By Meta Braymer

Imagine packing all the places and events of Holy Week into 8 hours. Imagine packing into those same hours a visit to the Dome of the Rock where Mohammed ascended into heaven, to King David’s tomb, to a 1600 year old Armenian Cathedral, and more. That was our day, and it was physically, emotionally, and spiritually overwhelming. Only now as I sit quietly in my room away from the crowds of people in Jerusalem can I begin to reflect on and process this day.

Holy Week was especially meaningful to me this year, and, although we didn’t visit the sites today in the order they occurred, being where Jesus walked was a profoundly spiritual experience. At the Mount of Olives, we sat in the church built where Jesus wept over Jerusalem saying, “if you had only recognized in this day the things that make for peace. But now they are hidden from your eyes.” (Luke 19:41-42).

Olive trees in the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus prayed and was betrayed.

We walked a short way from the Mount of Olives on the Palm Sunday path. We stood in the room of the Last Supper and walked around the beautiful Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus prayed and was betrayed.

We visited the chapel built where Pilate had Jesus flogged, and we walked the Via Dolorosa. In the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, we saw the rock that anchored the cross on which Jesus was crucified, the stone slab on which his body was prepared for burial, the tomb Joseph of Arimathea provided and from which Jesus rose. In the distance, we saw the site of the Ascension.

Now as I reflect on the day, I am making Holy Week connections to people we’ve met on this pilgrimage. Abuna Chacour told us, “When you go to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, don’t stay in the tomb. He is not there. He has risen. Go out in the world and get to work.”

And today we witnessed the risen Christ in two men we met. We talked with an Israeli Jewish father whose 14 year old daughter was killed by a suicide bomber and to a Palestinian Christian father whose 12 year old daughter was shot and killed as the family went through a checkpoint in Bethlehem on the way to shop. They now work together for peace and reconciliation in Israel through an organization called Parents Circle Families Forum.

They have chosen love and forgiveness rather than anger and hate. One reminded us that on the cross, Jesus said, “Father forgive them for they know not what they are doing.”  He said that without God he could not forgive. They both believe they can help bring change by telling their stories; they believe that God created all people in his image and that we must see each other as human beings. They asked us to help them tell the stories.

Those of us on this pilgrimage have been moved today by holy sites and holy moments. We have been challenged to love all our neighbors, to practice forgiveness, and to recognize “in this day the things that make for peace.“