Layers upon layers

MAY 13—We rose for breakfast at 5:30 in order to be at the entrance to the Western Wall Tunnels by 7:00. This is the nearest that Jewish worshippers can get to the “Foundation Stone,” the traditional site from which the world was created. It became the site of the Holy of Holies, the centre of Jewish pilgrimage and worship until the Romans destroyed the temple in 70 A.D.

Recent excavations have created a tunnel that runs the 488-metre length of the Western Wall of the “Temple Mount,” the special platform built by King Herod to level out the top of the mountain and erect the temple. Today, the Muslim Dome of the Rock mosque stands in the place where the temple once stood. Without a doubt, this is the most hotly disputed piece of real estate in the world.

The tunnel runs under Arab homes just outside the Western Wall; it does not go under the Temple Mount. And what a world exists down there. Succeeding generations have built and modified homes and worship centres. Invader after invader has destroyed, occupied and re-constructed. Layer after layer of old city and ancient quarrel are gradually being revealed.

In one section we were able to walk on paving stones set by King Herod, which means that these are indeed the very stones that the people of Jesus time set foot upon. “To walk where Jesus walked,” as the old refrain puts it, is not as simple as it seems. Many of the places Jesus really did walk are several layers down.

The tunnel exits near the Franciscan Convent of the Flagellation. Two beautiful chapels in a lovely courtyard were built many years ago to remember the condemnation of Jesus by Pilate and the scourging he received. It is the beginning of the Via Dolorosa, the road (with 14 memorable stations) that Jesus followed bearing His cross to His death.

We visited several of the stations on the way, seeing and praying in exquisite little chapels, each with a story of its own.

The way ends at Golgotha, today covered by the sprawling Church of the Holy Sepulcher (or Church of the Resurrection). According to various traditions, within this very space Jesus was crucified, prepared for burial and laid to rest. Half a dozen Christian orders (Catholics, Orthodox, Coptic) have been squabbling over jurisdiction of the holy site for centuries. There methods of accommodation are both ingenious and comical, and much too elaborate to detail here.

Pilgrims crowd through the rooms, chapels and spaces. Many stop to kiss the “Stone of Anointment,” a stone slab where Jesus body was prepared for burial. The holiest site is the tomb itself. However, the lineup was much too long to allow our group to enter that place. And, it must be said, later in the itinerary we will visit the Garden Tomb, which is the place most evangelical Protestants consider the burial place of Jesus Christ. Both, we're told, are empty.

Nothing in Jerusalem is easy.