First thing this morning, before breakfast we focused and meditated on the writings of Isaiah that foretold the suffering that Jesus would one day go through. Always a sobering and jolting passage that is difficult to dwell on. A hard reading.

Our tour bus drove us around the crowded hills of Bethlehem to the commercialised Manger Square. Bethlehem is Big Business. A big building on top of a hill in a commercial area that is actually three churches  – Armenian, Orthodox and Catholic. We got there early before “rush hour”.

In the Armenian church there was scaffolding all through the interior for renovation and restoration. A service was taking place despite this. We tip-toed around to see what is purported to be the real manger and see the big silver star on the floor that is said to be the exact spot where Jesus was born.

I actually found the whole experience to be rather jarring. And I’ve been analysing my response. It seemed to be more important to claim these spots than to be amazed at the wonderful absurdity of what was happening when Jesus was born in Bethlehem. That this was God and he had become a baby. It felt to me that the birth of Jesus was minimised. Minimised even more than it was commercialised.

The Catholic Church was quieter and it was much easier to sit in the pew and meditate and pray. Underneath the church are the caves of Jerome. In the 300s he sat in these underground caves in Bethlehem and translated much of the Bible into Latin and was a well known scholar of his times. I found that very interesting.

Then we were off on the bus to the Israel Museum. Philip and I had already spent several hours here on his birthday. I didn’t want to see the Dead See Scrolls again. So I took off on my own and looked through some exhibitions of Torahs (Jewish holy scriptures), and Jewish life. Including some disused synagogues that they’ve restored and reconstructed from South India, Surinam (South America), Venice and Germany. I’ve never been in a synagogue before.

I was starting to run out of time so I had to rush through art galleries with wonderful Impressionist and Post-impressionist and other European paintings. Had to really skip through a major exhibition of Goya’s paintings and works. Which I was disappointed about. But you could spend months and months in this museum. So much to see.

Then I rejoined the tour for our last bit. In the archaeological exhibitions. Paul who is our tour guide and comes many times a year with Oak Hall tours does a great job with enthusiasm in explaining stuff. He took us through the Canaanite exhibitions. The people and culture that was in the land when Joshua and the people of Israel arrived in the land. You can’t believe how interesting it was. Making it all so much more real.

Paul especially pointed out the bits of archaeology that had echoes in the Bible. Inscriptions that mention people like David, Pilate or others mentioned there. A history and land of people who were once alive.

I think this is inscription mentions Pilate.

Then Paul showed us a small exhibit of an ankle bone with a huge bolt-like nail pierced through that has been found. From someone else who suffered a crucifixion. I found that viscerally jolting. Incredibly moving and deeply sad. I stood there for quite a while just thinking about it.

So much of the exhibitions have vague echoes and memories from when I did Ancient History at school. But it’s so different to seeing it real. Not looking at pictures in a book or a documentary. But really seeing the physical objects.

We stopped for a falafalel or schwarma lunch. Just as we walked into the cafe a local boy walked by with a young sheep draped around his shoulders. We lots of little flocks of sheep and or goats in the fields around Bethlehem and outer Jerusalem today. Always with herders. A very Biblical looking scene. Except that the herders are usually talking on a mobile phone as they care for their flocks. The fields of Bethlehem are full of stones and boulders. Very rocky.

Then off again to The Herodian. The ruins of a palace and fortress built by Herod the Great on top of a big hill, overlooking all the surrounding countryside. Herod spared nothing in the way of expense when he was building his projects. Especially when it was for himself. We climbed through tunnels in the hill that had been used not only for water but also years after Herod by rebels against the Romans in their revolutions. A fascinating part of history that I knew little about.

Herod went to enormous trouble to provide every luxury for himself in his lifetime. He was incredibly merciless and cruel to all those who crossed him or to any he thought may cross him. He built this fortress as a bunker if ever he did have a revolt. And he had an incredibly wealthy and complicated tomb also built for his death. He was so cruel that he ordered when he died that other dignatories should also be killed. So that there would be some grief exhibited. He knew everyone hated him. And yet, in the end, it all came to nothing. It’s all in ruins.

We’re staying in Jerusalem at a lovely home-stay type hotel just a stone’s throw from Herod’s Gate of the Old City. The tour are the only guests here at the moment. We’ve met some really interesting people who do interesting things.

Tonight after dinner we had a short worship and meditation time, focusing again on the themes of Good Friday.

I’ll finish off with a completely irrelevant story. When we arrived at this hotel we were sitting in a lobby area. It’s mostly people from different parts of Great Britain on this tour. Staying in an Arab hotel. The TV was on in the lobby. It was muted but I recognised the actors. It’s a soapie from Australia. I don’t know the name of it. And it had Arabic subtitles.

Hope I can send this blog. The internet is a bit intermittent here. And it’s been a very Good Friday.