Author: Gregory C. Jenks

Palestine of Jesus 2014 – Day Four
The focus of the Palestine of Jesus course today was on Jesus and John the Baptist, and especially on the significance of their presence in the Judean wilderness. This small desert (approximately 1,500 square km) has been created by the rain shadow effect as moist winds from the Mediterranean Sea tend to have dropped their rain on the western side of the mountains.
- BiblePlaces.com has an excellent set of online photographs from the Judean wilderness.
After a briefing on the physical and theological significance of the Jordan River, Jericho and the ‘wilderness’, the class set out by bus for the Baptism site on the Jordan River. After lunch in Jericho, and an opportunity to stop briefly at a large sycamore tree that commemorates the encounter of Jesus and Zaccheus, the group went to a location to view the Monastery of the Temptation. On the way back to Jerusalem there was a chance to view the Wadi Qilt, the ancient road between Jerusalem and Jericho.

I chose to stay back at the College today and attend to my growing set of emails. With the temperatures in the mid-40s that proved to be a good move.

I did venture out around lunch time so I could wander down to the Damascus Gate and buy some freshly baked bread from a local shop.
29 June 2014
Palestine of Jesus 2014 – Day Three

Today the focus was very much on the infancy traditions, as the course seeks—so far as possible—to follow the natural chronology of Jesus’ life.

After a briefing in the College lecture room, we began at Ein Kerem. This is the traditional site of the visitation of Mary to her cousin, Elizabeth. It also honours the birth of John the Baptist, who becomes a cousin of Jesus in the way that Luke tells the story. This lovely modern piece of outdoor art in the gardens of the Franciscan church at Ein Kerem celebrates this very human story of two pregnant cousins greeting one another after Mary’s arrival.

After leaving Ein Kerem we cut across the SW corner of Jerusalem to go to Bethlehem. First stop was the Bedouin-themed restaurant for lunch.

We then went to one of the three Shepherds Field sites. In this case, we went to the Franciscan site as the YMCA site was not open. We sat in one of the large limestones caves undoubtedly used to shelter flocks of an evening (even if not that ‘silent night’ of Christian legend), while the College chaplain led us in a reflection on the significance of the angels’ message to the shepherds.

We then had a couple of hours to explore the Church of the Nativity and the nearby holy places, including the Cave of St Jerome and the Milk Grotto Church. The church itself is under extensive renovation and repair, so the interior was filled with scaffolding and a false roof protects the interior from damage.

28 June 2014
Palestine of Jesus 2014 – Day Two

Today the course at St George’s College in Jerusalem really swung into gear. We have about 33 people on the program, plus about 4 staff. I am listed as a ‘Guest Scholar’ this year and will be responsible for a couple of the days during the program. It is good to see such a strong number of enrolments despite all the political uncertainty in the region.

After sitting for our group photograph at 8.30am, we went into a series of meetings with College staff, including an introduction to the Library. This was presented by Simone Qumri, who I met on my very first Palestine of Jesus course back in June 1990 and who first taught me to write my name in Arabic. Friendships that endure for many years are such a blessing. After all these years, I still think of Simone as I initial documents with the Arabic letter jiim as she taught me to write it.

After morning tea break we had a lecture on pilgrimage in the Holy Land, concluding with an overview of the historical development of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This was in preparation for a visit to the church later this afternoon, and I think the new course director has made a wise move in placing this visit so early in the program. This is, after all, the most significant church for Christianity and the reason for so much of the conflict around this holy city. No doubt many of us will make repeat visits individually or with friends before the course returns here as we walk the Via Dolorosa on the morning of the last day.

Following lunch we went to Mt Olives for an overview of the Old City and an explanation of the topography.

The pickpockets are especially bad this year, and I fell victim to one of them myself. As it happened I sensed what had happened and challenged the thief, before chasing him and demanding he return the stolen cash so deftly removed from the wallet in my hand. I suspect he was not used to being grabbed by an angry Westerner yelling at him in Arabic, so he threw the money on the ground—all the while protesting that he had not taken it. Hmmm … (Note to self: Learn some good Arabic swear words for future use in such circumstances!)

Meanwhile, the view of the Old City was excellent!

After leaving Mt Olives we went by bus to the Jaffa Gate and from there we walked to the Holy Sepulchre. As we moved about the complex structure, Rodney Aist gave a masterful introduction to the church, while leaving time for people to reflect on their first encounter with this holiest of holy places.

27 June 2014
Palestine of Jesus 2014 – Day One

Today we completed our Jordan package and began our Palestine of Jesus course at St George’s College in Jerusalem. The first step was to leave our hotel in Eilat and make the 4 hour drive north to Jerusalem.

As we drove the landscape initially reflected the rugged terrain of the Aravah in the south of Israel.

Eventually the landscape softened a little, as we reached the southern tip of the Dead Sea. It was still dry and barren, but not so harsh and rugged.

The drive took us past Masada, En Ged and Qumran as well as couple of the remaining beaches where it is still possible to swim in the Dead Sea. The loss of water has led to a 50m vertical drop on the water levels since around 1900 when the Palestine Exploration Fund recorded the lake levels on this rock. (The PEF mark is just visible about midway between the two black lines.)

After a short lunch break at Almog, soon after leaving highway 90 and turning west onto highway 1, we were on our way towards Jerusalem. Our first glimpse of the golden roof on the Dome of the Rock was a special treat for those making their first visit, and a ‘welcome back’ sign for those of us who have been here before.

After settling into our rooms at College we went for an informal orientation tour of the Old City, during which we stopped at a cafe for Khanafeh; a Palestinian sweet that is very popular to celebrate special moments.

We made our sway back to the College for the opening service at the Cathedral, followed by a reception, dinner, and our first session of the new course.

For many of us the day ended in prayer as we said Compline together on the flat roof of College building. The night air was cool, but refreshing. It is good to be here.

26 June 2014
Jordan 2014 – Day Four

The title for this post is a little confusing since we spent most of the day in southern Israel, but it was still the fourth day of our Jordan travel package.

We began the day with a delightful breakfast in the luxury of the Radisson Blu at Tala Bay to the south of Aqaba. Actually for me the day began somewhat earlier as I was up around 4.00am to make sure that those of our group who were returning to Australia before we crossed into Israel had a smooth departure from the hotel. It was sad to say goodbye to them in the early hours of the morning, but good to have made such special memories together over the past two and half weeks.

We left around 8.00am to make the short drive to the border crossing that celebrates the peace treaty between Israel and Jordan. This is a far more relaxed crossing point than the two further north, but the whole process still took about 90 minutes. We then said farewell to Alistair and Renée as they left us for the short flight to Tel Aviv and the beginning of their own travel plans. Our paths should cross in Jerusalem in a few days time, but the Bethsaida crew has now shrink to six, complemented very nicely by the arrival of another 9 travelling companions as we begin to head towards Jerusalem. The land is dry and rugged at this tip of the Red Sea where three countries meet (Egypt, Israel, and Jordan), and a fourth (Saudi Arabia) is visible just a few kilometres south of Aqaba.

After meeting our new guide (Sayid) and driver (Akram), we drove towards Timna. This was an ancient copper mining area for the Egyptian kingdom, and I was eager for us to see the area and especially its temple for Hathor, with its mixture of Egyptian and Semitic religious symbols. In the first instance we went to the replica of the Tabernacle that has been set up in the Timna national park.

This project is an exemplar of the mixture of religion and identity politics that we encounter throughout this land that is holy to three great religious traditions. The location has been chosen because of its similarity to the deserts around Jebul Mousa (Mt Sinai) much further south in the Sinai Peninsula—an area that belongs to Egypt, and is not so easily accessed these days due to political problems. The large rocky outcrop above the replica Tabernacle evokes the traditional location in the Sinai for the original Tabernacle, although it is far more modest in scale.

We were treated to a tour of the replica by an enthusiastic guide with a clear Kiwi accent. She offered a ‘mosaic’ of biblical references to tease out the significance of the tabernacle as a spiritual model for everything that has happened —or is yet to happen—in both Jewish and Christian religions. As an exercise in biblical or historical studies it was far from ‘kosher’. As an Fundamentalist exercise that showed no sensitivity to the interests of the group visiting the replica, it guaranteed that I shall never bring a group back here again. Yet it also served as a powerful example of how the biblical texts continue to shape the identity politics of this region, irrespective of the historical basis of the traditions or the hermeneutical models of the readers.

After leaving the replica Tabernacle we drove into the archaeological section of the Timna national park, including the massive stone formation known as ‘Solomon’s Pillars’.

We then made a short walk to the ancient temple of Hathor, where there was an opportunity to reflect on the ambiguous relationship between stories that matter to people (and shape identity) and the historical materials recovered through archaeological studies. These hint at the sacred stories and religious practices of the ancients, but often leave us guessing about the details.

This complex and ambiguous relationship between ancient history, biblical narratives, holy sites, and contemporary spiritual practice will be often in our minds and our hearts over the next two weeks while we take the Palestine of Jesus course at St George’s College in Jerusalem.

25 June 2014
Jordan 2014 – Day Three

Today saw us move from the rugged mountains of Petra, through the austere desert landscape of the Wadi Rum, to the seaside resort of Aqaba. Quite a set of transitions.

We began in the beautiful grounds of Beit Zaman as we boarded the bus for another day of exploring this southern desert of Jordan.

After an hour or so of driving we entered Wadi Rum and prepared to board the jeeps for adventures that required no walking – well, almost no walking.

After a while we stopped at a Bedouin camp where we were offered traditional hospitality, met some of the locals, and played a trick on the other tour members by having Clare arrive in full burka as the wife of a local Bedouin looking for some lost sheep.

It was a delight to see his face when I walked up to him and introduced myself in Arabic: Ana baba. Hiya binti. (I am the father. She is my daughter.) He spoke no English, but I had enough Arabic to negotiate a reasonable price (30 camels), much to the amusement of the Bedouin who enjoyed our sustained joke at the expense of our travel companions. To raise the stakes even further, our guide (Sam/Suliman) suddenly “noticed” that Clare was missing, and asked if anyone knew where she was. I replied in Arabic, Barafesh (I don’t know), which deepened the fun for both the Bedouin and the guide. When Clare finally removed her head covering, there was surprise and relief – and a sense of having been fooled.

We stopped at the hideaway where Lawrence of Arabia met with Arab leaders during WW1, and crossed the old Ottoman railway line he encouraged them to blow up repeatedly.

Finally we enjoyed a 4 jeep race back to the Visitor Centre, the last few minutes of which were captured on video.

After lunch at the Visitor Centre we got back on our bus for the shot trip to Aqaba, where we checked into our very comfortable Radisson Blu hotel resort.

24 June 2014