The Three (un)Wise Men, Episode 3

The third chapter in the ongoing (and ongoing) tales of my trip to Israel and Palestine.  Be sure to check out Episodes 1 and 2, in case you are a glutton for punishment.

We headed out through the gate of the Augusta Victoria hospital and onto Martin Buber Street; I was awestruck by what was upon me.  I could look down across the valley and see—just a few thousand yards away—the Dome of the Rock.  I checked my handy pocket map and, to my amazement, it showed that we were standing on the summit of the Mount of Olives.  The Old City was standing firm, as it had for the last couple years or so, its ancient fortress wall protecting it from any intruders.  Any intruders but us, I hoped.

We walked the steep hill into the Kidron Valley and stopped at the Garden of Gethsemane for a little break.  (Walking downhill is hard.)  I looked around the property and was impressed at the relatively small footprint that the garden had, yet it was certainly a peaceful place. with birds chirping and the breeze whistling through the cedars.  Orange and purple flowers littered the landscape and conifers shaded and cooled the rocky soil.  (Anyone with any sense of beauty would have immediately known the floral varieties on display.  I know them simply as “flowers.”)  There were several olive trees in a grove in one section of the garden.  They were twisted and knurled, almost square in their dimensions.  The trunks were fat and thick; their limbs were tightly woven into themselves, like a tugboat’s hopelessly knotted mooring line.  The leaves were delicate, a light drab green that was the definition of “olive.”  Mark called the attendant over and asked (in his broken Arabic) how old they were.  The man thought for a bit and replied, “Maybe three thousand?”  Suddenly, I felt a bit less significant to the world.  These very trees were older than Jesus. Read more