Blessed is the one… – April 1, 2012

In seminary I majored in Biblical studies. Why not? I already knew more about the Bible than any other book in existence. All my life I had heard it preached and taught at church. And I had seen so many movies of the times that I could visualize the stories of the Bible in the style of Cecil B. DeMille. But in 1991, I stood on the Mount of Olives and everything changed.
The landscape around Jerusalem is like an egg carton upside down. Mountains and valleys crowd together. The central Holy Hill is Mount Moriah where the Temple stood. Around that Temple Mount is the walled “Old City” of Jerusalem – today a mixture of stoned edifices dating anywhere from the time of David to the modern day. Mount Moriah dips down and then the Mount of Olives builds up right away. The Kidron Valley lies between them.
As I stood on the side of the Mount of Olives on the path where Jesus rode on Palm Sunday, I looked across to the Temple gates. All around me and below to the Kidron Valley were graves. The guide told us that Jerusalem was the City of the Living and the Mount of Olives made up the area called the City of the dead. Those who died in the city had to be immediately removed from the Holy Mountain. And since the Jews believe that the New Jerusalem will descend from Heaven upon the Temple Mount of Moriah and that the Messiah will walk to the Mount of Olives to resurrect the righteous dead, everyone wants to be buried at that spot. There are graves as far as the eye can see – graves from the time of David . . . graves from yesterday . . . and all the same – just a pile of stone. There is no green thing. No paths. Just graves.
Whenever someone visits a loved one’s grave, they don’t leave flowers – for those soon fade and blow away. The custom for more than thirty centuries has been to leave a rock . . . a stone . . . a pebble, because those will last forever. So the whole side of the Mountain and the valley is literally covered by rocks . . . stones . . . pebbles left by people waiting for the coming Messiah and the resurrection to new life that He would bring.
As I looked at this scene – I heard the words of Luke: As Jesus rode along at the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude began to rejoice and praise God . . . saying “Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord!” And some of the Pharisees there said to Jesus: “Teacher! Rebuke your followers [for the Pharisees believed the people were speaking blasphemy when they calledHim the Messiah]!” But Jesus answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.” It came alive for me! A scale fell as the very stones placed on the graves to await the Messiah echoed in my heart: “Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord!”
Prayer: May your blessings rain down on me as one who comes in your name
today and always.
Amen.
Jon Smith serves as pastor of First Christian Church of Palo Alto.