Renewed by the Waters

We had a relatively light day today.

Our first stop of the day was in Bethany where we had an opportunity to see the Church of St. Lazarus.  

Good Morning

Church of St. Lazarus

Byzantine mosaic floor from the 4th century

Mary, Martha and Lazarus are depicted on the exterior

The dome is the only source of light in the church.
The words at the bottom are from John 11
"I am the Resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live ..... Do you believe this?" 

Pope St. Paul VI

Mosaic depicts Jesus eating at the home of St. Simon the leper.

Martha complains to Jesus that Mary left all the work to eher

Martha calls Mary to meet Jesus

Crusader era arches

Wall of Crusader era church

Olive press

We did not go into the tomb because the stairs are dangerous.   Our guide thinks the tomb may not be the original which he thinks is behind the Crusader wall.










On the way to Jericho we passed a few makeshift Bedouin villages in the desert along the side of the highway.  I was surprised to learn that Israel has 130,000 Bedouins in the Southern Negev desert and about 60,000 in the central and northern parts of Israel so they make up 3% of the population.  These houses if you want to call them that are just scraps of wood and metal.  They mostly raise sheep which are sold to Muslims to eat after Ramadan.  Israel has tried settling them in permanent settlements.  Their life must be very hard.

Bedouin homes

The landscape changed as we traveled down toward Jericho. We traveled into the Judean desert whose beauty shows in these pictures.

The emptiness of the desert has attracted many hermits over the years who live in this desert area.  It was a hot day today with the temperature rising to 106 degrees in Jericho and 104 at the Dead Sea.

This picture shows some stores in downtown Jericho.  Lots of Coca Cola places and lots of places selling fresh bread.

With its proximity to Jerusalem, more people are building houses here to avoid the high cost of living in Jerusalem.

This is supposed to be the famous sycamore tree that Zacchaeus climbed to see Jesus.

Tests done on the tree have confirmed its over 2,000 years old.










We then visited the parish church of the Good Shepherd in Jericho which is run by the Franciscans.  One of the priests was from New Jersey so he gave us the background.  There is a flourishing school next to the church.  The school began in 1950, but in 2013, they constructed a new building that enabled them to expand and now they are Pre-K to 12.  The Catholic schools are highly valued here by the majority Muslim community.  Its a co-ed school, the public schools run by the government (Palestine) are single sex.  The church has about 250 Arab Christians in a town of 25,000 Muslims.

Jericho's central mosque is across the street.   The priest we met said they are loud referring to the call to prayer which each mosque does five times a day over loud speakers.   We experienced this a lot in Nazareth.  He also said that they are respectful as well and that a delegation of men from the mosque pay their respects on feast days.

Rosary in the Tree

Mosque across the street

The picture below is the Mount of Temptation.   If you look closely at the center of the picture you will see the monastery perched on the cliff.  Jesus spent 40 days and 40 nights in a cave here.

We headed next to Qasr Al Yehoud, where John the Baptist baptized Jesus.  This area is right on the border between Israel and Jordan so it was the scene of a lot of fighting between them and on both sides of the road leading into this area, there are still active minefields.

Israeli Bunker

This church was abandoned because the area around it was mined.

Mine warning sign

 The land around the river is green

Where Father is standing is Israel, the fence behind him is in Jordan.  The river can't be more than 10 feet wide.   We were so close that Ida's cell phone sent her a Welcome to Jordan message.

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Date Palms

Date Palms

We had lunch and then visited the site of the Qumron caves where the Dead Sea scrolls were found.

Cistern to collect water

View of the Dead Sea

 The sun was blazing so I didnt aim the camera too well, but this is cave 4, where one jar contained over 90 percent of the scrolls with 15,000 pieces from 500 texts of the bible.

Cave 4 to the left

Could pass as a native

From there it was down to the Dead Sea, the lowest point on earth.  (How cool is that!)   I covered myself with the mineral mud which makes your skin feel so smooth afterward and floated in the salty waters.  Unlike the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans you cannot go underwater because your eyes will get burned and you dont want to get any of it in your mouth.   With those precautions, it was a fun experience.

Ida didn't float, but just got in to her ankles.

On the way back to Jerusalem we got caught behind a terrible accident and were stuck for about 40 minutes until our amazing guide cleared about 20 cars behind us so the bus could back up and take an exit which we had just passed.  

After dinner we took a stroll through old Jerusalem and had an opportunity to go into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre just before it was to close for the evening.  I will only post a few pictures of the Church since we will see it later this week.

The streets are narrow

Colored Laundry Basket lights

Spices

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Lights

Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Golgatha

Closing the Doors

The Edicule

Each day the large doors of the Church are opened and closed by a Muslim family that's been doing this for hundreds of years.   We got to watch the doors being closed.