Holy Week: Where it Happened

[Music] dear pilgrims my name is rami while you're unable to be with me today because of the pandemic allow me to take you through this virtual tour into jerusalem to follow the footsteps of our lord through the holy week starting from mount of olives with his triumphal entry ending with his resurrection from the church of the holy sepulchre rejoice greatly daughter zion shout daughter jerusalem see your king comes to you righteous and victorious lowly and riding on a donkey on a call the fall of your donkey foreign [Music] during the second temple period lots of the jewish communities that lived in the area of the galilee they used to travel annually to jerusalem in order to participate in the different holidays and the most important of them would be the feast of the passover the journey that they made was quite a difficult journey four days long one full of challenges and dangers yet they made it because they loved the city of jerusalem jesus as a child would have joined his family coming every year to jerusalem and whenever they traveled they had to go through different towns and villages like for example jericho that we always hear about or bethany which is the town of jesus friend lazarus who later on will be raising from the death every time jesus came over here he would cross from mount of olives as a child maybe whenever he looked at the city deep inside his heart he felt something he felt the anxiety going on because deep inside him he knows the secret of this place he knows that later on when he grows up he would come to jerusalem but that time that he will come in he will not come as a visitor but he will be coming as the king to many who will be witnessing his entrance to the holy city riding on a donkey the messiah the king that will bring the salvation for the whole house in jerusalem after the three years ministry of jesus and the galilee he made his last journey to jerusalem hundreds if not thousands of pilgrims were also doing that same journey on his way he stopped by bethany he raised his friend lazarus from the dead and hundreds of these pilgrims who are doing the same journey have witnessed that miracle and plenty of them have seen in this design of jesus as the coming messiah so they wanted to follow him in order to witness his triumphal entry into the city of jerusalem [Music] on that day his feet will stand on the mount of olives east of jerusalem and the mount of olives will be split into two from east to west forming a great valley with half of the mountain moving north and have moving south jesus will ride the donkey that his disciples will fetch from bethphage exactly as he told them which is the same place where the priests will be fetching their paschal lamps jesus would show that he is the real lamb which takes away the sins of the world prefigured the paschal lambs as we're approaching the palm sunday walk which is commemorating the trump adventure of jesus and that is the beginning of the holy week for centuries people from all around the world have been gathering in here and especially on the palm sunday in order to walk down these steps and follow that path which is the same way that our lord followed as a humble king riding on his donkey fulfilling all the prophecies of the old days entering into the eternal city the city of his father [Music] the prince of peace is riding his donkey humbly entering into the city the crowds are all around him they are following him they are cheering they are happy they are joyful tears in their eyes but definitely the pharisees they didn't like this they didn't like to see jesus entering as a king rebuke your disciples they say jesus answered i tell you if they were to keep silent the stones will cry out [Music] as he approached the city jesus wept over it the church of the dominance flavored which means the weeping of the lord was built to commemorate the place where jesus wept over jerusalem his weeping shows us his humanity he was thinking as a human not as god simply he couldn't hide his feelings he wept because of his knowledge of the punishment of jerusalem he wept because of his unending desire for the peace of jerusalem he wept because of his unabandoned love for the people of jerusalem he was weeping over the tragedy of a lost opportunity the israelites that assembled in jerusalem for the passover missed the opportunity to be saved from both earthly and eternal destruction they were visited by their savior but they did not know it god in flesh was standing right before their eyes and they missed it instead of receiving him they killed him [Music] after the day of his triumphal entry jesus would arrive into the temple where he found that the courts are full of the corrupt money changers he began overturning their tables and clearing the temple saying the scriptures declare my temple will be a house of prayer but you have turned it into adam of thieves coming back to mount of olives he would pray with his disciples until the night came where he will be gathering them on mount zion in order to prepare for the last supper jesus sent peter and john saying go and make preparations for us to eat the passover where do you want us to go they said enter into the city and you will find a man carrying a water jar follow him and he will lead you into the place [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] this is where our lord will gather his disciples around the table where we will be offering his blood and his flesh to become the new lamb the lamb that will be sacrificed for the sins of a humanity during that passover meal jesus will be so humble to kneel down and wash the feet of his disciples teaching them how to become the servants rather than being the masters this is where he pointed that he will be betrayed and he will be as well denied after jesus and his disciples left the area of mount zion they came through the kidron valley which is the valley that separates mount zion from mount of olives they came through that valley all the way into this garden which is called the garden of gethsemane and the meaning of the word gethsemane is the oil press in the gospel of john chapter 18 the gospel tells us that jesus and these disciples they were quite very familiar with this place they've been here before they prayed together before in this place but what was special about that thursday night that simply the master who came with his disciples was different the disciples they couldn't tell at the very first beginning that jesus is a bit weak they couldn't tell that jesus is different than how he's usually looking like he's thinking as a man once again jesus as we all know had his two natures his humanity and his divinity on that thursday night jesus was simply thinking and living his humanity he was afraid he knows that this is his last night he knows that in between these olive trees one of his disciples who thought that that was a friend would come and stab him in the back he would bring the soldiers and they will arrest him so jesus stepped aside from his disciples knelt down on his knees on the rock and prayed for his father [Music] he withdrew about the stones through beyond them knelt down and prayed father if you are willing take this cup from me yet not my will but use me donald an angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him and being in anguish he prayed more earnestly and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground when he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples he found them asleep exhausted from sorrow why are you sleeping he asked them get up and pray so that you will not fall into [Music] temptation the sins of the word crushed hard on jesus with such weight of sorrow that blood squeezed out of him like oil coming out from a crushed olive [Music] when jesus rose from prayer he went back to his disciples to find them sleeping he was disappointed he was distressed to find them sleeping because simply they were their friends he brought them into here to stand next to him once again jesus was living and thinking at that moment as a full human he wanted his friends to be next to him he wanted them to support him because he knows that this is his last night maybe they didn't know that maybe it wasn't very obvious to them but he knew it and he wanted them he needed them next to him from a distance he could see judas coming with the soldiers with the torches in their hand they are coming to arrest him he didn't run away he stayed in here he stayed in the garden once again jesus could have easily chosen a secret place to go to if kid went into a different cave into the other side of the mountain he could went easily into bethany to the house of his friend lazarus he could pray there but he wanted to be in here because he knew that judas was coming to him and he wanted to surrender to judas because simply surrendering to judas that means his mission is accomplished that means he's just surrendered to the will of his father at this point i'm at the lower side of mount zion and just behind me is the kidron valley that connects all the way to mount of olives which is the garden of gethsemane at the slosh of mount of olives two thousand years ago imagine our lord jesus christ after he finished the last supper with his disciples on the upper side of mount zion jesus would have stepped on these very same steps he walked down on these steps as a free man with his disciples going through the kidron valley all the way to the garden of gethsemane prayed got arrested then he was dragged back up these steps as a prisoner to stand in front of the high priest before the day of his crucifixion [Music] after they arrested jesus in the garden of gethsemane he was brought into the area of mount zion through the kidron valley where first he stood in front of anas then they brought him to the house of the high priest caliphas who was the head of the sanhedrin at that time which was the jewish religious quote the members of the sanhedrin they badly wanted jesus dead even though they were all the religious people the ones who've controlled the temple the ones who were teaching the crowd the ones who were teaching the people the ones who were preparing the people for the coming of the messiah but once the messiah came they immediately rejected him because what they expected from a messiah at that time especially for those people who ran the sanhedrin and ran the temple they wanted a messiah that will make them more powerful they wanted a messiah that will make them more wealthy but who came to them was a messiah riding on a donkey who came to them was a humble man who came to them was somebody who told them your wealth is up in heaven next to your father not on earth so simply after years and years and years of teaching about the messiah and preparing the people about the coming of the messiah they rejected him peter was following jesus he was in the courtyard the one that we're standing in and once he came over here there was the soldiers one of the servants one of the women warming themselves next to the fire she looked at him you're one of them you're one of the galileans she can easily tell that peter is one of them maybe the way he dressed maybe his accent maybe the fear that he got in his heart and in his eyes he said well i'm not he was asked another time i don't know him the third time he was asked also once again i don't know him just as he was speaking the rooster croaked the lord turned and looked straight at peter then peter remembered the word the lord has spoken to him before the rooster crows today he will disown me three times and he went outside and wept bitterly [Music] but i o lord cry out to you with my morning prayer i wait upon you why oh lord you reject me why hide from me your face i'm afflicted and in agony from my youth i'm dazed with the berlin of your dream your furries have swept over me your terrors have cut me off they encompass me like water all the day on all sides they close and upon me companion and neighbor you have taken from me my only friend is darkness [Music] this is the dungeon where our lord stayed the night of his arrest among these cold wars jesus was lowered down from the opening in the ceiling this is where he was kept as a prisoner in complete darkness i just simply can't imagine the feeling the feeling of jesus in here among all these cold walls that we have around us when he knew that when the daylight comes out he's going to be crucified [Music] oh after jesus spent the night in the dungeon and when they break came the chief priests and the elders of the people they plotted against jesus to put him to death they tied him and they brought him to stand in front of the governor in this place in this area this is where the praetorium was the governor's house this is where pilate took up jesus and they asked him are you the king of the jews for centuries pilgrims have been coming to jerusalem to follow the footsteps of our lord they've been coming to this very same place where i'm standing now to follow the steps of jesus to calvary next to us is the sanctuary of the flagellation which was built by the franciscans to host the first two stations it jesus condemned to death and jesus is carrying his cross after jesus was condemned to death he was forced to carry the cross when we try to imagine that cross that jesus carried it's not the cross that is perfectly made at the cartwhen t-shirt it was a quite a very heavy wooden beam that was placed on his shoulders placing that beam on his shoulders made the wounds re-open after all of the flagellation after all of the torturing after all of what he went through simply that cross would add more to the pain that cross will make all the wounds reopen he needs to carry it it's a sign of accumulation because everyone who was to be crucified must carry his cross and walk through the whole city in front of everyone in order to be humiliated until he reached to the place of the crucifixion and that was outside the city the high place that we call calvary or golgotha [Music] jesus is carrying his cross he's walking around the streets of jerusalem it's a very heavy one jesus is getting tired when he reached into this place he fell down under his cross the third station of the cross jesus falls down under the cross for the first time and the minute he fell down the only person who dared to step out of the crowds and come to see him was his mother our blessed mother is the one who came out of the crowds she wasn't afraid of the soldiers she wasn't afraid of the priests or the elders of the people that was her son and she wanted to stand next to him after jesus met his mother he rose up he carried his cross again and he continued his journey toward calvary and coming around this corner it's obvious that he can't make it he's about to start going up the hill continuing his journey to calvary a stranger was called simon of cyrene he's around in here he was forced to help jesus to carry his cross and continue his journey all the way up the hill till they reach calvary simon just helped jesus carrying his cross for a second jesus rests in here then he continues his journey to calvary under the sign of the sixth station we have this pillar that got the name veronica on it which is the traditional name of that lady that got the courage to step out between the crowds and help jesus by wiping his face she wiped the blood from his face and when she looked back at that piece of cloth that she was holding in her hands she saw that the face of jesus was printed on it and this is from where the word veronica came on the true image vero iconia [Music] our lord is continuing his journey he's still carrying his heavy cross he's going all the way up the hill station number seven behind me is marking the place where jesus fell down under the cross for the second time this crossover here is marking station number eight jesus meets the woman of jerusalem while he's continuing his journey he's been followed by the woman who are mourning him he looked at them and he told them daughters of jerusalem do not weep for me but wait for your sins and for your children [Music] the ninth station is marking the place where jesus will be falling down under his cross for the third time he's almost there he can easily see the place of the crucifixion he can see calvary but this time maybe he fell down under the cross not because of the heavy cross he's carrying but maybe because of the heavy burdens that he's carrying which is the sins of the world [Music] [Music] our lord have reached his final destination he reached the place where he will be crucified calvary golgotha the hill that was overlooking the city the altar behind me is marking station number 10 which stands for jesus being stripped from his garments when the soldier stripped jesus from his clothes they stripped his dignity but stripping his dignity off that means jesus have just clothed us with his love because all of what he went through is for us the 10th station sits in the most holy place on earth which is the church of the holy [Music] sepulchre [Music] [Music] [Music] the 11th station where jesus was nailed to the cross he was stretched on that cross that he carried for a long distance and the soul just came and nailed him with huge nails seven inches long deep inside his bones he was in full pain yet he made it because he loved us [Music] station number 12 jesus dies on the cross after they nailed him they raised the cross with the sign the king of the jews on it when the hour came jesus said eli eli lama bhaktani that is my god my god why have you forsaken me jesus shouted again with a loud voice and he gave up his spirit [Music] the thirteenth station the brother of jesus prepared for the barrier when evening came joseph of aramathia who was a wealthy man that the secret disciple and believer of jesus he went to pilate asking to take down the body of jesus when they took the body down from the cross they laid it on this stone where they prepared it for the burial in the new tomb that joseph of martha prepared for himself [Music] they laid the body of our lord in this tomb they rolled the heavy stone in front of it to seal it and they all went home what a sad day was for many the word tomb is such a heavy sad one because whenever we say it it always reminds us with our beloved ones that have passed away but this tomb is different this is the holy tomb of our lord this is an empty tomb when people come in here they rejoice because they remember the resurrection of our lord [Music] jesus christ resurrection from the dead validated everything that he said ended during his life but most importantly this was the proof that he is really the son of god no human being has ever come back to life after being dead for three days [Music] the resurrection of our lord is the rock solid foundation of our faith and we should ponder it not just at easter but throughout the year because it is the new life that was gifted to us by our lord jesus christ from the church of the holy sepulchre which is the holiest spot on earth from the area where the empty tomb is that is left for us to remember the resurrection of our lord i would love to wish you a blessed safe and happy easter to all of you you

Channel: 206 Tours

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Id: Uq56ectzwno

Length: 36min 20sec (2180 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 29 2021