Now that we had a greater understanding of the culture into which Jesus lived, it was time to look more closely at Jesus himself.

Day Four on the Footsteps of Jesus Experience: we headed to Bethlehem to begin retracing the singular and compelling life of Jesus! Visiting the cave under the ancient Church of the Nativity was an opportunity to learn a path of pilgrimage that is different from the sightseeing of tourists and the superstition of ritualistic religion. Our time of worship at the beautiful Shepherds Fields was wonderfully refreshing, followed by a visit to another of Herod’s mind-blowing palace-fortresses, this one at nearby Herodium. There we explored the amazing new archaeological discoveries and pondered a man evil enough to murder all the baby boys in Bethlehem. It is both comforting and empowering to realize the world Jesus was born into was just as messed up as our world today and Jesus is overcoming both! #footsteps (Bob Rognlien Facebook Post)

Bethlehem

As we grow up, our beliefs about the birth of Jesus are certainly influenced by “Nativity” sets and Christmas plays with wise men, shepherds and angels.

Above, the Church of the Nativity;

Below, Harmony lights a Candle:

The Church of the Nativity is nothing like these visuals and may in fact be quite disappointing to those who come here expecting “Silent Night” set in a pretty little barn. The church is usually covered in candles and icon, but as we visited it was filled with scaffolding to repair or clean the age-old structure. People of all cultures pushed down the stairs to crowd into a little chapel to touch a stone that may have been connected to the cave stable where Jesus was born.

I wanted this to be a special experience for our girls, but we found ourselves claustrophobic and frustrated. It gave us a taste of the “tourist” experience that is repeated all over the holy land. Thankfully, Pastor Bob and Pam help us debrief the experience and refocus back to the pilgrimage we were on.

After processing, we were able to find gratitude that people from around the world still are pushing their way through incredible challenges to honor the promised one born to be Prince of Peace.

Shepherd’s Field

From the Church of the Nativity, we visited the Shepherd’s Field Church, where there is a beautiful church to recall the angels announcing the birth of Christ to the Shepherds.

The ceiling in the church has hundreds of small windows, a reference to the sky being filled with angels and the glory of the angels shining down on the shepherds:

Under the altar, the shepherds appropriately shudder in fear. Remember, the angel’s first words were, “Be not afraid!”:

We all joined in singing the Christmas Carol, “Angels We Have Heard On High.” The acoustics of the room were amazing.

 

Herodium

I visited the Herodium in 1993 (during my Westmont Holy Land Semester) and 1998 (during my Seminary program) and was impressed by the archeology and palace fortress that Herod had built.  Here is a picture of the round fortress at the very top of the structure.  The round tower at the center of the picture is just the base.  Above that would have been royal apartments.

Since my earlier visits there has been extensive archeology done on the site.  Here is a model of the 1st century round fortress and palace:

Herod, who had once been chased from Jerusalem by Hasmonean ruler, Mattahias Antigonus, in 40 B.C., later built the Herodium after being crowned king of Judea by the Romans. This fortress served as the center of his government in Judea, and gave him a defensive view of the land. He was paranoid after his experience with Antigonus and built other back-up fortresses such as Masada near the Dead Sea.   The Herodium was not only for defense, but was built for the enjoyment of Herod. It had royal apartments built atop a large tower, a Roman bathhouse, and even a massive swimming pool in the lower complex. Mind you, this is a desert and water must be brought in via aquaducts from natural springs!

Lauren Brashears joined us for our family jumping picture at the Herodium:

In 2007, after years of searching, the famous archaeologist from Hebrew University, Professor Ehud Netzer, discovered the remains of Herod the Great’s tomb and mausoleum.  You can see in the model below that the staircase, theater and mausoleum were found built into the side of the Herodium hillside — Amazing!

Here is a outdoor model of the mausoleum below.  Notice the black line at it’s base — the stones below that black line are all that remain!

Now, notice the stones that are laying on top of the bedrock.  That is what remains of Herod’s mausoleum structure … imagine how massive this mausoleum really was!

One important find was Herod’s sarcophagus. It was found in fragments because Jewish rebels destroyed it in anger for many years of oppression and excessive taxation under Herod’s rule. Herod’s stone sarcophagus is displayed at the Israel Museum:

In addition, they discovered other important items from this archeological dig on the side of the Herodium, including the remains of a Roman theater and grand staircase linking the lower pavilion to the mountain fortress.

Here is a picture of the lower pavilion:

Here is a picture of the grand staircase leading up to a tunnel to the upper fortress:

It is an impressive site. Originally, Herod wanted to be buried in the lower pavilion, but in an effort to match his need for fame and notoriety, he decided to have the massive stone mausoleum built.

We entered the site through the Zealot tunnels that had been dug during the Bar Kokhba rebellion against the Romans.

These tunnels allowed access to the fortress and passage through concealed exits by which the rebels could surprise the Roman forces. After Herod’s death, these same Rebels razed Herod’s mausoleum to the ground and smashed his stone coffin.

The Birth of Jesus

You may remember that the three wise men came to meet with Herod because they had seen the star announcing the birth of the Messiah, Jesus. After they went to worship Jesus, Herod asked them to inform him where he could also find Jesus. But knowing Herod’s evil intent, they returned another way.

Herod was a paranoid ruler, even killing his own family members to prevent any claim to his throne. So, it one of the most devastating moves of his life, he ordered Jesus to be killed… but because he didn’t know which child it was, he ordered all the male children to be killed in Bethlehem:

Matthew 2:16-18 New Living Translation (NLT)

16 Herod was furious when he realized that the wise men had outwitted him. He sent soldiers to kill all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under, based on the wise men’s report of the star’s first appearance. 17 Herod’s brutal action fulfilled what God had spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:

18  “A cry was heard in Ramah—

    weeping and great mourning.

Rachel weeps for her children,

    refusing to be comforted,

    for they are dead.”

As we stood on top of the Herodium we could easily see Bethlehem in the distance (over the first hill):

Nicole pointed out that we could easily hear the cars on the roads below the fortress. Certainly, Herod and his troops would have heard the mourning cries of the women and families from Bethlehem for days and weeks to come. A cry was heard! His soldiers, if they had a conscience, would have had PTSD from what has been called the “Slaughter of the Innocents.”

It is both a tragic and impressive site. Jesus was born and lived his first years literally in the “shadow” of Herod and the Herodium. Jesus came as a humble king in a manger while Herod stood on the mountains trying to make a name for himself. Jesus would freely give his life for the sake of the world, but Herod would selfishly kill anyone who stood in his way.

What a blessing to know that, where earthly kings and governments may fail, we have a great Prince of Peace!

Jordan River

While the first 30 years of Jesus life is a relative mystery, the gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John provide detailed and reliable eyewitness testimony about Jesus’ three years of ministry with his disciples. It starts in the Jordan River:

Day Five on the Footsteps of Jesus Experience: we headed down to the Jordan River where Jesus was baptized by John and we reflected on what it means to claim our true identity as a gift of grace from Jesus. Then a number of our group renewed their baptisms and two were baptized for the first time in the Jordan! From there we went on to the desert wilderness where Jesus fasted for 40 days and was tempted by the devil. We hiked down to the ancient St George’s Monastery and then had lunch as we reflected on Jesus showing us how to operate in the authority and power of our Father the King. We finished with an off-the-beaten-track visit to the abandoned ruins of Herod’s massive palace in Jericho. An amazing day! (Bob Rognlien Facebook Post)

In mainline Christian churches, we receive the gift of baptism once in our lives… some as infants, some as adults. That baptism is understood as God’s action toward people: a gift of grace from God to an individual making that individual a child of God within a community of faith. While baptism is a one-time gift, it is customary to “Affirm” your baptism. Some do this daily by simply making the sign of the cross. Some do this by taking water and making the sign of the cross on their foreheads. It is not the amount of water that matters, but the symbolic action that in the waters of baptism we were made children of God.

Just as Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan river, we gathered in those waters – some to be baptized for the first time, others to simply affirm what God has already done.

We enjoyed stepping into the cool, muddy waters, of the Jordan River. Just across the river is the country of Jordan, with pilgrims on the other side of the river also remembering their baptisms.

It was equally special to have Pastor Bob welcome us into the waters, and Pastors Ben and Chris assist as Harmony, Nicole and I all went under the water together. (Our other two daughters were busy catching minnows and not interested in baptism affirmation at that moment.)

Jesus’ Temptation in the Wilderness

After remembering Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist, we went to the Judean Wilderness where Jesus was tempted by the evil one and where he fasted for 40 days – preparing himself for his time of ministry.

We remembered this as we walked down the hot path to St. George’s Monastery, which is built into the sides of Wadi Kelt. There are only about 7-8 monks at this Monastery. They allow both men and women visitors.

We were amazed by the ladders they have to climb to reach the numerous “hermit” caves where they go on silent retreats:

For the ascent, it was so hot that we put Hope and Joy on a donkey:

Even Nicole got a ride up the steep hills rather than challenge her MS with both heat and fatigue:

Several of us got dehydrated in the hot Judean Wilderness. Thankfully, Pam was willing to take some of back early while the rest of the group went to see Herod’s palace at Jericho. We headed back to Jerusalem remembering our world adventure is more of a year-long marathon than a two week sprint.