GETHSEMANE

"Going a little farther, he fell on his face to the ground and prayed, 'My father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will'" (Matthew 26:39).

1-16-08

By this time in the tour I was beginning to suffer from information overload because it takes a little time for me to put all this in perspective--I'm still doing it. I think it will take another trip or two to do it.

On this day we would go to Bethlehem, the Church of the Nativity, the shepherd's field, the Mount of Olives, the Garden of Gethsemane and the Chapel of Ascension, from where it is believed that Jesus spoke his last words before he ascended into heaven, promising that in like manner he would return. We look forward with joy to the time when that promise is kept.

One of the matters about which I have mixed emotions is the churches that have been built in each of these locations. They are, for the most part, beautiful, but they seem to be a corruption of the simple story of Jesus, even though they tell the story of church history in the area and of world political history (more on that at a later time).

All of the locations which we visited on that day were no further than 5 miles from the temple site. Of course, the terrain is rugged and covering those 5 miles would have been very difficult.

When we went to Bethlehem our Israeli tour guide, Lilian, had to get off the bus because Bethlehem is controlled by the Palestinian Authority. So a Christian Palestinian got on the bus when we crossed over--he became our guide to his place of business. It was there I bought a hand-carved olive wood nativity for Helen and a few other things for family back home. That Christian palestinian did very well that day; he had the market cornered!

I am not one to venerate places or things. I do like to know the history of a place or a thing, however. There were many pilgrims that day who were venerating the places and things we saw. I would be lying if I said that walking in the land where the Bible was lived out didn't make me feel like worshipping. Still, the most important part of walking where Jesus walked is not in going to the Holy Land. It is in yeilding ourselves to the Father's will, just as Jesus did in Gethsemane. It is trusting God. It is loving as Jesus did and obeying as Jesus did. That is really walking where Jesus walked.

In Gethsemane there is an old, old olive tree about which is said that it was alive in Jesus' time (it isn't the one in the picture). While our group was praying in Gethsemane together, I was thinking, oh that this tree could talk. What a story it could tell.

Grace&Peace,

Tom