Today, our first stop is the beautiful Church of St. Anne (Mother of Jesus – Mary’s mother’s residence), right next to the Pool of Bethesda.
This lovely place of worship is the best-preserved Crusader church in Jerusalem. It marks the traditional site of the home of Jesus’ maternal grandparents, Anne and Joachim, and the birthplace of the Virgin Mary.
Next, we walked by the Roman Road, it was here Jesus was led to the prison cell, or the Sacred Pit, below Caiaphas’ Residence.
Below the ground in his home, Caiaphas kept a private prison or The Sacred Pit. Jesus was dropped through the hole in the top of the pit.
The only way the prisoner could get in or out of the pit was by the hole at the top. A rope would be lowered for him to hang onto when it was time to be brought up for questioning, torture or crucifixion. Above him, there is a balcony-type setting, where Jesus was questioned and tortured.
I love this version of Isaiah 53 from Biblegateway.com:
Isaiah 53 New International Version (NIV)
1 Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
4 Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression[a] and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.[b]
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes[c] his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
11 After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life[d] and be satisfied[e];
by his knowledge[f] my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,[g]
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,[h]
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.
Don’t miss tomorrow! We will stop at the Garden Tomb.
Are you new here? You might want to subscribe to my email updates by inputting your email address in the box on the right sidebar, or follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
