South West Temple Mount and Christian Quarter

Last Sunday we visited some sites outside the south west corner of the Old City.  The kids all came along and loved pairing up with the students.  After the 1967 war, Jewish archaeologists uncovered homes which date back to the destruction of the second temple in 70 A.D, with charred wood and tiles as evidence of the fire that engulfed the city.  The excavations were covered by public buildings, but can still be seen in these basement museums.   

The basin above is the style a servant may have used to wash his master's feet.  Or vice versa.

  The beautiful mosaics on the floors reveal that these were well-to-do residents, maybe even priestly families.  

High up in the air just under Robinson's arch, an inscription from Isaiah 66:14 can be seen. 

"And when you shall see this, your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb." The smooth margin which frames the block identifies this as a stone made under Herod the Great. 

This massive corner stone was likely pushed off the pinnacle of the temple to the stones below.  The inscription reads, "To the place of trumpeting, to..."  Perhaps the trumpeter announced the arrival of the Sabbath as Josephus indicates. 

Impressions from this field trip:  the proportions of the wall are immense!  The temple mount was designed to accomodate huge crowds and to amaze the pilgrims and worshippers with its grand scale and brilliant beauty.  It is hard to imagine the wall being built without labor-saving devices, and it is also hard to imagine the wall being torn down and the temple destroyed over and over. 

Two days after our tour of Jewish sites, we visited several churches in the Christian quarter of the Old City.  Speaking of rebuilding, The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, build under Helena the mother of Constantine, was partly destroyed and rebuilt on a smaller scale.  Helena's clue that this was the right place was the existence of a Roman temple to Jupiter intended to vex the Christians.  

Here are the vaulted windows over the front door.  No one can agree on whose job it is to move the ladder.  Tales of territorialism cast a small shadow on this huge edifice commemorating some of the most sacred events in world history. 

The decor is more elaborate than Mormons are accustomed to seeing in our churches, and it is clear that the outward ornamentation represents the faith and sacrifice of thousands who contributed. Here again, the scale of the building is meant to draw the eye upward in awe at the majesty of God.

The stone of unction, where the Savior's body would have been prepared for burial.

To touch the stone of Calvary, one must kneel and reach into a hole, to feel without seeing the rock that lies beneath.  That may be a good metaphor for visiting the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.  The physical surroundings may force our knees to bow, but it is up to us whether we achieve attitudinal humility, not just postural humility.  The apocryphal book of Manasseh has a relevant image: "And now behold, I bend the knees of my heart before thee."

The earliest stones of Calvary and the tomb have been covered or reshaped in ways that seem to distance them from the mental picture I have of the Savior's death, burial, and resurrection. (For example, waiting in lines, time limits on meditation in a tiny chapel with 5 other people, unfamiliar iconography.)

Yet beneath the external representations and the practical requirements of the pilgrimage, there was a deep feeling of holiness.

  The financiers, the builders, the caretakers, and the pilgrims, all chose to actively do something about their faith in Jesus Christ.  All wanted to show outwardly the devotion they felt inwardly.   Here in Jerusalem, this may have historically been a competitive demonstration, but I have to applaud the principle that faith in Jesus Christ changes us and motivates us to action.   I know the events commemorated here truly happened and have changed me personally. 

We visited other wonderful churches, The Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, the Russian Orthodox Church, the Syrian Orthodox church (I heard the Lord's Prayer sung in Aramaic), and the small tailor shop probably visited by Orson Hyde.  I don't know where those photos disappeared to...

If you still have time, you really oughta click here for Faces of Jerusalem, a photo essay fresh from the cameras of Scot and Maureen Proctor, editors of Meridian Magazine.