JOY and an olive cross at the Temple Mount

We had gotten up early that morning to walk the ramparts of the wall that surrounds Jerusalem. The views from the top of the wall rampart were spectacular as Jerusalem is built on the highest part of Mount Moriah where Abraham had gone to sacrifice Isaac. You can’t walk the whole route on top of the wall because the section at the temple mount is closed. The wall section from Jaffa gate to Dung gate (including passage over the Zion gate) is plenty to hike though as the multiple staircases makes it a pretty tough mile. If you are afraid of heights, this is NOT the experience for you as the average height of the wall is 40 feet. It’s a LONG WAY DOWN.

But the experience of it may call to you anyway because it is perhaps the closest any of us will ever get to being at the very top of Mount Moriah since access the Temple Mount itself is unlikely.

Let me clarify, unlikely but obviously not impossible.

“I think I’m going to the Temple Mount today.” Mom replied to my question of what she was going to do while I was at the conference.

“Oh really?” I said in surprise, “How are you going to do that, little North Dakota Lady?” I teased her gently because we had read plenty of testimonials about how people couldn’t get in due to the scrutiny of the Israeli soliders who were guarding the entrance. As the words were leaving my mouth I just knew she could—and would—do it.

Turns out she had read some suggestions on how to get through Israeli security to access the Temple Mount which is open to non-Muslims through the Mughrabi Gate only for 2 hours each day (Muslims have access at all times and have 10 gates to enter from). The key points were to basically have no skin showing, wear a scarf to cover your hair, and have no religious items on or with you at all. Non-Muslim prayer or religious items at the Temple Mount aggravates the Muslims there to worship and has resulted in several outbreaks of violence since the Israeli occupation of 1967.

It is strange to think that Israeli soldiers are there to prevent their own people from worship on the Temple Mount and thereby protect Muslim religious freedom. The Chief Rabbinate of Israel prefers to think of it a different way, stating that the presence of Muslims and their worship of Allah at the Temple Mount makes the area unclean and thus unfit for Jewish worship of Yahweh. There’s actually a sign outside of the non-Muslim security gate that says Jews are strictly forbidden to worship on the Temple Mount as decreed by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel. With all of this in mind, Mom took a book with her, anticipating that the security scrutiny by the Israeli soldiers would last a long time before she could get in, even if she met all the requirements.

I found her hanging out in our hotel room after the day’s conference was over.

“Well, did you get in?” I asked.

“Yes.” She replied.

“Get OUT!” I said excitedly.

“No, I got IN.” she replied, her eyes twinkling at her own joke. “But boy, I almost didn’t get in, actually.”

The security checkpoint to enter the temple mount is quite intimidating. There are Israeli soldiers in tactical gear carrying their big rifles everywhere, and the bridge leading into the temple mount is suspended in the air and is more like a narrow tunnel made out of dark lumber. Mom had been careful to wear modest clothing with a head scarf and left her Bible and cross necklace at the hotel room.

“NO GOOD, NO GOOD!!” The Israeli soldier who had been inspecting her bag stepped back from it violently and pointed at her bag while shouting at her. Other soldiers immediately tensed and Mom found herself at the scrutiny now of a handful of well-armed Israeli soldiers.

She slowly and carefully picked up her bag to see what they were all so angry about. Oh, yes. There was the offensive thing that had upset them. A beautiful olive wooden cross that she had bought on her way to the Temple Mount. Despite all of her careful research on how to manage it, she saw that cross and bought it, completely forgetting that her next stop was The Mughrabi gate and Israeli security to access the temple mount.

They ordered her to remove it and as there was no other place to put it, she just set it on the ground around the corner. They ignored her for about an hour after that, but she just stood there calmly and quietly reading her book until they finally let her in.

“Mom. You could’ve been KILLED or at least ARRESTED. Or even started a new revolt.” I was sitting on the bed now in disbelief and shock at what had happened. How in the world could she forget she was heading to temple mount security populated by a bunch of soldiers when she bought that cross and stuck it in her hand bag? Well, she was safely here now in our room with an awesome story to tell of her adventure. Then I gave her a sly smile.

“Did you get your cross back?”

“You bet. It was still lying on the ground after I left. I’m sure no self-respecting Muslim or Jew would touch it.” There were those twinkling eyes of hers again, and I swear I fell in love with my mom all over.

She let that nugget settle in for a minute, and then we were laughing so hard, I thought I would fall off the bed! My little North Dakota mom on her second trip out of the USA had been challenged by Israeli soldiers, and lived to tell the tale.

I was not surprised though that the rest of her visit to the temple mount was somewhat boring, as it would have been pretty hard to beat those tense moments with the Israeli soldiers. Even the heavy Jordanian (Muslim) guards patrolling the temple mount grounds were quite peaceful that day despite a reputation for being rude and cranky with non-Muslims. But the real reason I think the remainder of her visit to the temple mount was not a more moving experience is because Mom didn’t need to go there to meet God as the Jews long to do. She has met with God frequently in the quiet of her heart where He dwells forever. She doesn’t need to be at a particular place to have relationship with God.

I think shepherds in the time of Jesus’ birth understood that. They could never enter the Temple Mount because they work with sheep and are thus considered unclean. Instead, their relationship with Yahweh grew under clear starry skies as they watched over sheep. But the angels who came to proclaim The Good News of Jesus’ birth did not go to the temple in Jerusalem where all of the clean Jews worshiped. No, they came first to proclaim The Good News to the most unclean among the people—the shepherds. And wow, those shepherds got front row seats to the most spectacular worshiping choir the earth has ever seen! Because the JOY of The Good News of Christ Jesus is not to be contained in one place among the clean. He came to save us all.

HE IS COMING. HALLELUJAH!!