Walking the Way of the Cross and On Our Way Back Home

Today we had the wonderful blessing of sleeping in till 7:30. It’s amazing to think how much a place has changed you when 7:30 is “sleeping in.” After a hearty breakfast including scalding-hot but wonderful coffee, we had devos with Miah. He had an awesome talk ready for us. Knowing that we were going to be visiting the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and remembering his feelings when he first went through the church and saw the different ways that people enter into worship. He humbled us by telling us the story of Jesus washing his disciples feet. This was Jesus’ reaction to his disciples arguing about which of them would be greatest in the kingdom of heaven. This really centered us before moving on to St. Stephen’s Gate.

Making our way through St. Stephen’s Gate, our first stop was St. Anne’s Church. This place had the most amazing acoustics. We sang the doxology and it was amazing how our terrible voices managed to be made into a wonderful sound. After St. Anne’s, we went right down below to the pool of Bethesda. There Rich taught on the man who had been lame for 38 years. The man had been at the pool everyday waiting to be healed by the water’s properties. Jesus walks up to the man and asks the most rhetorical question of all time, “Do you want to be healed?” Answering yes obviously, Jesus tells him to pick up his mat and walk. Jesus didn’t even bother with using the pool because he wanted to make sure the man knew that it was Jesus who had the power to heal him.

From there, we started to walk the Via Dolorosa, “the way of suffering,” the traditional path Jesus took on his way to Golgotha. In such a large group we took up most of he narrow streets that wound between buildings. As the Joshua class and friends traveled across the Old City, the image of Christ walking through the streets came alive. So often we picture open streets where people give him space to move, but we saw that there would have been none. The cross Jesus was carrying would have been in everyone’s way and he would have been pushed and shoved as people tried to move around him. The streets are lined with shops that contain everything and people buslting to and fro trying to go about their day. When Jesus was paraded through the city, there would have been countless more people all trying to get to the Temple for sacrifice. The nuisance of Jesus walking his cross through the streets would have been immense. The Via Dolorosa ends at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The church is host to six denominations in one building. It is one of the oldest churches in the world and is ornately decorated. The church is united in Christ yet still so divided. As you walk from room to room, you see the stark separation of the denominations and their styles of architecture, dress and worship.

After the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, we ascended to the top of the city walls where we would begin our journey across the ramparts. We walked in silence and prayed for the peace of Israel. Being in Israel has changed the way we see the conflict here. Our hearts long for peace here. We came to Israel with an expectation of what it would be like. Leaving, we have an entirely new perspective.

Tomorrow morning we are up bright and early at 2:30 am Israeli time (4:30 pm your time in California) to head to the airport to catch our 7:30 A.M. flight and start our journey back to the U.S.A. We have a flight to Istanbul with a layover and then our flight gets into LAX around 4:30 pm. Please pray for our safety as we travel back home and we look forward to sharing stories with you!

--Cole and MacKenzie