This is a repost from our trip in 2017. Relive the trip with us or read about it for the first time!

Shorter sightseeing day with more reflection time. I also took a nap, so you know we are running hard here (I hate naps)!

We started the morning off reading the Upper Room Discourse (John 13-17) and then heading to a location considered by many to be built on the original site of the upper room. Then we prayed together on the roof after a short teaching time.

Then we headed down the steps to the Kidron valley and back up to the church located where the Garden of Gethsemane is supposedly located. Gethsemane means “oil press” and we looked back at our Nazareth tour for a reminder of how olive oil is pressed three times and considered the force Jesus was feeling pressing on Him during His prayer time in the garden. May we take following the Father’s will as seriously! Jesus could have escaped into the wilderness on the east. David did when running from Absalom. Jesus trusted His Father and followed His will – to our benefit and for the sake of saving the world. 

We then headed back into Jerusalem to the possible location of Caiaphas’ office where Jesus was questioned by the high priest and sentenced. Very cool location, but I will save some of that for our Luke series. This is also where Peter denied Christ 3 times, in Caiaphas’ courtyard. Therefore the church has a rooster over a cross on its steeple.

After a quick lunch, we started walking an alternative Via Delarosa route from near Herod’s palace in Jerusalem where Pilate may have lived to the location of the Holy Sepulcher. This is a possible location for Golgotha and Joseph of Arimathea’s family tomb. Then we left the tomb and will consider its emptiness tomorrow! 

I then took a short nap and we all met for a time of worship and to share one big thing God is teaching us right now. It was great!

Final thoughts tonight: my heart is breaking for so many people who are seeking to find some connection to Jesus in these places. Weeping, depositing trinkets, etc is happening everywhere we go. Many have been overheard saying “I feel so close to Him now.” “He was here.” I get it. Yet theologically it breaks my heart. I am no closer to Him than when I left IL. His Spirit lives in me. If you trust Him as your savior, He lives in you too. There is no location on earth that can draw you closer. He’s already inside you! Trust that. Cling to that! I understand His steps better now. I see Scripture in a new light and am amazed by how different my devotional times have been. But He is not here! He’s coming again, but He’s not here! May we cling to that as believers!