Church of the...

Apparently a long time ago when Constantine was the Roman emperor, he became a Christian and wanted to honor Jesus by immortalizing all the major sites associated with Jesus. So he sent his mother all over Israel to find all the places that Jesus was at. She proceeded to dump lots of money on each place and voila... a church building was born! Numerous denominations built altars to honor Christ - Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Armenian Christians all vying for a part to honor Christ.

Thus we visited a lot of churches. From the previous post:
Church of Jacob's Well which is part of an Eastern Orthodox monastery;
Church of All Nations which is Roman Catholic; and
Chapel of Ascension which was used both by Christians as well as Muslims

This is the Church of Annunciation...

This church is built over a grotto believed to be where Mary lived, and where the angel Gabriel told her that she will conceive and give birth to a son, Jesus (Luke 1). The courtyard is filled with mosaics of Mary, each one from a different country.

Church of the Pater Noster (Our Father Church)...

The Lord's Prayer in Chinese. It's displayed in different languages throughout the church.

This church was built where Jesus taught The Lord's Prayer to his disciples (Matthew 6). We sang "The Lord's Prayer" in the crypt.

Church of the Nativity...

It was under restoration.

This church in Bethlehem is built over the cave where Jesus was born. 

The star represents the actual spot where Jesus was born; in other words, where Mary laid to give birth.

Hannah is next to where the manager was. We sang "Away in a Manger."

Joseph and Mary traveled 90 miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem, which probably took 10-15 days by caravan. Shepherds used caves to shelter their animals. Joseph and Mary stayed in a cave, where Jesus was born. (Luke 2)

Shepherds Fields
These are the fields of Boaz, where Ruth worked (Ruth 1-4). When Jesus was born, angels announced it to the shepherds here (Luke 2). We sang "Angels We Have Heard on High" in one of the shepherd caves.

This is a cave chapel

I learned that shepherds may not have been out in the fields when the angels spoke to them, but instead were hunkered in  a cave (like the picture above). Shepherds move their sheep into caves in the evening to protect them from the weather and unwanted predators.

Church of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, built next to Lazurus' tomb.

Entrance to the Tomb

Again the low doorway

We had to go very deep underground.

Through the centuries, structures were built on top of each other. In order to get to the period of Jesus' time, we had to go pretty deep, down on stairs, stones, through tunnels and darkness. Not a good place for anyone that is claustrophobic.

Sliding into the crawl space of the tomb

 Church of St Peter...
This church is built on the site of the High Priest Caiaphas' home, where Jesus was taken on the night of his betrayal, and where Peter denies knowing Jesus (Mark 14). 

Below the church is a cistern where Jesus may have been imprisoned before taken to Pontius Pilate the next day.

The fresca depicting how Jesus was lowered into his 'cell' or sacred pit.

Details about the sacred pit that Jesus was held in.

The hole was small and left no room for escape.

The pit probably didn't have lighting back in those days so it was cold and isolating. I can imagine Jesus contemplating his  upcoming death at this time.

Jesus likely walked on these stone steps leading to the Kidron Valley, as they are from the same time period.

Very humbling to see the actual steps Jesus may have walked on when he was taken before the high priest.

NEXT UP: How Dead Is It?