Hope in the Darkness

by Laura Snyder

Words fail me as I sit in the security of my hotel room. How do I formulate ideas worthy ofthis day? This, a day of vastly conflicting emotions and feelings. This, a day of perfect dichotomy between life and death. This, a window into mindblowing ingenuity and heart-numbing hatred.

Our day began at the Temple Mount. For those unfamiliar with the history, this is a sacred site for three of the world religions: Judiasm, Islam, and Christianity. This was the sight of the two Jewish temples, the temple of I AM, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Muslims believe it is the place Muhammed ascended into heaven. Quite obviously, this is a place of immense tension. Ronen, our guide, did a great job of helping us to understand the reason for the tension and what makes the site so significant to us all.

Walking up to the Western Wall after being at the Dome of the Rock was such a contrast and such a time of spiritual reprieve. "Then the Lord appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him: 'I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice...now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place. For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that my name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time.'" 2 Chronicles 7:12-16 The very words of God. The Spirit of the Lord was so tangible in that place, and we were all able to take some time to pray, meditate on the word, and consider what the Lord is doing in this country.

We then trudged through the pitch blackness of Hezekiah's Tunnel. This was a feat of such immense proportions; we were all in awe almost 3,000 years later. The 1,700 foot tunnel was filled with the Doxology as we sang and walked hand in hand through the darkness. We exited near the Pool of Siloam and heard Matt teach about the healing of the blind beggar from John 9. During the teaching the afternoon call to prayer filled the air of the entire city.

After a delicious lunch, we drove to Yad Vashem. Ronin, our usually joyful tour guide became somber as he walked us through the entrance of the Holocaust museum and surrounding memorials. Then, we had the chance to walk through the museum on our own. For an hour and a half, we each walked through endless pictures, artifacts, and information plaques. Men, women, and children throughout Europe were stuffed into the death machine of Nazi, Germany, dehumanized, desicrated, and hated. As I walked it was all I could do not to scream out in anger and desperation! It was with this raw, aching heart that we headed to our last stop of the day.

I was beginning to check out mentally and emotionally. How could we be expected to experience one more emotion? We had seen modern day hatred, learned how incredibly creative and ingenious the Jewish people can be, and witnessed the destruction of evil. What could possibly ease the biting pain in my Jewish heart?

We walked into a garden, and though I was emotionally drained, I was reluctantly interested. A British woman showed us a rock face that looked an awful lot like a skull, Golgotha in Aramaic. Another place of such hatred--men and women throwing words of mockery at an innocent man. Soldiers dividing up the garments of a Jewish man hated by his own and betrayed by his beloved. We were led a short distance away into a small garden. In this peaceful place was a cut out section of the rock face. With a bit of trepidation I stepped into the burial chamber of a first century Jewish grave...possibly the place of Jesus' burial.

Guess what I found: an empty grave! In this place it began to hit me: Jesus was the most hated within the most hated people group in all the world. He was a man persecuted, beaten, and despised among a persecuted, beaten, and despised people. He was the firstborn among the violated masses. "He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised and we esteemed him not...but He was wounded fr our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities." Isaiah 53:3-5 He took on OUR sins and bore their heavy burden. We mocked him, beat him, and inflicted on him the worst form of death possible!

What a day! Words seem to not do it justice.

While we are loving our time here, we are all eager to get home and see our friends and family and relay to you all the amazing things we have learned here. We're all still in good shape and excited for one last day in Israel before we head home. Thank you for your prayers!