To the east of the Old City of Jerusalem rises the Mount of Olives. When on top, you look down at the Old City, including the Temple Mount. The Temple was not built on the highest point in the area, interestingly enough. Separating Jerusalem from this hill is the Kidron Valley. Thousands of tombs are scattered around the hillside of the Mount of Olives. Tours often drop people off up top, but it isn’t too much of a walk up if you can handle the climb. Along the way, there’s some interesting places we stopped at.
On the side of the hill is Dominus Flevit, which means “The Lord wept”. It remembers Jesus entering Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and weeping over the city (Luke 19:41-44).
Along the main road that runs near the bottom (but still above the bottom of the valley) is the traditional Garden of Gethsemane, neighbored by the Church of All Nations, remembering where Jesus prayed in the garden and was arrested. Some of the olive trees growing next to the church are very old. They couldn’t have been the same ones that Jesus saw because the Romans cut down all the trees around Jerusalem within 15 kilometers when they besieged and destroyed the city in AD 70. Nevertheless, olives trees are resilient, and today’s trees may be growing from the roots of trees from Jesus’ time.
Across the street to the north (follow the signs that say to the grotto), you descend a flight of stairs and find two more locations to visit. To the right is a cave with the remains of an ancient olive press. “Gethsemane” means “olive press”, further establishing it as a likely area where Jesus was at that fateful night.
Immediately next to the entrance to the cave is the entrance to another church, which is one of the two places in Jerusalem that remembers the place of Mary’s burial (Jesus’ mother) or, as it’s said, where she fell into her eternal slumber. (The other place is the Dormition Abbey on Mount Zion. There’s also a tradition of her going with John to Ephesus.) What I find interesting about the place is how you descend many stairs to enter. This helps one understand how much the Kidron Valley has filled in over the years.
The strongest associations with the mount are Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem just before his death as well as his ascension. His going to and from Jerusalem harkens back to some passages from the Hebrew Scriptures. King David fled from his son Absalom via the Mount of Olives, detailing each step of his departure (2 Samuel 15). The Spirit departed the Temple in Ezekiel’s vision via this mount (Ezekiel 11:23). In the same way, when Jesus ascended from the top of the mount (there are churches that remember this), the angels said he would return there (Acts 1:11), much like Zechariah’s prophecy (Zechariah 14:4).
