Messiah Lutheran: Israel Pilgrimage: Mount of Olives, Upper Room, Israel Museum

Marcie Emerson in front of Jerusalem model at Israel Museum

Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed." --Luke 22:7

TRAVELOGUE: Start from the top of the Mt. of Olives, walk the path of Jesus' Palm Sunday procession into Jerusalem, stop where He wept over Jerusalem for rejecting the ways that make for peace, and near the end of that descent skip ahead four days to Thursday night to visit the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus retreated for impassioned prayer immediately before his arrest.

Wait there is more....

Next, go to the room where Jesus celebrated the Passover and transformed that ancient ritual meal into his Last Will and Testament. Jesus bequeathed to disciples in every age all he had to give away--that is his very body and blood. (He did this so that when we receive the Lord's Supper we get the forgiveness, life, and salvation he came to bestow.) Then--before lunch--walk the short distance to the home of High Priest Caiaphas where the arrested Jesus was brought for trial and imprisonment that same Thursday night.

That was our morning.

How does a person process all that in a few hours? One does not. A lifetime of learning and contemplating the majesty and mysteries of those events are not nearly enough time to digest what God was doing for us in those events.

Yet, being here to see and touch and listen does shed light on it all. Some call the land here 'the Fifth Gospel' because it opens our eyes to the places and ways that our Lord used to work out his saving work on earth. I would encourage those who know someone on this pilgrimage to ask her/him, "What came to light for you in the Holy Land?"

If you asked me that question right now, I would say, "God came to earth for you and me. I saw and touched where that happened. That did not change God, but it changed me and my comprehension of God's work for you and me."

We are very safe, but some of our group have been ill. Today six of the 44 on our bus did not leave the hotel because of illness. Please pray for health for all in the last few days of our time here and for our return travels.

Grace and peace!