Biblical Moment 3: Jerusalem, Jerusalem. The Old City & the Western Wall…

Biblical Moment 3: Jerusalem, Jerusalem. The Old City & the Western Wall…

Jews, Christians, and Muslims go to Israel to visit Jerusalem, the Old City of Jerusalem…

As did I, somehow making my way way through Jerusalem, finding the Old City, finding a parking place literally at the Western Wall, and going inside the Dung Gate to pay my respects and pray at the Western Wall. Late on a Friday afternoon, with the sun going down at the start of Shabbat…

Jews come to pray at the Western Wall (also called the Wailing Wall) in the Old City, which was originally erected as part of the expansion of the Second Jewish Temple begun by Herod the Great and is the holiest place where Jews pray.

Muslims come to pray at the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock on top of the Temple Mount in the Old City, the site where the Islamic Prophet Muhammad tied his winged steed, al-Buraq, on his Isra and Mi’raj to Jerusalem before ascending to paradise.

Christians come to pray at The Holy Sepulcher Church in the Old City which contains the last four stations of the Via Dolorosa (Passion of Christ); Calvary where Jesus was crucified and died; and the Empty Tomb where Jesus was resurrected from the dead.

All three unwilling to come together and pray as God desires us to…

Matthew 23:37: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how many times I yearned to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her young under her wings, but you were unwilling!”

There are 931 references and 352 topical indexes attributed to ‘Jerusalem’ in the Bible.

Saint Paul the Apostle noted the Old City of Jerusalem as being the center of Christianity.

Romans 15:19: “By the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum I have finished preaching the gospel of Christ.”

Although this visit to Jerusalem was short, only a couple of hours, I spent most of my time at the Western Wall. I wore a yamaka provided by the Western Wall Heritage Foundation and went inside the covered area within Wilson’s Arch to the left of the Western Wall. There I sat in a chair, wrote in my TROML Journal and prayed for peace, wisdom, and the knowledge of God’s Will for the rest of my life.

I would come back to Jerusalem, The Old City, and the Western Wall three more times during my month-long visit to Israel and Palestine. I wrote my prayers on Post-It Notes and placed them in the crevice of the Western Wall on the third visit and stayed in the Christ Church Guest House inside the Jaffa Gate to the Old City for three nights on my fourth visit.

Finding the Church of the Holy Sepulcher inside the Old City on my second visit and spending time inside the Empty Tomb touched and changed my heart eternally.

Amen! Alleluia!