Last Day of Jesus' Life

Today we followed the footsteps of Jesus in the last days of his life, ending up at the beautiful and peaceful garden tomb!

We started out in a courtyard of the David's Tomb complex, where Daniel explained to us the significance of the Passover and also showed us how the Jewish people celebrate it. He, being Jewish and Mormon, and a native of Israel, is particularly qualified to explain the comparisons with Passover and the sacrifice Christ was about to make.

David's tomb is probably not the real place King David was buried, but it is a very pretty building.

It has a large and open Upper Room that people visit to remember the Last Supper.

We took some time in the Upper Room where we read the scriptural account of the Last Supper, including the account of Judas leaving before dinner to betray the Savior.

From there we went to a pretty park on the side of the Mount of Olives. We were the only tourists there, so it was the perfect place to talk about Christ in Gethsemane, and read the account of the atonement.

There was also a beautiful view of the city from the park. Laurie had been telling us how she always has her eyes closed or her mouth open for pictures, so I was amazed to see what a beautiful picture we got of her here. Either she was really happy to be here, or she was really happy that she gets to fly home tonight! The rest of us have about 4 more days! We're enjoying it, but would love to sleep in one of these days!

The olive trees in this part were not as large and old as the ones at the traditional Gethsemane site, but they were just as pretty!

We enjoyed the facade of the Church of all Nations on the bottom of the Mount of Olives.

Next we went to the house of Caiphas, the High Priest, who judged Jesus, and sent him to the Romans.

There was a shiny brass finger on the figure of Christ on the front door. It was so polished that I rubbed it for good luck!

There was a dungeon underneath the palace (or church, as it is today) where prisoners were scourged.

There was also a secondary dungeon that was a pit with a hole in it, where prisoners were lowered. The time of Christ was a brutal time, where punishments were horrific!

Outside of Caiphas' house we talked about Christ being taken into custody and how he was treated by the Roman soldiers. The steps behind us are the steps he would have gone down as he was turned over to the Romans for punishment.
At the Antonia Fortress, Pontius Pilate got the Jews to say they had no King but Caesar, which was a big coup for Pilate! He agreed to crucify Jesus.

It was fun walking barefoot on the steps of the Caiphas house, where Jesus undoubtedly walked!

From there we went to the Garden Tomb, which is owned and run by a British philanthropy. The guides there come from all over and give service for several months without compensation.

It felt so much like Easter with the garden in full bloom! Could there be a better time to come to Israel? I think not!

We had a very nice and enthusiastic  guide from Texas at the garden tomb. He showed us the Place of the Skull, or Golgatha. It used to look very much like a skull, but caved in about 10 years ago, after a series of snowstorms!

I loved the efficient way the British moved the crowds along in the garden tomb, while maintaining a beautiful and peaceful atmosphere. We talked about the resurrection and Mary Magdalene and the disciples discovering that Christ had risen from the grave.

There was a short wait at the tomb, and people from all over the world were in line with their respective tour guides!

This was a tomb from the time period of Christ, and within close enough proximity to the Crucifixion site to be believable as the burial site of Christ. He only spent one evening there, but being the site of the resurrection is even more important than being the burial site!

We had a really nice day today. Even though we were talking about a sad event, it ended with a really peaceful feeling. Because He lives, we hope to live again, too!

Daniel gave us about a half hour of free time to spend in the garden tomb area. We enjoyed the aromatic flowers on the trees, as well as the large variety of plants.

We also had just enough time to by a couple of souvenirs of Jerusalem. It's our last chance, as we're going to the Dead Sea and Galilee tomorrow!