A week in a day sort of describes what my life feels like right now. During my "regular life" back in the States there is normal routine and a familiarity to most everything that I do. Here, nothing quite fits the mold that I have. So basically, almost everything is a learning experience, and simple things take on a whole new element. I mean, imagine my surprise the first time I put the hot chocolate mix in hot water and it tasted nasty. It's supposed to taste good :S That's when I learned that here, you mix it with milk. Everything about life is like that. I have to learn my way around a new city and new customs. It's awesome and challenging and incredibly interesting, and tiring all at the same time.
Well, one of my weeks in a day happened on Sunday. As I referred to last time, we headed out on an all day field study. In the morning (7-noon) we focused on the Old Testament sites in and around Jerusalem (well, a few of them). We started by going to the Broad Wall (part of Hezekiah's Wall) and discussing the implications of where it is. The really condensed version is that it really messes up the theory of several archaeologist who claimed that the city was never any larger than the City of David (Eastern Hill) until the time of the Romans. From there we moved down the Western Hill into the Central Valley and onto the Eastern Hill (City of David). We spent time talking about some of the archaeological finds there, and then we spent a significant amount of time underground in the water tunnels. We went right up to Hezekiah's Tunnel but didn't actually go through it, since it takes quite a bit of time and would be quite cold at this time of year. You get pretty wet, and February is not the ideal month for doing it. But I fully intend to go back later and go through it.
We ended up at the Pool of Siloam, and then headed back through the sewer tunnels, home to lunch. Sounds like a great combination, right?
After lunch was New Testament focused. We went to the Western and Southern Walls of the Temple. Sitting on the steps of the Temple was pretty cool. It was an awesome feeling to realize that I was sitting and learning on the same steps that we can assume Paul sat on and learned from Gamelial (he was known to teach there with regularity) and the same steps that Jesus more than likely taught from. That's a lot of history! It also gave me just a tiny taste of how it must grate at the Jews that they can't go onto the grounds of the Temple. Standing at the wall and realizing that there's no way that I can ever go walk the grounds of the Temple was a bit of a frustrating feeling. How much more so if you still consider it to be the centerpiece of orthodoxy!
We also saw a small house that still exists from the Byzantine era. It was amazing to me how many people used to live in two very small rooms. It certainly lent a whole new meaning to no privacy.
After the Temple area, we went to the Pool of Bethesda, where Jesus healed the lame man. It was a really interesting experience for me, as this was one of those places where being there completely changes the way you look at the story. The pool is actually about 100 feet deep. Suddenly it makes very good sense why someone might be a bit hesitant to try to get into the pool without help. If you get in and don't get healed, you're not coming back out! Additionally, when archaeologists excavated the site, they found the remains of an Asklepion, which is a temple dedicated to the Greek healing god, Asklepius. So basically, when Jesus walked up to this guy, they were standing next to a Greek temple for healing. The stirring of the waters that John mentions may actually be in reference to a tradition surrounding the Asklepion. And when Jesus asks him if he wants to get well, what he is probably actually saying might be said something like this today, "Come on, man! Don't be stupid. Don't you know this god can't do anything? But God can, so get up and walk!" And later we see the man in the Temple, so clearly he knew where his healing had come from (and that he was now allowed back into the righteous of his society).
We finished our day on the roof of the Austrian Hospice, one of the tallest buildings in Jerusalem. Being able to look out over the city and see so many of the things there was a cool perspective. It really sums it up in a visual picture when you see the Dome of the Rock, just right of that (in the horizon perspective) a major Jewish synagogue, and right of that the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. There's a strange feeling to being in Jerusalem that I don't quite know how to describe. It's this land where the holy meets the horrific. The worst and the best of humanity has played out on these streets. Here we crucified our Savior. Here some of the most beautiful churches and traditions stand in commemoration. And here we hate our brothers and carry on centuries of tradition of persecution one against another. Nothing about the situation is simple here. Nothing.
Well I think that's more than enough for now. I'm learning so many things, both about Biblical and historical geography and culture and about current culture and situations. Every day is an adventure here, and I relish the opportunity to continue having my horizons expanded and my world opened up.
Thanks for taking the time to read, I'd love to hear your thoughts/what's going on in your own lives, and good night from Jerusalem!
Kristin
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