Palm Sunday--Its a BIG Deal in Jerusalem

Hundreds of years before Christ, the prophet Zechariah prophesied that the Messiah would ride into Jerusalem on a donkey colt (Zech 9:9), and Jesus gloriously fulfilled this prophecy a week before his resurrection and a day before Passover. Only days before His betrayal and murder, our Savior climbed over the Mt. of Olives on the back of an unbroken donkey, and the people welcomed Him in, waving palm branches in celebration and then laying them (as well as their cloaks) beneath the donkey’s feet.

2,000 years later (almost), Christians from around the world come to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday to remember this remarkable event—and the celebration provides it with about as much justice as humans are capable.

In what most resembles of a synthesis of Vacation Bible School and a Cinco De Mayo celebration (without alcohol, of course J), we danced through the streets from the backside of the Mt. of Olives, over the top, down the west side, and into the city—the Church of St. Anne (Mother Mary’s Mother) to be exact. What an incredible experience it was! It was nonstop worship from beginning to end! Men had guitars, mandolins, and a variety of small hand drums, and together we sang songs in English and Spanish (but we overheard several other languages, such as Italian, German, and Hebrew, of course), praising the King of Kings and remembering His triumphal entry into this Holy City. After arriving at the church, we continued the dance session for another 45 minutes before we had to call it quits. Altogether, I danced and sang with my brethren from around the world for about 3.5 hours. Praise Jesus for this incredible experience! It was wonderful to finally see some Christian representation in Israel (they easily get swept under the Muslims and Jews), and more incredible to see how valuable it can be to hold to a calendar that calls the believer to remember the remarkable and normative events that hold the faith. Western Protestants have much we can learn from the Eastern Orthodox-ers—this is just one of many: the height of value the place upon remembering the events of the life of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This Easter season, let us meditate on the events of Jesus’ life through which He faithfully and joyfully endured in order to reconcile us with the Father and bring us eternal life.

Swimming Where Jesus Walked

So remember what I said last time about the stagnant bowels? Yea... scratch that. The trip began on Saturday morning when we boarded the bus at 7:00am. Thinking I had fully recovered from the race (due to the fact that my legs and arms were no longer sore), I expected no problems. However, I began experiencing quite frequent and increasingly painful stomach cramps. At first it came in short bursts, feeling like little pushes and pokes in my gut. I continued to eat and even digest without any irregularity. But by the end of the second day (which was Sunday), I would get bursts of cramps that I would reckon to Shaq reaching into my torso and squeezing my stomach with all his might, challenging me to hold my food--and as much I want to vomit to escape the pain, I am unable. Immediately after welcoming my dinner that night, I parted with it (by its natural hatch) and somehow made it back to our own little room just in time to bid farewell to my dessert (once again, southward). So this continued all night--I would wake up in a pool of sweat, visit the bathroom, and return to bed freezing. I had no choice but to take the next day, Monday, off from the field and rest in the room. Thankfully, I was able to spend the day with Jesus, sleep, and watch the sunset--which provided a good enough day not to leave regrets of missing a day in the field. Oh and by the way, our window looked right onto the Sea of Galilee--I could not have asked for a better location. But so that you all know, I'm feeling much more 'solid' today, if ya know what I mean...

Those days in the field, though, were quite incredible. The cities of Caesarea and Beth-Shean were two of the most impressive that we've encountered on this trip. Caesarea was built by Herod the Great, and because their was no established Jewish settlement there, he had the freedom to build it completely Hellenistic--and it was beautiful. The most impressive part was the fact that he was the first man to build an artificial harbor upon the sea. His engineers developed a type of concrete/cement that was able to support a whole line of buildings to surround the harbor (which is now completely submerged, we only have historians' descriptions). It also included a few hippodromes--where chariot races were held! The city of Beth-Shean is mentioned several times in the OT, but not once in the NT, although Jesus would have most likely traveled through here many times on His way to Jerusalem. During the 1st century C.E., the city was almost fully Hellenized, and therefore, the Gospel writers may have wanted to avoid mentioning it. Regardless, it was an incredible-looking city, complete with Roman theater, bathhouses, and arenas.

On the final night, I took 2 pills of Immodium (which are still making cement in my stomach) in order to prepare myself for the next day's field study, and it worked! Waking up in the morning I felt pretty good (so I ran out and jumped in the Sea for a morning swim) and never once had to #2. With this comfort factor in mind, we headed out to a nearby dock and boarded a boat out to the middle of the lake. Notice the word "lake"--only the Jews refer to it as a Sea--its much smaller than even the individual Great Lakes of North America. Sitting there, able to see land in all directions, I just imagined Jesus walking out to us. How incredible it would have been to see your mentor and teacher walking out to you on the water!

'Could this be the Messiah that our Father Moses wrote about!?!?' His disciples were surely thinking... "Will He restore the Kingdom to Israel?" ...

"You are the Christ, Son of the living God" confirmed Peter (Mt 16:16). They knew that He was the One whom the Lord had promised their fathers so long ago. Let us follow after these disciples and bow our knees to Jesus, for he "did not count equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing... by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross" (Phil 2). This God-man really lived, really died, and really rose again, all in order to reconcile the Lord with His creation. It is in this hope we were saved (Rom 8:24).