The Arrow's Path

This is the actual tomb, which is now an encased shrine.

This is actually walking into another of the tombs in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The actual tomb is now encased in a shrine, but this tomb you can walk into.

The lighting here was bad, so you may just have to listen. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre also houses the site where Jesus was crucified. It was all in a Roman quarry at the time...Calvary and the Tomb were on different sides of the quarry. The building is built around both sites.

Care to guess who owns the keys to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre? It's a commentary on Ecumenical relations...he's a Muslim because none of the Christians trust each other.

I deleted part 10 of these videos, as Ezra was on a tangent about Islam not related to the Stations.    

I deleted part 6, as it was largely incoherent video that was not relevant.  

This is the first part of a live action commentary on the Stations of the Cross from the original sites in Jerusalem. Our guide, Ezra, took us to all of the actual stations in the Old City or Via Delorosa of Jerusalem. I had the foresight to record Ezra on my pocket camera as he was explaining each station as we stopped at various points. Some of the stations later are on are literally right next to each other. It was a crowded area, so I apologize for any background noise.

One of the most interesting things I learned when I was in the Holy Land a few weeks ago was that I finally understood what was going on in the Good Friday readings with Jesus and the Roman Soldiers. I have never quite understood what the bit about the crown of thorns and the purple robe and all that was about. I understood the symbolism and theology of it, but I never understood why? Why were Roman soldiers handing out in the street with a purple robe and a crown and (in the other Gospels) rolling the dice and gambling for Jesus' clothes and all this. With all the armor and swords and all that Roman soldiers stationed out on the beat, as it where, where did they get all this stuff? It just seems to appear, conveniently, in the Passion narratives. I never quite understood how or why. As it turns out, there is a very good story that is very historically accurate behind this little bit of the Passion narrative that seems somewhat obscure. An Example of the Game of the King ...

Luke 22.55-65 When they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat among them. Then a servant-girl, seeing him in the firelight, stared at him and said, ‘This man also was with him.’ But he denied it, saying, ‘Woman, I do not know him.’ A little later someone else, on seeing him, said, ‘You also are one of them.’ But Peter said, ‘Man, I am not!’ Then about an hour later yet another kept insisting, ‘Surely this man also was with him; for he is a Galilean.’ But Peter said, ‘Man, I do not know what you are talking about!’ At that moment, while he was still speaking, the cock crowed. The Lord turned and looked at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him, ‘Before the cock crows today, you will deny me three ti mes.’ And he went out and wept bitterly. If anyone wants to see the exact courtyard where Peter was standing in this incident, this is it:  This is the courtyard outside Caiaphas' palace in Jerus...

On a winter day in 1986, two fishermen from the Ginosaur Kibbutz were we were staying (one of whom is pictures in my photos below) were poking around in some mud on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. The Sea of Galilee that year was at a record low due to a drought. They noticed some Roman era coins and nails, and then noticed something else that looked odd. They had the presence of mind to call the Israeli Antiquities Authority. which immediately sent experts to examine the find. Lo, and behold, what was uncovered but a complete hull of what was once a fishing boat from the 1st Century, completely protected in the mud once it sank. It is about 26 feet by 7 feet by 3 feet high. It was cobbled together with over 15 different types of wood planks and boards. It was apparently built in the traditional "shell first" fashion, with mortise and tenon joinery. The size and shape completely match the descriptions of fishing boats from the area in sources like the gospels, the writing...

The Sea of Galilee is known by several names. The Gospel of John calls it the Sea of Tiberias, Tiberias being the Roman resort city on the north western side. It is also referred to as the Lake of Gennesaret in other places in the Bible. We stayed fro a couple of days at the Kibbutz near Ginosaur (modern derivative of Gennesaret.) The Sea of Galilee is the lowest freshwater lake on earth. The Jordan river flows into it and out of it south towards the Dead Sea. Most of the fishing is done along the northern rim. Few fish live farther south. This is why most of the cities are on the Northern Rim, as it was also a trade route.  We were told it was about 8 miles by 16 miles. It is hard to tell from my photographs but you can see the mountains on the sides of the northern rim from the middle of the lake. It was sort of overcast and a bit foggy the day we took a boat trip out onto the Sea of Galilee. But the oddly spooky thing about it was that most of the mountains around the lake a...

Indeed, my all time favorite album .

This is the official Diocesan video: Taizé Pine Ridge 2013 from Rita Powell on Vimeo .

Matthew 5: 1-12 When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:  ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  ‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.  ‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.  ‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.  ‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.  ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.  ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.  ‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  ‘Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they perse...

While I usually don't agree with a lot on the Gospel Coalition website, I can across this truly brilliant turn of phrase earlier from a blog here : "the industrial-Christian-teaching complex: to be heard you must shout louder than the other guy." For those of us who don't do institutional buzzwords very well, this phrase was truly superb once I finally figured out what he meant by it.

Luke 1:26-39  In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you.’ But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I am a virgin?’ The angel said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he wi...

Luke 4:16-27 When Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:  ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,    because he has anointed me      to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives    and recovery of sight to the blind,      to let the oppressed go free,  to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’  And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’ All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, ‘Is not this Joseph’s son?’ He said to them, ‘Doubtless you wi...

In the afternoon of our first day of touring, we made our way through Nazareth, which was the town Jesus largely grew up in.   View Larger Map At the time of Jesus, Nazareth was a backwater, hence Nathaniel asking, " Can anything good come out of Nazareth? " As I described in a blog post a few days ago, nearby  Zippori (Sepphoris)  was the major center of learning and culture for the immediate area. Nazareth was the backwater, blue collar 'burbs to Zippori at the time. Ironically, Zippori is now nothing but ruins that even most Christians have never heard of, and Nazareth is now the major population and economic area of the immediate region (over 180,000 people in Nazareth). It is also now known as the Arab capital of Israel with roughly 69% of the population as Muslims. (Christians largely make up the other part.) I was taken by how rugged Nazareth was geographically. It is situated on very steep hills and many rocky precipices and ravines both in and...

While driving around the Sea of Galilee, we crossed through the Valley of Armageddon (Yes, that Armageddon ) more than once.  I was surprised at how lush and green a place it is actually. I had always pictured it as a rocky and barren hellhole or something. In fact, the whole of northern Israel has become a lush agricultural area with date, olive, and banana trees a plenty. Granted, we were there in February, and it was 65 degrees Fahrenheit. I imagine in the heat of the summer, it is likely not as lush.  In any event, here are some pictures I took from the bus. They are not as clear as some of my photography on this trip because you can only do so much when taking pictures through tinted glass while in a moving bus, but you get the general idea of what it was like: Our tour guide, Ezra, would occasionally get on the PA system in the tour bus and nonchalantly announce that "We are not passing through Armageddon, " which would always bring about chuckles...

Zippori, or Sepphoris, is north of Nazareth and was the largest city in Galilee in the Christian era. This was supposedly the home of Mary's parents, Anne amd Joachim. When Jesus peaches about the big city, he was likely referring to this town, though he never mentions it by name. This was a major center of learning and trade, with what apparently was a master's shop of tiled mosaics. Of interest, Rabbi Yehuda HaNassi lived in this city in the year AD 170-200 and was the major compiler of the Jewish Mishna . This town was easily within a half day's walk of Nazareth, and is likely where Jesus learned to speak more than one language and to read Hebrew and become familiar with the Old Testament, as it was a major center for rabbinical studies at the time. In the pictures below, archaeologists have discovered what appears to be a Roman era mall and mosaic showroom. They think this because the mosaics in each section of the floor are of a different type, making it a showr...

The next place we visited in our Holy Land tour was a place called Mt. Carmel . Mt. Carmel is actually a small range of hills on the far side of the Kishon valley adjacent to lower Gallilee and Nazareth. If you have ever heard of  Carmelite nuns , this is where they get their name and where the religious order started  in the Middle Ages . They own a monastery at the top of the mountain. Historically, this is the place where Elijah, the troubler of Israel, had his famous showdown with the prophets of the Baal  (scroll down to verse 20), which is truly one of the most colorful stories in the Old Testament.  The monastery has this statue of Elijah on the spot: Here's the Panoramic shot from the top: Click to Enlarge Here is the view from the bus as we are looking up from the valley looking at the top of Carmel, where we just were in the above photographs:

Stone inscription labeling Pontius Pilate by name I am about to begin a series on the places I visited in the Holy Land over the last few weeks. I am going to attempt to break these pictures up into sections so the reader can understand a bit about each place. I am also going to attempt to put them in the chronological order of how we visited them on this 10 day pilgrimage. Seeing as I took over 1000 pictures, this may take a while. I guess it will be my Lenten discipline this year... The first major site we visited after spending the night in Tel Aviv after our adventure on El Al airlines (that's a story for another blog entry in itself) was to the remains of the Port of Caesarea. This is not to be confused with Caesarea-Phillippi, which was a different city farther up the coast. King Herod the Great got the idea of turning what had been a little fishing village into a massive shipping outpost and Roman city. To do this, he had to artificially create a deep sea harbo...