Our group's final day was in the environs of the Old City. The focus of our field trips and our studies was the final days of Jesus' ministry.
The day began at the Lion's Gate or the St. Stephen's Gate. After a visit to St. Anne's Church, we followed the Way of the Cross through the Old City. Although the Via Dolorosa is a walk of faith and not history, the journey is nevertheless meaningful.
For us, the day did not end at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. After a long wait to enter the edicule, we continued on to the Western Wall. Since Thursdays are given to Bar Mitzvahs, the plaza was alive with singing and the dancing of school children.
The final stop on this twelve-day journey through the Bible was at the Temple Mount Excavations. There we stepped onto the first-century street along the western or retaining wall of the Second Temple. We examined the inscriptions from Isaiah and the "place of trumpeting
...."
Although hurried by a departing meal and flight, we spent as much time as possible on "the rabbis' teaching steps." These steps are considered original to the Second Temple. It was here that pilgrims ascended to the Temple from the south, and it was from these steps that Jesus unburdened his heart and rendered his final teaching. The teaching as recorded in Matthew
23 is a declaration of "woes" on the Pharisees.
As we concluded the reading of the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus' cries for genuine discipleship accompanied us on our continuing journey of faith.
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