Jerusalem Approaches Field Trip Update

Greetings from Jerusalem!

I have just returned from 11 hours out in the field where I participated in our latest field study, entitled "Jerusalem Approaches." What an exciting day! We began the day exploring the Mount of Olives. This mountain is filled with so much history, its incredible. David fled Jerusalem via the Mount of Olives when his son Absalom attempted to overthrow him. Jesus took this same route into the city the day of the triumphal entry. One interesting thing we observed on the Mount of Olives is that from our vantage point we had a good view of "Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth." By the way, if you read through the book of Acts, you will realized that the disciples approach their ministry in this exact order commanded by Jesus. They started in Jerusalem, and then went to Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth. There is an ancient rabbinic source that teaches that the Aegean Sea is the "ends of the earth." And where do most of the disciples end up? In Turkey, near the Aegean Sea (or ends of the earth).

The focal point of our journey to the Mount of Olives was the Garden of Gethsemane, or the Garden of the Oil Press. We walked around the traditional Garden of Gethsemane and explored several of the churches and monuments on the Mount of Olives that commemorate Jesus' night in the Garden. It was here that Jesus was captured by the authorities, and brought into the city for crucifixion. There was a pretty cool church in the shape of a teardrop to commemorate Jesus crying in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Another cool thing we saw on the Mt. of Olives was a tomb from the inter-testemental period that had a “monument of righteousness” in front of it. These monuments were created in order to remember the good deeds done by the person who was buried in the nearby tomb. Jesus makes reference to these monuments of righteousness in Matthew 23.

Next up was a trip to Bethlehem. I was eagerly anticipating this stop for a variety of reasons. I am fascinated with the world of Herod the Great, and our first stop outside Bethlehem was the Herodium (check out the awesome section on the herodium at Bibleplaces.com, just hit this link: http://www.bibleplaces.com/herodium.htm
The Herodium is Herod’s opulent mountaintop palace that overlooks Bethlehem. Now what’s fascinating about this palace is that before Herod, there was not a mountain in this location. Somehow, Herod built his own mountain! We still don’t know how he did it. All we know is that there is probably a really big hole somewhere. So anyway, Herod built a mountain and then built an unbelievable palace on top of that mountain. This is a fascinating topic for a couple of reasons.

First, Bethlehem is located in the shadow of the Herodium. Think about Mary and Joseph for a second. They are going to Bethlehem and Mary is pregnant with someone who will be proclaimed the true King of the Universe. When Herod later finds this out, he has all of the young babies in the area murdered. So Mary and Joseph would’ve walked by this massive, intimidating fortress on their way to Bethlehem. Jesus was born in a cave in Bethlehem, with this gigantic fortress in plain view. Mary and Joseph were so brave for taking this journey. How inspiring!

Many scholars believe that Jesus makes reference to the Herodium when he is teaching his disciples. Notice Matthew 17:20. Jesus is teaching his disciples and he says, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you will be able to move mountains.” Many scholars believe that Jesus was in view of the Herodium when he taught his disciples this. What’s he saying? If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you will do greater things than Herod. Herod moved mountains to build the Herodium, but you will do even greater things. This is a very significant statement considering how powerful Herod was. Many scholars believe Herod to be the wealthiest man of all time. One scholar even maintains that if Herod were alive today he could pay the whole Wal-Mart payroll out of his back pocket! So Jesus is teaching us that if we have faith as small as a mustard seed, we can do greater things than Herod!

Our last stop for the day was Bethlehem and the church of the Nativity. At this particular location we focused on the story of the birth of Jesus. It was interesting to note that the word Bethlehem in Hebrew literally translates as “House of Bread.” In John 6, Jesus refers to himself as the “bread of life.” Is it possible that the bread of life (Jesus) was born in the house of bread (Bethlehem)? Amazing!

Serving Him,

Rob Kol
e-mail: robkol2@gmail.com
pictures: http://photos.yahoo.com/robkol2