I asked my husband Butch and you, dear readers, what Jerusalem meant to you.
Top of Butch’s list: the Death and Resurrection of Jesus
That happened right here, in the city where we live. I often picture Jesus and his followers leaving the Jordan River where they had wintered, climbing up through Jericho and on, up and up, through red sand and past itinerant shepherds, then triumphally processing down from the suburb of Bethany to the city gates, down to arrest and agony— and death.
Then came the resurrection. And those followers who had fled were now gathered in the upper room to sit shiva and mourn.. And they were astounded!
Sereta thinks about“unrest, the cross, Jesus weeping over the city, about the triumphant return of Jesus where He will rule and reign.”
Marcene thinks Jerusalem symbolizes “Christ.” She still feels joy at the word “Jerusalem”.
Lynne P says: Jesus lived and died for us, in this beautiful country! I want to walk in the footsteps of Jesus!!!
Second: The Temple
Solomon’s Temple was fancy and Herod’s grandiose. After it was destroyed in AD70 by the Romans, the Jews were carried into exile, where they remained for 2,000 years. Now they have returned, some would like to rebuild the Temple and begin sacrificing animals again. But John’s Revelation was certain:
I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.
Rev.21:22
There was in the temple a barrier between sacred and profane, Jew and Gentile, that the latter was not permitted to cross. That has now changed:
His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace.
Ephesians 2:15
Faith views Jerusalem as a city of prayer: “One thing I think about Jerusalem is the Wailing Wall (Western Wall). I think of all the individuals who have prayed there and perhaps left prayer requests.”
Viktor recalls: “One incident was seeing a group of Orthodox Jews wending their way through the crowded, mainly Palestinian bazaar. When I took a photo from behind them, my camera flashed. That caused the Jewish men to jump and peer around, ready to take cover. My impression is: incredibly diverse people living on top of each other in peace – most of the time, but with that anxious tension ever-present.”
Alison believes, “Jerusalem means WORSHIP, the centre and focus of our being.”
Margaret remembers: “The daily journey I took every morning, from the Church of Scotland Hostel, across the valley to the excavation outside the Western Wall. It was only 6.45 am, but already very warm. I remember the heat, the dust, the thorns on the side of the path, the occasional laden donkey driven ahead of me, the incredible blue of the clear sky, the noises from the old town and the distant traffic outside the city.”
Third The New Jerusalem
An angel helped John see it:
And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.
Rev 21:10-11
It will be 14,000 miles long and seven storeys high. So, there will be plenty of room. And what a sight to behold!
Liz E says, “For me it is the city where God has put his name, and I love thinking about that.”
Keith says, “Jerusalem to me means glory majesty, the power of the covenant and the glory of Solomon’s temple and the new Jerusalem, the Mother of us all. How firm is Israel as His chosen people!!!”
Fourth— the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
This is where I am studying. Butch is often on campus with me, finding library books, having a coffee, walking through the botanical garden. There is lots of green, tranquil space. We live in married accommodation here, set in an Eden of foliage and birdsong. And many many cats. This is our life today
Fifth— the Mount of Olives
Butch’s fifth and final choice that manifests his attachment to Jerusalem was the Mount of Olives. When we walk down to church from Mount Scopus, where we live, we take The Mount of Olives Road and pause to gaze upon the Mount from which Jesus ascended and to which he will return. Right here.
Linda K deems it privilege “to be in the place where Jesus, my Saviour, physically walked. But most of all to be where He will return as our conquering King!”
Jenny says, “I remember the impact of seeing the city from the Mount of Olives. Just beautiful.”
From My Perspective
It is strange how Butch feels so at home here, speaking only English, and yet I, with some Hebrew and a lot more knowledge of Judaism than he has, don’t feel that way. Not that daily life isn’t ‘normal’. And peaceful, despite the threats. I don’t feel like an outsider. But I don’t feel like I belong, either. This from Israel’s most cherished author, Amos Oz, speaks to me:
“I have been living in Jerusalem for three years, and I continue to yearn for it as though I were still a student in Leipzig. Surely there is a paradox there.” from A Tale of Love and Darkness
Esther, like me, loves the Relaxing Walker. His walks around Jerusalem and all over Israel make for compelling viewing. He shows us a happy Land and a happy city of happy people.
If I forget you, Jerusalem,
may my right hand forget its skill.
6 May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth
if I do not remember you,
if I do not consider Jerusalem
my highest joy.Psalm 137: 5-6
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As I watched Aaron Shust’s video I was reminded that we are the living stones that God is shaping and putting together to build the new Jerusalem.
I have not been able to physically visit the Holy Land but in my imagination I am walking with Jesus where He walked. That is where I have a sense of home and belonging 🎚
Beautifully put, Julia. One of the places in Jerusalem where I feel that the most is the Garden Tomb, where there is an actual 1st century Jewish tomb. We have those here on the university campus, too: the Nicanor Tomb is the 1st century tomb of a wealthy family. It is in the botanical garden that I walk through to get to my classes.
I was in Jerusalem for 4 days in March 2023. How special it was to stand, walk, be, where Jesus had stood, walked, been, someone from our group always reading aloud the relevant passage of scripture. The shocking nature of crucifixion was brought home to me. The gospel writers do not dwell on it. Their readers would have known exactly what was involved: a common sight, meted out to slaves and subject peoples, not to Roman citizens, as a deterrent to any who might step out of line. Preceded, in Jesus’ case by an illegal trial in a kangaroo court, flogging, torture. He went through that for us.
‘Your Majesty, I can but bow,
I lay my all before you now.’
Thank you for these insights, Janet. The cruel extremes of crucifixion are beyond our imagining.
I’ve never been to Jerusalem, I hope I will get there someday. Or if not, I will see the New Jerusalem! Right now, I am praying that peace for her will soon return and that all the kidnapped people will be allowed to go home.
Jerusalem, when I was young, was the place we sang about at church, the ‘Beautiful City of God.’ Today, though, I look at the city as a kind of a symbol of the end times, because things seem to be happening there now which are written about in the book of Revelations. Is the Day of the Lord coming soon? No one knows for sure, but it sure looks like it may be!
Butch says what you are saying, Heidi.
I don’t know.
There are characteristics about the city that you might find anywhere – shopping malls, busy transport, cars and trucks.
And then there are things that are so ancient and so rare and the locations of stories from long ago. Including our favourite story in the world.
Beautiful songs! Jerusalem – where heaven and earth kiss, where it will all take place one day. I can’t put what all the thought of Jerusalem evokes for me, but Yerushalaim Shel Zahav comes close to saying it all. We live in historic times, Jerusalem is the focal point.
Agreed, Laura. Sometimes, when life seems yom-yom (everyday), it is hard to conceive of the fact that here Butch and I are, in God’s centre, His focal point.