We went up onto the Temple Mount this morning, walking past the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock. It gave me a good chance to discuss a few Islamic subjects. Coming down off of the Mount via Al-Ghazali Square, we next walked to the Church of St. Anne, a traditional birthplace of the Virgin Mary that’s adjacent to the Pool of Bethesda. We looked at the remains of the pool and sang in the church, which has really interesting acoustics. Moving through the Arab Quarter of the Old City along the Via Dolorosa, we passed by several of the “stations of the cross” en route to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (Arabic Kinisat al-Qiyama), where we spent a fair amount of time. After lunch nearby, we walked through the Jewish Quarter down to the famous Western Wall or Wailing Wall.
Then we caught our bus to BYU’s Jerusalem Center, and, from there drove to the Garden Tomb, where we spent a couple of hours. I don’t believe it to be the actual tomb of Jesus — and I now strongly incline against the Holy Sepulcher, as well — but I do believe that Gordon’s Calvary, directly adjacent to the Garden Tomb enclosure behind the Arab bus station, is likely to be the place of his crucifixion.
We had dinner at the curiously-named Christmas Hotel in Arab East Jerusalem, which (my friend Jeff Chadwick suggests) may be in the general area of Jesus’ actual tomb.
Posted from Jerusalem
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