Israel Day 6: Jerusalem Approaches Field Study

Here's my impression report from our field study yesterday.

I had really been anticipating this field study because one of the places I most wanted to visit here was the Mount of Olives and the garden of Gethsemane. In my mind, I’ve always imagined it as a large, peaceful garden full of olive trees and other beautiful plants with no one around. Needless to say, I had rather high expectation. I was almost slightly annoyed that we were planning to visit another location first. It didn’t help that I was initially turned away from Dominus Flavit because I had left the zip on legs for my shorts in the bus. This was the first location I’d visited that was really picky on modesty rules. I was quite shocked when the guard at the gate actually waved me in after making me sit outside of the gate for a while. I was quite thankful that I was eventually let in, though. I’m glad I didn’t have to miss this location. It was actually quite peaceful.

I had trouble focusing on Dominus Flavit because I had been told that I would not be let onto the ground of the Church of All Nations, where the Garden of Gethsemane may have been located. I was quite thankful when I was allowed in with no problem. The garden was absolutely beautiful. I was in awe of seeing olive trees that may have been over 1,000 years old. It was one of the most amazing places I’ve ever been. What surprised me most was just how small it was. It was also fairly crowded. The highlight for me was actually going inside the Church of All Nations. It may have been a bit crowded, but it was so dark and peaceful that I didn’t care. The mosaics were amazing and really helped me to focus on just what Jesus went through for me. Visiting the garden and church are so far the highlights of the class for me.

The Herodium was definitely an experience. The climb up there was much easier than I expected, but it was still worse than I had hoped. The most interesting part for me was going through the tunnel that leads to the cistern. It was amazing to me just how much cooler that tunnel was. It makes sense given that you have these huge stone walls that can act as giant heat sinks, and it’s out of the sunlight so it doesn’t really get the opportunity to heat up. I did have to wonder just how much it’s been improved for us to walk through. The stairs seemed very modern to me, unlike Hezekiah’s tunnel which seemed to have been altered less. But, this tunnel was built much later than Hezekiah’s tunnel. I would still like to see photos of it before it when it was first discovered though.

Visiting the store that is a cooperative owned by families of artisans was a great experience for me. I have great respect for small businesses like that, and I was just stunned at the quality of the work done by the artisans. The carvings were simply amazing! I’ve always liked olive wood, but I didn’t know there could be such variety within one piece of olive wood. I also didn’t expect to see carvings that were so intricate and detailed. I’m not much of a shopper, but I thoroughly enjoyed my time there.

The visit to Bethlehem was not quite what I expected, although I’ll admit that I wasn’t sure what to expect. The visit to the Church of the Nativity was nothing like I’ve ever experienced. I’ll honestly say that I’ve never felt so unwelcome at a church. I know that they have to put up with a lot of tourist, but the atmosphere there was just very uncomfortable for me. It didn’t help that the guide from the tour group behind us was quite loud and disrespectful, and his group following suit didn’t improve matters either. I respect that the priests have a job to do and they had a short service to conduct, but it felt like they were very unhappy to have us present. Or to be more accurate, that the police there were unhappy to have us there. I can’t quite describe how it felt, but I didn’t enjoy my visit there. It felt very rushed and seemed as if they did not appreciate us wanting to worship and pray there. I expected it to be a rather celebratory experience and instead it seemed more like a funeral.

Going through the security checkpoint was definitely an experience. This was the second time that armed soldiers had boarded our bus, but this was the first time since entering the country that I was required to present my passport. I’m quite thankful that everyone on the bus had theirs and that we did not have to get off the bus. I’m starting to understand just how much tension there is in this place.