Gethsemane and the Mount of Olives

At six o’clock in the morning there was a solid white fog filling up the valley outside my window, so thick I could not see anything but the very top ridge of the terraced mountain across from me.  As I watched the fog slowly start to lift as the sun made its first appearance, I could sense it was going to be a very special day.

As we rode the bus from Even Sapir on Wednesday, I wanted to savor the experience and commit some things to memories.  We were pretty sure it would be our last day in Jerusalem, at least for a while.  I started to think of some of the things I was going to miss.

We took the bus to the eastern side of the Old City and walked to the Mount of Olives.  For this we would ride all the way across Jerusalem from west to east, for we have lived almost a month in the Judean hills several miles west of the city.

The first thing we saw at the base of the Mount of Olives was the Church of the Assumption, located at the traditional site of the Tomb of the Virgin.  The church here, like several in the area, is “shared” by the Greek Orthodox and Armenian Orthodox faiths and others.  The Franciscans have a shrine at the grotto nearby.  When we were there the Coptic and Armenian Orthodox monks were singing and chanting in preparation for celebration of the Assumption here.

 Going up from the church we came to the Church of All Nations, and then to the Garden of Gethsemane.  The Church of All Nations is right next to the Garden and right across from the eastern wall of the Old City.  It has a high and beautiful, multi-colored façade that makes it an unforgettable sight.  Two big deer show off their antlers on the very top. 

 The Garden itself was a place to linger.  The massive, huge-trunked olive trees in this garden may be older than Christianity itself, the botanists tell us.  The place where Jesus prayed before the hour of his arrest and crucifixion evokes emotion from the deepest place I know.  Here he could have turned back, but here he drank the cup. 

Across the Kidron Valley we could see the Golden Gate, also known as the Gate of Mercy or the Eastern Gate.  It is right in the middle of the eastern wall of the Old City, directly across from the Mount of Olives.  Jewish tradition believes Messiah will enter the city through that gate; the Muslims have it closed and blocked up just in case he does; Christians believe he already did, on Palm Sunday.

The Church of All Nations and the Garden of Gethsemane are only part ways up the Mount of Olives.  After we left there we took a cab ride all the way to the top of the mountain where we could see all of Jerusalem, Mount Scopus, Mount Zion, and Mount Moriah.  To our left we could see Bethany, Bethpage, and Bethlehem….further to our left we could see the Judean desert almost all the way to Jericho, the Jordan, and the Dead Sea.

 

I am glad we came to the Mount of Olives last.  From the top of the mountain we could see many of the places we have visited – the Old City, Mount Zion, the Dormition Church and the Upper Room, the Holy Sepulcher, the Tower of David, and many others.  Seeing these places in panoramic view put it all in perspective for us, in a way that would not have been possible if we had visited the Mount of Olives in the beginning.

Coming down from the Mount of Olives we decided to take a walk back through the Old City and out to the place where we would catch our bus.  We walked all the way through from east to west.  Along the way we stopped to see the pools of Bethesda and the Church of St. Anne.  Again I am glad we chose that route, having an opportunity to walk the rough and narrow stone streets once again before leaving for home.  I thought the gardens at the Church of St. Anne were particularly beautiful.