Day 11: Caiaphas’ House and the Garden Tomb --Day 3 in Jerusalem (5/12/12)

Today we travelled through the Damascus Gate and through the Arab quarter of the old city. Our destination was the place where Jesus was taken and put on trial for blasphemy and subversion. He was taken to the home of Caiaphas the High Priest of Israel. At this time in Jerusalem, since they were under Roman occupation, the High Priest was appointed by, and paid tribute to Rome for the appointment. Caiaphas wanted to protect his position and to please Rome who he had some allegiance to. Jesus was a threat. He was an enigma to them. His knowledge of the Torah, the miracles accredited to him and the possibility of him causing trouble for Rome (He was called King of the Jews) and thus for Caiaphas, the threat was becoming clear. They schemed and planned on how to take Him without an uprising of the people. (John 11:48-52) "It is expedient for you that one man die for the people and that the whole nation not perish." When they had Him, they brought Him before the High Priest and members of the Sanhedrin to answer to the charges. They didn’t understand Jesus’ comments like, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” (John 2:19) So He was tried and kept overnight before being taken to Herod. They did not have the right to crucify a fellow Jew – Herod did!

Historians have a pretty good read on where Caiaphas’ house is because they have identified a road that ran beside it, as leading to one of the cities primary water sources, in the Kidron Valley. And, actual excavations at the site have reinforced the belief that this was the place. Since Peter followed as they brought Jesus here, it was also where he denied Jesus three times, just as Jesus had told him he would earlier in the Garden. There is a statue of this encounter and a Rooster on the spire of the church to commemorate Peter’s denial. There are some interesting pictures on the Visual Impressions page.

This morning David Arthur gave a powerful teaching from the Gospel of Matthew. He started in Matthew 21 telling about Jesus’ entrance into the city on Palm Sunday Road (the road we just walked down.) Then took us through the succession of events from the Last Supper, to Jesus delivery to Caiaphas’ house where we are today. He led into the discussion of Jesus return, which I believe we will hear more about tomorrow (our last day.)

Yesterday I was struck by a talk and prayer that our leader David Lawson gave while we were in the Garden of Gethsemane. He said Jesus having asked the Father to take, ‘this cup” from Him, referring to the task before Him leading to the cross! David said what if Jesus had said no or G-d had said, OK you have lived a perfect life come on home. Where would we be? In our sin and doomed for eternity. So as David said, this was the moment! Everything rested on the sacrifice for our sins. We were saved by unmerited Grace!

THE GARDEN TOMB:

There are two places in Jerusalem that claim to be the place of Christ Crucifixion and burial tomb. One is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre inside the city today. The other is the Garden Tomb, which also present some pretty impressive credentials for being the site. Today a point was made that whichever site is it, the important facts remain unchanged. That Jesus died and rose again. He is not there. For that matter He only had a short stay! The point seemed to be do not dwell on the trivial, focus on what matters! The fact that Jesus was here at all is amazing to me. That G-d loved us enough and wanted to reconcile the rift between Himself and His creation really says it all. He is G-d! We cannot even conceive of the scope of His domain. It is said that our universe would fit in the palm of His hand(Isaiah 40:12) states that G-D measured the oceans in the hollow of His hand and He marked off the heavens by the span. (a span is the distance between the tip of the thumb and the tip of the little finger.) He thinks and things simply ARE! He breathes LIFE. How can we understand majesty like this? There is a “peace” knowing where we are. I am truly blessed. Our world today has gone astray. There is no doubt about it. The world is crueler, greedier and less focused on G-d, than probably since mankind became “civilized.” Yet, the sovereign G-d of all creation has reconciled us to Him. Our sins have been imputed. We are forgiven. Tomorrow is our last day in Jerusalem. We will say good bye to some new friends and travel on to Petra with some others. This has been an amazingly fast two weeks. It has been a wonderful experience except that we miss our family and friends and wish we were experiencing this together.

Maranatha!