Day 9: Mt. Olives, Stations of the Cross

We started the day with worship in our hotel, sharing a communion service which focused on the “The Way of the Cross.” Learning an individual breath prayer to use during the day, was a blessing for us all.

Feeling blessed by blue skies and clear weather, we rode the bus to the Mt. of Olives. This is the mountain that overlooks Jerusalem. When in this area, Jesus spent more time there than at any other place. He often prayed, visited folk, and stayed with friends.

We then walked to the Garden of Gethsemane. Bater, a new tour guide, took time to explain everything in sight, and often provided deep insights connecting the sights to our faith. For example, we heard that Gethsemane actually means “olive press” in Aramaic.

This ties to the agonizing purpose of Jesus’ visit to that garden before his arrest and crucifixion.

Following a time of prayer, we walked down the Kidron Valley and up into the area of the ancient city of Jerusalem. Our path was the Via Dolorosa, “Way of Sorrow,” the path on which Jesus carried his cross to Calvary.

It brought a variety of responses – joy, marvel, pain, thankfulness, and sorrow. The path ends in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, believed to contain both the rock of Calvary and the tomb of Jesus.

Seeing all of this in a matter of hours was a challenge to ponder. Seeing people in tears as they knelt to enter the tomb, bow on their knees to touch the rock of Calvary, and pray in many languages deepened our worship every step along the way. We were reminded of the words of Paul to the Philippians:

Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Additional thoughts from Rob:

Several of us joined the Franciscan-led Stations of the Cross processional this afternoon. We journeyed through the various stops on the Via Dolorosa (“Way of Sorrows”). Being Lent, it was particularly crowded. Most of the prayers were recited or sung in Latin, but the Scripture passages were read in five languages at each of the fourteen stations.

t was an incredible experience to walk among a throng of pilgrims from all over the world through the narrow by ways of the old city section of Jerusalem. Nuns from different orders, a group of Brazilians, a Polish priest and his flock, and a myriad of others, all walking in the footsteps of Jesus, as He walked the Via Crucis, the Way of the Cross. . . The whole experience gave power to understanding what it means for us as disciples to walk the same route, to, as Mark 8:34 tells us, “let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow.”