were murders committed against one person in a moment, 6 million times. It really humanize the overwhelming number of 6 million. There were pieces from the victims, stories were told to bring them to life. It was tough but good for us to be there.

We ended the night in an amazing location. Often I’ve heard that history is buried under layers and layers of civilization. This seems to be true here. Almost everything we see is “well, under 20 feet of debris we have…” or “under Turkish ruins, Crusader ruins, Muslim ruins, Byzantine and Roman ruins, the city is down there.” Tonight we entered the western wall tunnels, and it was amazing! Herod the Great wanted the Second Temple to be grander than the first, so he commissioned a project for the ages. The Temple Mount was splendid before, he made it breathtaking. He built up the valley and built a structure 30 meters high that held the Temple structures. On the mount, you had a huge Temple, Antonia fortress (named after Marc Antony) and colonnades filled with money changers and shops. This may give a better idea:

Again, ancient does not mean primitive. When Jesus kicked them out, it was an event! That structure is enormous. After the Temple was destroyed in 70AD, the Mount was cleared and left. Later, the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa mosques were put in place there. Muslim groups built things up and wanted to be by the wall. Closer. So, they built arches that made things closer and buried all that was below. Today these are the Western Wall tunnels. They preserve the Second Temple era. We walked and touched parts of the wall that were there when He was there. We understand now why the disciples said “look at the size of those stones!” Even the newer (700 years old) things had to be grand just to arch the gap. It was something to see.

All this past two weeks has done is focus on Jesus. We’ve been where He was. I see things differently now and the Bible is making more sense than ever. Yet I’m no closer to Him than I was when I left. I think some come here to find something, or to experience Jesus. Being here, I am grateful for the trip and eager to serve the church better with the knowledge I now have. But I had Him before this trip in the same dose as I do now. His Spirit lives in me and I want others to know Him. That is the whole idea of living a disciple making life – we just point people back to Him, the One who is doing a much bigger project than Herod in sanctifying you and I.