This door in Jerusalem fascinated me. I believe the door was cut into this mix of older and newer stones after these walls were built. The original handle must have been replaced by a key lock and later by a fourteen- button keypad. There were some signs on that door at one time, too. I have no way of knowing, but I can’t help wondering, “What was behind that door?” In hindsight, I could have knocked. Who would have answered? Or I could have tugged on the handle. Maybe someone left it open. I didn’t. I wasn’t feeling that brave that day.
Judging by it’s location on mu photo roll, it was on the way to or from the upper room of the last supper, a well-traveled route through the city. It’s got a lot of wear and tear, used by many over the years.
- It could be as simple as the entrance to a residence. Just as in St. Augustine, FL, many live right where thousands of tourists explore historic streets and alleys. There’s no peephole, though. If you were leaving you might just open that door right into the face of someone like me who stopped to take a picture. Ouch.
- Maybe it’s a plain, almost unnoticeable private entrance for after-hours entertainment. One that required a secret knock and/or code for admission. No one would know it was there unless you were told.
- Some kind of storage closet? A place to keep brooms and cleaning supplies, signs and banners for special celebrations, trash cans and traffic cones? I really hope it’s something more exciting than that.
- It could open to a flight of steps down below the street level. The streets of Jerusalem are built layer upon layer of history. The steps might lead to underground tunnels and passageways that can take you to different parts of the city. Or the steps might lead up, onto the rooftops. From there you could look down upon the streets, or move from one building to the next.
- Or an elevator. I doubt it, but you never know. Someone might have had to install one after the fact.
- What a surprise it would be to open that door and discover…a brick wall! A passageway that had been sealed up. But what – or who – was behind that wall? And how long had they been there?
Maybe someone will see this picture and tell me what it really leads to.
We walked further down the western side of the wall and marveled at the size of the stones used to build the wall over 2,000 years ago.
Rounding the corner, my wife and I ran up the southern steps as had many pilgrims before us. The steps are different widths, to keep folks from running too fast.
On the way to King David’s tomb, we ran into a special Jewish family celebration. A little three-year old boy was about to get his first haircut! He didn’t seem too happy about it, but the family and many bystanders joined in songs, cheering, and a blue and white balloon release.
Even though King David probably isn’t buried there, I was fascinated by the location of his tomb. Men and women entered on separate sides. Chairs were filled with men praying and reading psalms. I appreciated the reverent atmosphere of that room.
The upper room we visited probably wasn’t the site of Jesus’ Passover meal with his disciples, but we went to that place as well. More Muslim than Christian in design, it was much larger than I would have expected it to be.
As we walked through the Jewish quarter, we paused to look at some of the old wall of Jerusalem, from the time of Solomon. There isn’t much from the first temple period, so I appreciated this ancient site.
Caiaphas’ house is where Jesus was taken after his arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane and where Peter denied knowing Jesus three times. The house include some deep pits where Jesus May have been held prisoner before his trial. I read Psalm 88 to our group, and we thought about the only One we can cry out to for help when we’re “in the pit.”
We hit the ground running at 7:30 and got a bird’s eye view tour of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives.
Waite for it... 