A Cold Day on the Mount of Olives

The Panoramic View from the Mount of Olives

Locally, today in the itinerary is called "the Palm Sunday Walk."  It is sunny but windy and brutally cold.

After quite some time at Bethphage on the top of the Mount of Olives, we stop for the panoramic view of Jerusalem.  Bethphage is the site which commemorates Jesus' mounting of the donkey for his entry into Jerusalem.  In Jesus' time, it was the city limits of the Holy City.  With his action, Jesus not only claims Zechariah 9:9 for himself but captures the discussion of the rabbis.  The rabbis of the day taught that if the people of God were unprepared for this day the Messiah would come from the city limits riding on a donkey.

The remainder of our morning was spent walking the route that Jesus may have taken down the Mount of Olives.  Stops along the way were Dominus Flevit, the church which remembers our Lord's weeping over the city and the Garden of Gethsemane.  As our Lord, we spent the time in the Garden in prayer.