Perspectives on Jerusalem

Jerusalem 2 December 2010

We somehow managed to cram 5000 years of history into an hour lecture this morning – it was really well done and didn't feel rushed. The truth of this place is that it has waves of occupying forces washing over it for that long as so many have seen something special about this place and wanted it for themselves. At one level its hard to see why – its hilly and crowded and often quite dusty – I guess that's because I come for the luxury of space at home. Space is in short supply here – ever since David decided to build on a rocky ridge as it afforded the best defensive position – Jerusalem has been pushing against its own boundaries. The current situation where settlements are pushed into other people's neighbourhoods with the support of the police and army is yet another terrifying example of this – the attempt to surround the towns of your enemies and push them out is drawn out in the coloured roof lines of the hills around the Old City.

We got to see this division today when we went up to the Mt of Olives – separated from the Old City by the deep Kidron Valley it was on the way from Bethany 2000 years ago but is now one of the close in suburbs. The view from here is wonderful – we were able to see the layout of the city and get a feel for the various quarters – I'm guessing this is still not going to help my getting lost ability but I'm discovering that I like having a layout in my head to help me find my way around. Facing the Old City means facing a place where people do live side by side across the faith divides – they seem mixed up in the jumble of walls and places of worship – but it's a far better view than out to the settlements.

From Mt of Olives you can see the Maundy Thursday story laid out – across on what is now referred to as Mt Zion (outside of the current city walls) are the places of that long ago Easter Week – one of the sites considered to be the house where the last supper was eaten, the site with the church that commemorates Peter's Denial, the swoop down the valley and up across to Gethsemane – at the foot of the Mt of Olives and now covered by the sparkling gold of a Russian Orthodox church. To the right stand hundreds of tombs – white against the hillside – the faithful awaiting the final days – perhaps visible during the time in the garden – the scepter of death in the choice to be made; back down the valley and up to Caiaphas place near the Temple Mount and then back down and into the other gate where Herod would have been. It was a long way and not an easy walk – and that's before the hard stuff started.

Today we stood between Mt Zion the place of deep memory and Mt Olives – the peak of which is associated with the ascension and the hoped for return – the place of hope. It seemed a good metaphor for where Jerusalem is at present – til we got home and found on the news that the talks have stalled again and the building and checkpoints continue unchecked.

For all of Jerusalem's cramped beauty on the other side of the Mt of Olives lies beauty of another kind – wide vast steep open wilderness – the Judaean wilderness. Stretching all the way to the River Jordan – too hazy to be seen today. This is no place for the weak legged, deep ravines and loose rocky descents, followed by steep climbs – the swathes cut across the hillside in a effort to retain water – and now the wall – to retain what I'm not sure – power mostly. It's too big to capture in a picture I can't capture the scale and width and harshness adequately. So perhaps instead of image we go back to words. Most evocatively the words of Isaiah from the Messiah – every valley every mountain shall be made flat – prepare ye the way of the Lord. Advent is not about an easy coming at all – it's hard yet hopeful.