Bethlehem the Post

Today we left the Sea of Galilee, and headed toward Jerusalem.

Mountains of Sumeria

 Along the way, we passed through Samaria, where the Samaritans lived (obviously), and we passed the site where Jesus spoke to the woman at the well (but we did not stop).

Camel in Jericho (with Monastery on hills in background)

Theresa and Mary Anne at Sycamore tree (w/ Mike leaving)

We went on to Jericho, where Zacchaeus climbed the tree to get a look at Jesus as He went by. Jericho is the oldest city in continuous habitation. As memory serves, I think they have found building sites dating back about 10,000 years. It is also the lowest city in the world, well below sea level, but it has a spring that produces some 1000 gallons of water per second, making it a lush oasis in the desert. But, we didn't see any of that, we saw a sycamore tree that might have been 180 years old, and may look like the one Zacchaeus climbed.

Jordan River Valley

We continued on, passing the Dead Sea (a bit out of eyesight, beyond the hills) and following the border of Israel and Jordan. We got some good views of the Jordan River Valley. We passed through Jerusalem.

Camel crossing Jerusalem border

New Jewish settlement on Palestine side

East Jerusalem is on the Palestine side of a relaxed border with Israel. It looked a bit like a toll plaza, but they didn't even stop us. We had more scrutiny getting back from Canada to the US. But, on our way to Bethlehem required going through the heavily guarded border, and through the "wall". Theresa says I'm "teaching too much" so I'll just say, think of the Berlin Wall, without the notoriety. Israel is building a wall around all of the Palestinian settlements, and building huge settlements in the Palestinian territory outside the wall. No pictures were allowed as we passed through the wall.


We passed Bethlehem, and made a stop in Bethsahour (not sure of the spelling) or "Shepherd's Field". This was an ancient, but still used field where shepherds take their flocks of sheep (and goat herders take their goats). 2000 years ago, they certainly had more fields than this, but this would likely have been one of the fields. We took a little time for a Gospel reading and prayer time, as this is where it was believed that the Angels visited the Shepherds on Jesus' birth.

Bethlehem means "House of Bread". It is not coincidence that Jesus, who said of Himself, "I am the bread of Life" should be born in the House of Bread, is it? In Bethlehem (which is currently in the occupied territory of Palestine), we went to the St. Catherine's, a church and facility built by the Franciscan's, adjacent to the church of the Nativity. This specific location is also pretty certain because at the time Constantine was Christened (around 300 AD), the locals told (his mother, actually), "This is where our family has recognized for generations as the birthplace. And to prove it, tear down this Roman Temple, and you will find the original site!" (The Romans notoriously built their temples on Jewish or early Christian sites to "prevent" them from worshipping there again.) So, in about 300 AD, they tore down the Roman Temple and found exactly what was described in oral and written traditions! It is pretty amazing to find THE place where Jesus was born (99%+).

Crypt (hallway) facing the placed where Jesus was born

Unlike MANY of the "holy" sites in the "holy land", this one is controlled by the Eastern Orthodox, rather than the Roman/Latin Catholics (by way of the Franciscans). But, they allow the Franciscans to have a ceremony every day at noon. Since our guide is a Franciscan Priest, he has a few strings, and he pulled some for us today. So, we met up in the Franciscan church, lit candles, and sung songs (mostly in Latin, and few that I recognised) as we processed out of the church, down stairs, through doors, more stairs, and somewhere deep under the Eastern Orthodox church. I knew it was somewhere near or by the place where Jesus was born, but I had no idea where exactly, so it was kind of strange for me. Theresa had a better experience, so she may add comments. (I didn't see much, but had a sense of where we were (at least in the initial room where Jesus' birth occurred. One of the songs that we sang, though, was Adeste Fideles and it was amazing that the three different groups there (one was Italian, I don't know what the other one was)were all able to sing the song as one.) After several minutes of people singing and chanting, and a good deal of incense, we went up the stairs and out the door. And back to the Franciscan facility, which included a restaurant (where we had lunch; pizza and salad).

Door to Church of the Nativity.  Note the stoned in doorways.

After lunch, we went back to the Church of the Nativity (controlled by the Eastern Orthodox). When it was built by Constantine's mother, there was a huge door at the front. But, having been sacked a few times, the Crusaders stoned in much of the door, leaving a modest archway. A few other sacks later, and by the time the Orthodox Church got a hold of it, they stoned it in some more. Now, it is about 3.5 feet tall (yes, about chest level). It makes it much harder to sack, but it also forces almost everyone to bow low before entering.

Church of the Nativity (Nave)

Original (1700 year old) Floor

Inside we saw the beautiful mosaics on the walls (what remained), and a portion of the original mosaic floor from 1700 years ago, in remarkable condition. Then we headed over to get in line to go down to the cave where Jesus was born. The line was long, but that wasn't a big problem...it was worth the wait. But, people were cutting in line. OK, we're bigger than that, so not worth getting worked up. Then they closed the door inexplicably for 5-10 minutes. Not sure what that was for, but we were told they were "cleaning". They opened it, and the push started, and it closed again in 2-3 minutes, this time for 15 minutes. When it opened, it looked like Walmart on the first minute of Christmas shopping. People were pushing, shoving, literally getting wedged 4-5 across in the doorway. It was mayhem at the front of the line. As we got closer, and in the door, there was another area to wait through, and more cutting, pushing, elbowing, and basic ugliness. Finally, we got to an area with a series of steps down. More jostling and rudeness. At the bottom of the stairs, there was a recess in the wall, which sort of looked like a fireplace. At the center of it, was a silver star, with glass in the middle. This was the spot where (it is strongly believed, and probably is) Jesus was actually born on Earth. They urged people to go two by two, so Theresa and I bent down, and touched the star, taking a brief couple of seconds to take in the moment with a prayerful thought. As we rose to step away, another guy was crowding in from the exit, followed by more than a few others.

These are supposedly Christians going to see where their Saviour was born? That really left a bad taste, like milk after grapefruit juice. It was an absolute shame to see the horrid behavior of people at a place where they portend to be remembering the birth of Christ. (I was really sad over everything. Our guide was "fighting" for our right to be there. But, in doing so, he was really mean to some people.)

Manger

Also in the lower levels was a room believed to be the "manger" in which the Baby Jesus would have been laid. There was also a tomb, possibly belonging to the hundreds of Bethlehem baby boys below two years old, who were murdered by Herod in his quest to kill the new born "King of Jews". A separate chapel is set up for the Magi, but it was never really clear where they visited Jesus, so I suspect this isn't "the" place, but a place to remember.

Two people reverencing the spot of Jesus' birth.  Note the bit of the silver star.

We were then supposed to have Mass in one of the chapels in the basement. It wasn't a private space, and basically, people would be traipsing through the whole time. But, it was still our space "officially". But the throngs of people would not leave, or could not leave as the flow of people coming in won't let anyone exit. So, we're trying to set up chairs while people are in every part of the chapel. I won't go into more, but it was similarly as unpleasant as the rest of the crowds. Our guide got us put into another space that was private, but back in the Franciscan church. That gave us some quiet time to settle down after the madness we just experienced.

Looking back, I'm certainly blessed, fulfilled, and even grateful for the experience of seeing that place. Frankly, I am also blessed to see the ugliness of people who put aside all decency, robe themselves in selfishness, all in the name of seeing something related to God. I hope that I never behave that way, and maybe this is God's way of keeping me in line. I'll accept that.

We left the church and headed to a spot to do a bit of shopping. I can't say I was thrilled to see a large picture on the wall of the store of the shop owner and our guide. I'm not sure what that was supposed to convey. But, as we have had nearly no opportunity to do any shopping until today, we certainly took the chance to look. We found a very nice post card with a great picture of the spot where Jesus was born. I may cheat and post a picture of that!

Israeli wall from inside Bethlehem

On our way out of Bethlehem, we drove by part of the "wall" before getting to the gate. It was interesting and kind of sad to see the heavy graffiti. The Palestinians obviously do not appreciate its presence. One tagging depicted a young woman, wearing a veil and pretty smile, looking demur and sweet...and toting a machine gun. The ludicracy of the image I suspect was meant to reflect the attitude of the Palestinians of being walled in and scrutinized as they go through the gates passed the Israeli guards. I won't use this to get political, except to say that prior to coming here I really only saw one side, that of the Israelis. I see a few other sides now. Imagine your neighbor building a fence around and two feet away from your house, on YOUR yard. Then imagine him constraining your movement into and out of your house into your own yard. Then imagine he starts putting up sheds and a garage on your lot. I have an idea of why things are so complicated here, and how far from understanding it all that I probably am. What I thought was a simple trek to one country (Israel), has turned into Israel (1), the Golan Heights (2) (an area that was part of Syria in 1967 and still contested), and now Palestine/West Bank (3).

Anyway, we returned to Jerusalem, checked into our hotel. It is the nicest place we have been to yet (on the tour). But they have no free Internet, so not sure when this will post, or when pix will get posted. (We found a spot that has a Internet from a store owner -- yay!!)We had an amazing spread for dinner!!! It was incredible!!! Until one of the chafing burners caught something on fire! They got it put out fairly quickly, but the smell of burning plastic lingered a while. Oh well. I guess after the ups and downs we had today, this is a trite issue!