Walking the "Passion" of Christ: Part II

For our last field trip, we followed the path that Christ took in the last hours of His life, from Gethsemane to Golgotha and the Garden Tomb. Beginning in the early morning, our whole group of loud North American Mormons was told to walk in silence to the Garden of Gethsemane. It is a short walk to there from the Center. The Catholics own their own Olive grove that most tourists visit, but our favorite place to visit is the walled off Greek Orthodox owned Olive grove across the street. It is much quieter and more suited for reflection and feeling the Spirit. There we gathered in our NT classes and learned about the last night of Christ's life, where He suffered for the sins of all Mankind in the Garden of Gethsemane. It is so saddening to me that most Christians don't fully realize what happened at that location. I could see in my mind's eye, Christ descending from the gates of Jerusalem on the hill in front of us, and walking down into the Kidron Valley with His disciples. I looked toward the gate into the garden and could almost see Him come and walk through it, move slowly through the grove to a great Olive tree and then kneel down in prayer at the foot of it. It became so real as I looked out over the scene in front of me. We read from the words of Elder Bruce R. McKonkie's last General Conference address about the Atonement. It was very spiritual and touching. I remember being amazed that because of an act that Jesus preformed near to where I was sitting, I was able to come to realize the cleansing power of the Atonement years ago in a place on the other side of the world. That just blew me away, how all-encompassing the Atonement is. There is nothing that is too far from it's power and influence, no one that can't be saved by it's grace.
From the garden, Christ was carried by captors to the palace of Caiaphas, found today on Mt. Zion, just south of the Old City. A French Catholic church marks the location today, called "St. Peter Galliatu," galliatu being Latin for a cock's crow. This was the place where Peter was questioned three times if he knew Jesus and he denied every time. After the last time, he heard the cock crow, came in eye contact with Jesus, and went out from the palace and wept. In the basement of the church is found the traditional place of Christ's prison, where He was kept in Caiaphas's palace while they passed judgement on Him. Beautiful pastel mosaics covered the walls of the church with depictions of Christ's last night on Earth.
Jesus was next taken to Pilate, to Herod, and then back to Pilate. Pilate's old palace, the Antonia Fortress, no longer stands today, but there are the Catholic churches of St. Anne the Mother of Mary and the Church of Flagellation where Christ was flogged. St. Anne's church is located right next to the excavated Pools of Bethesda, which go deep into the ground. The church has the most amazing acoustics and we, as a group, sang one of my favorite hymns, "Oh Savior thou who wearest a crown of piercing thorn". The ceiling of the Church of Flagellation is decorated by a crown of thorns, commemorating this event. This it the start of the Via Dolorosa, the way of tears. Most Christians believe it ends at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, but many prophets of our church have expressed feelings that it was near unto the Garden Tomb just north of the Old City walls. So we followed the prophets feelings and finished our trip at the Garden Tomb. We spoke of the Resurrection and many bore testimony of it there. It was a very touching way to end our trip. A tour guide we had at the beginning of the summer said that the greatest miracle of the Garden Tomb was that it was empty. It was empty because Christ is risen, overcoming all the troubles and temptations He waded through. He did it for us. I felt that strongly as we shared our testimonies and sang hymns in that quiet garden.