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New Testament understanding through the Jewish perspective (view source)
Revision as of 21:07, November 6, 2008
, 21:07, November 6, 2008no edit summary
*Note: The Gateway road always leads up and thus posing more of a difficulty for the attacker. This is because fortress cities were throughout the centuries built one civilization on top of the other there being no other place to go as the original hill contained access to the precious water supply. The final city thus was situated much higher than the original city and the only way to capture it was up. This is what "tel" signifies - Tel Megiddo, Tel Lachish, Tel Hazor, Tel Dan, Tel Arad.
*Note: The Gateway road always leads up and thus posing more of a difficulty for the attacker. This is because fortress cities were throughout the centuries built one civilization on top of the other there being no other place to go as the original hill contained access to the precious water supply. The final city thus was situated much higher than the original city and the only way to capture it was up. This is what "tel" signifies - Tel Megiddo, Tel Lachish, Tel Hazor, Tel Dan, Tel Arad.
'''Example 6.'''
Beyond the words but through the words
Judaism has often been described as Orthopraxy - "straight doing" instead of Orthodoxy - "straight opinion or believing". Though not entirely true, there is much truth in this. But Christianity has a lot of orthopraxy in it - for being a believer is not just a matter of believing the meaning of words.
There is a church, Peter of Gallicantu - Peter of the Crowing of the Cock - that is just outside of the Old City walls of Jerusalem (2 miles by miles). One enters through Jaffa Gate (opening west towards Jaffa), also known as Bab elHalil = Gate of the Friend (opening south toward Hebron, the city of Abraham, the "friend of God") and passing right to the west of the City, one passes by the museum Citadel of David (where General Allenby received the surrender of Turkish forces in World War 1), the Kishle - the old Turkish police station (then British police station, then Israeli), through the narrow street of the Armenian quarter and tunnel with its cathedral and seminary, and just before reaching the Jewish quarter, passing out of the Zion Gate into the Mt. Zion of the Crusaders, down the hill, to the church. A walk 2,000 years ago would have taken you as you go westwards, through the ever increasingly populated residential section that King Herod built for the priestly families he imported from Italy to ensure loyalty to himself (Josephus).
Entering the church, one is struck by the beauty of the dome and walls, and accustoming to the dim light both filtering through the stained glass and manificently and kalaidascopically shining through, one sees the theme - the betrayal by Peter of Jesus in the courtyard to the house of Caiaphas the High Priest Is the night descending or is the day dawning? Without realizing it, you have entered into the actual courtyard of the house, or to be more exact, the Roman Catholic church built on the actual site. Stairs leading off to the side lead you down into the middle section of the house (just as so many houses built today in modern Jerusalem are multistoried homes wrapped around a hill and thus are terraced stories) and you see that it is not only the Roman Catholics of the French order with their archaeologists who think this was the actual site. For you are now in the remnant church from the Byzantine period (4th cent.- 7th cent.) with its hewn out side "benches", altar in front, and right in the center of the sanctuary a strange holed area (now protected so you do not fall in). It was not known that this was a Byzantine church until the plaster put on after Byzantine times, making whatever was below non porous to act as a water reserve, was scraped off. And there on the neck of whatever was below, as you peer down, appear crosses incised on the wall of the neck - typical of the era Byzantine crosses. But what was it down there before it was a Byzantine viewing hole, and then a water reservoir, and then topped by a Roman Catholic Church?
Stairs leading off to the side lead you down to a lower level of the House, and entering it you wonder what this could ever be. It is a prison, just as the Talmud says was part of the house of the High Priest - a "holding" jail for prisoners who would be later brought before Pilate, the Roman Procurator, for trial. You see the carved out of the rock individual cells with their tell tale holes for lock enclosures and off to the side in slight elevated area is the guard post. But behind the quard post is a hole in the wall. Looking through the hole, one sees a deep carved out pit, at least the depth of two men, now lit up, but originally, dark, muddy, choking. This is the dungeon, and where the Lord would have been kept - until the next day and Pilate. Stairs leading off to the side lead you down to that dungeon bring you past the side walls and more incised Byzantine crosses and then the bottom, and on one wall, the one behind and to the right of the winding hewn out stairs, the tell tale carbonized sign on the wall of the swinging braizier used during the service. So this also was a church (or at least a chapel), in commemoration of Christ, his imprisonment and suffering, in the Byzantine period. Looking up, you can see the hole viewed previously from the Byzantine church above, and you can see the crosses.
Ascending the steps back again into the Byzantine church, on either side of the Altar, can be seen two paintings, this time from the "Roman Catholic era" - our own times. On the left is the portrayal of the denial of Peter, three times, that He knew the Man. True to the New Testament, He is croached by the fire in the court yard at the time of His denial. It was cold that night. And there climbing, or rather being led away, is Jesus, who has turned is head and is looking at Peter, also true to the Bible. There are no words of Jesus at this time, neither in the New Testament nor indicated by the portrayal here. This is the Biblical "enacted remez" or hint principle of interpretation (see "Example 2."). No need for words for its meaning is understood. It is understood resting on faith in the human ability to perceive what subsequent words could explicate and define. We know that Peter will soon leave, smitten by that look, stricken to the depth of his heart, but not to take the route taken by Judas from the village of Kyriot- that of suicide.
Then, passing to the other side of the altar, we see the painting of Jesus, after his resurrection from the dead, meeting his disciples, Peter is among them, by the shores of Galilee. Jesus is cooking fish for them, over the fire. and we know, that is, knowing what had happened from the New Testament, that Peter would be spoken to by the Lord he had denied three times when croaching by the fire. Jesus would ask him three times " Peter, do you love me? Peter would answer, again three times over the fire, in the affirmative, and Jesus would entrust him, would once again entrust him, with what was on His heart, " Then, feed my sheep!" - three times.
And so, the Lord gave to Peter the gift that, I am sure, Peter could never forget, which had the power to change his life all the days left him - forgivness, ''and'' reconciliation , ''and'' restoration, by the only way that could have reached him to the depths of his being* - Three for three and over the fire!
"Love is accurate, or soon learns to be."
Note 1: The authenticity of the site finds added support from the following:
A stone plaque with the biblical citation of the offering made by Israel to the High Priest,
behind the church on the lowest level, excavated servant quarters rooms with the remains of the mill stone turned by donkey ("better for you to have a millstone tied to the neck and cast in to the sea, than to hurt one of these little ones..." - indicating a rich residence,
the nearby pools of water for ritual purification before entering the temple area. These "Mikveh" are distinquished by steps the lead to nowhere. That is, they go down to the pool that is truncated leaving room enough just for a man to dip and then ascend. Some of the steps have center divider allowing, requiring, one way down and the side up, facilitating crowds of pilgrims in the shortest of time.
And to the side of the house the original 1st century Roman stepped road, leading from the Mt of Olives (in plain view across the Kidron valley) where the Lord was arrested, and passing the house, on to the Temple area (also in plain view) where Jesus would be lead for His "trial" before Pilate
Note 2.. Sometimes, With the "I forgive you.", cook a good fish dinner and invite the person over - with all your heart. Make sure there is good wine and a good cup of hot coffee!
==See Also==
==See Also==