Mount of Olives

The Chapel of the Ascension, on top of the Mount of Olives, is an altogether plain structure, as you can see. A rather welcome change after some of the ostentatious sites we've visited. Jesus, though God, was a fairly humble fellow. So this mount is where he left the disciples to return to his Father, and where, if we understand the prophet Zechariah correctly, he will return: Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights in the day of battle. On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south. (Zech 14:3,4)

Originally, this structure intentionally had no dome -- in order to signify the ascension. When the area was conquered by Saladin, he spared the site and converted it to a mosque. So as not to endorse Christian theology, he closed the top: kind of hard for Jesus to ascend to heaven if he keeps hitting his head on the dome.

The shot of the temple mount is from the Mount of Olives, showing the geography that Jesus traversed in his final hours.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5