Day 13: Jesus vs. Herod

We spent the first half of the day in Jerusalem. RVL laid out the city topographically and historically for us from the Mt. of Olives. We talked a great deal about Jesus’s last week before his crucifixion, and I got a very different feel about His passion week than I had before.

Jesus came into the city of Jerusalem on the 10^th day of Nissan (lamb selection day for Passover) and He was riding a donkey. Riding a horse would have been a sign of war, but Jesus walked 130 miles to Jerusalem, and then He got on a donkey at Bethpage (the Jerusalem city limit) to fulfill what Zechariah had written.

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” – Zechariah 9:9

However, the Jews didn’t understand Jesus’s message of peace. They took Him to be a warrior who was leading them to conquer their Roman oppressors, so they started to chant “Hosanna” (“God save us”) and lay down palm branches (a symbol of revolt). The Maccabees had won a similar revolt against the Greeks in 167 BC under similar chants and palm branches were used to commemorate this revolt.

Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.” This remark was probably made in reference to Habakkuk 2 and how the yelling might escalate if he tried to quiet them.

 “Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house, to set his nest on high, to be safe from the reach of harm! You have devised shame for your house by cutting off many peoples; you have forfeited your life. For the stone will cry out from the wall, and the beam from the woodwork respond. Woe to him who builds a town with blood and founds a city on iniquity!" – Habakkuk 2:9-12

The Jews – and especially the Zealots – still thought that violence against the Romans would bring the kingdom of God. Jesus wept aloud at their stubbornness.

“Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground." – Luke 19:42-44

As Jesus entered Jerusalem, He (likely) went through the Shepherd’s Gate to symbolize that He was the lamb of God. Again, Jesus’s humility is amazing. He had every right to enter through the King’s Gate and send judgment to the Romans – and everyone else – right then and there. But He did not. Jesus came to save.

As a side note, the King’s Gate is now walled in, because the Muslims believe that the Jewish Messiah will return through this gate. I find it entertaining that anyone believes a few bricks will hold Jesus back from His second coming, but I guess they can give it their best shot. The Second Coming will likely be different than the first.

After Palm Sunday, Jesus and His disciples stayed in the Gethsemane  (“olive press”) at the foot of the Mt. of Olives. We visited the (probable) Gethsemane and talked through the evening of Leyl Shimorim (“night of watching”). God asked the Israelites to stay up all night to commemorate the night God protected the Israelites from the Angel of Death (Exodus 12:42).

In addition to wanting fellowship, asking His disciples to follow Torah is why Jesus asks His disciples to stay up praying for Him. Being next to a Gethsemane is a picture of Jesus being squeezed like an olive in a press as He sweat drops of blood at the realization that He would have to drink the cup of God’s wrath (Jeremiah 25:15).

Jesus was then arrested, tried, and crucified. We visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which houses the sites where Jesus was (possibly) killed and buried. People would have been crucified at street level, so the passers-by would be warned not to do whatever the dying victim did. I imagine people looking into Jesus’s eyes during His six hours on the cross and wondering what He must have done.

During the life of a Jew, it is common to consider a Bible passage, which you will meditate on during your last day of life if you know you are dying. As He was dying, Jesus appears to have been meditating on Psalm 22 among other passages.

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest. Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them.

“To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame. But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads; ‘He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!’” – Psalm 22:1-8

After considering Jesus’s passion week, we also went to the Pool of Bethesda where Jesus healed a paralyzed man. Next to this pool is the Church of St. Anne (mother of Mary), which has excellent acoustics. We sang “Amazing Grace” as a choir in front of a self-assembled audience, which was a moving experience.

We then drove to the Herodian, Herod the Great’s main palace to watch over Jerusalem. Herod may have been the greatest builder of his era and possibly was the wealthiest man to ever live, so this palace was impressive. The Herodian also houses Herod’s tomb, which the Zealots destroyed once they determined it was Herod’s.

Yet for all of Herod’s “greatness”, He was an evil man. He is a picture of a “successful” life by the world’s standard, yet He had nothing but despair at the end of His life. He had palaces, fame, and money. He also had subjects who hated him, no friends, bad health, and wives plotting to kill him. Jesus asked, “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet lose his soul?”

On the other hand, Jesus had no money, no writings (that we know of), no home, and nothing He built was ever credited to Him. Yet his kingdom is still expanding, and there are millions of people alive today who would die for Him. But to live for Jesus has a cost. It will cost you your whole life, but you will find that what you gave up was nothing but selfishness and pride in the end.

Though Herod was the king of the Jews, he was appointed king by Caesar. He knew that a baby born king of the Jews would be dangerous to his throne. He was right. It is so interesting that God put Jesus and Herod on the world’s stage at the same time in history, and that Jesus was born three miles away from where Herod died.

We closed the day by visiting an Olive Wood shop in Bethlehem, owned by an Arab-Christian who was a friend of RVL. Bethlehem has become a big city, so it has grown way beyond the town of 150 that Jesus was born in. But it was still cool to be able to visit so many sites that Jesus lived this week. Tomorrow will be our last day.