ONDE JESUS FICOU PRESO? Especial de Páscoa Israel com Aline

Shalom and welcome back to ‘Israel with Aline!’ We continue in our mini-series of the last steps of Jesus in Jerusalem, today we will visit the place of the Last Supper and the garden of Gethsemane where Jesus will cry and then also the prison and the solitary confinement where Jesus will spend the night and where Peter will deny him three times until the rooster crowed, but was it really a rooster? New archaeological findings show a perhaps slightly different story, that the rooster was not really an animal. Today we are going to talk about all this and much more! So if you’re ready, let’s get started! Here on the channel we have started a special mini-series on Jesus’ last steps to celebrate the Easter here in Jerusalem, today is our second episode and I will link all the episodes here for you, and don’t forget to subscribe here on the channel so you don’t miss the next episodes. We are now on Mount Zion, a very important place biblically speaking and here many Biblical passages happened. But we have come for one passage in particular, the place of the Last Supper, also known as the Upper Room. We are now going to go up and see if this is really where the Last Supper happened and also why we are going up to the second floor, let’s go! We are going up to the second floor because it is written in the Bible that the Last Supper took place in the Upper Room, in the original Greek text it is written “Anagaion” which is the “upper room” that is, the second floor of a house. In a minute we will already enter the possible location of the Last Supper, but before that I want to tell you that the Last Supper happened almost two thousand years ago, here in the middle of the Middle East in Judea, nothing to do with that image we have in our heads from Leonardo Da Vinci’s painting, This is an image that was made centuries later, with the European way of thinking in mind. Today we are going to talk about the real Last Supper, how it happened, in its original languages, Hebrew and Aramaic. So let’s go in and learn a little bit more about the real Last Supper. Why does Jesus gather with his disciples? They come here to eat and celebrate the Jewish Passover, a tradition that exists until today where families and close friends gather for a big supper, where they remember the exit of the Jews from Egypt; they drink four glasses of wine or grape juice and eat matzo bread, which is unleavened bread. But Jesus knew that this was no longer a normal Passover meal, but that it was the last supper. And it is written in Luke 22: When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. And he said to them, I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.” After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying: This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” Luke 22: 14-19 He knew of the betrayal of Judas and so he begins to prepare his disciples for his departure, and teaches them the supper. Every time you eat the supper in your church, you are directly connected with the teachings that Jesus did in this place. And Jesus reveals to them the terrible events that were to come during the night. But he (Peter) replied, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.” Jesus answered, “I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.” Luke 22:33- 34 But now an archaeological question: is this really where the Last Supper and the conversation between Peter and Jesus took place? There are oral traditions that speak of this place as the site of the Last Supper, a long time ago. In the year 382 the Church of the Apostles was built here, and before that the place already functioned as a synagogue that was frequented by Jews and Jewish Christians. That means that already in the first centuries, this was a place where the followers of Jesus came to pray. But unfortunately the building was destroyed and rebuilt several times, so what we see here is mostly from the Crusader period. But some parts downstairs are still original from the Roman Period. After Jesus finishes the Last Supper, he takes three of his apostles and goes down to the Kidron Valley to a place called the Garden of Gethsemane. Among the trees in the Garden of Gethsemane is where Jesus came to pray, to spend his agony, and also to sweat blood. See how special this place is to be chosen by Jesus, of all the places he has in Jerusalem, he chose to come here! And we have here olive trees more than two thousand years old that are living witnesses of what happened in this place. And while Jesus was praying, Judas Iscariot arrives here and gives the kiss of betrayal and then Jesus is arrested and taken to the house of Caiaphas which is on Mount Zion and is where we are going now. See how incredible the door of this church, I’m going to close it so you can see better here we can see the representation of the passage that happened not here, but at the Last Supper that we just read. They are here having dinner, and meanwhile Jesus predicts Peter’s three denials, which is actually going to be fulfilled in this scene. Here folks is going to be one of the most difficult moments in Jesus’ life: his arrest and also the denial by his closest companion, Peter. Let’s go inside and learn more about this very difficult story. We are entering a very different place as you can see, this was a prison in Jesus’ time, we can even see some of the cells here. And on top are the holes where the ropes were tied to hold the people. There is one thing that doesn’t make much sense; why does the high priest, who is a religious leader have a prison next to his house? Why does he have soldiers at his disposal? It is a bit strange, but we have to remember that at this time in Jesus’ time, the Temple had been corrupted, by whom? By the Romans themselves. The Romans knew that in order to control Israel, they needed to control what was most important to the people of Israel, which is their Temple. So the Romans kill the high priest of Israel and begin to replace the high priest with priests who are friendly to Rome’s cause we can say, they put priests who are more concerned with the Romans and their money than with what is right in the eyes of the people of Israel and in the eyes of God. And Caiaphas was precisely a high priest who had been chosen by the Romans and so he has a prison here in his house. But he doesn’t put Jesus in a cell like the ones we have just seen, no. Jesus needed a prison separate from others, he puts Jesus in a kind of solitary confinement that we can see down here. And now together we go down to the prison where Jesus was laid. Guys, this place really has such a dark, strange feeling, I want to explain to you that this stairway that I’m coming down, it didn’t exist. In Jesus’ time this really was a hole that had no escape, no way out without someone throwing a rope or climbing down a ladder to this place. And you can understand a little of Jesus’ suffering here; first he was betrayed by Judas, one of the twelve apostles, that person who was so close to him, who accompanied him for practically three years, he goes and betrays him for thirty pieces of silver. And Peter, who was really his closest friend, is not going to betray him, but is going to deny him. And Jesus being in here, he knew what was happening outside, remember he had already predicted the denial and the betrayal at the last supper. So while he was in this place, in these cold walls, in such an isolated place he knew that outside Peter was denying him three times. But how can I say that this very prison was the prison that Jesus was put in? How do I know that this was the prison? Because of these archaeological remains, the archaeological remains of Caiaphas’ house, let’s take a closer look at them. First, this house is not a normal size, it is huge! And so it shows that whoever lived here was a rich and important person. It is dated from the time of the end of the Second Temple, that is, the time of Jesus’ time. But the most important thing is what was found inside the house; for example, these utensils that we are seeing now, Think about it folks, a stone cup like this is not at all practical to use there were much better things two thousand years ago, and the people who lived in this house used stone dishes not for practicality but for a religious reason, because according to Judaism, stone is always pure. And whoever is very concerned about being pure uses stone tools, in this case the priests of the Jerusalem Temple, they had to be pure. Even more so the high priest, because otherwise he could not go and do the work in the Temple. They also found inside the house a mikve, a ritual bath. The Jews went in the Mikve also before going up to the Temple in Jerusalem. And there are many Mikves here in Jerusalem that are public that anybody could go there and use but the person in this house made sure that he had a Mikve inside his house because he probably purified himself very often as a priest who needed to purify himself every day before going to the Temple. So probably this is really Caiaphas’ house because of the purification utensils and also because of the wealth. And even more than that, a Byzantine Church was built above the house. The Byzantine period is the first Christian period in Israel indicating that this was already a Christian place of worship since the 4th century. And look where we are, we are right next to the Temple in Jerusalem, which makes a lot of sense, counting that Caiaphas would probably like to live near his work. Guys, I just heard a rooster crowing here and I’m going to take this moment to talk to you about the issue of the rooster. There are two theories regarding the rooster. The first one I imagine you have all heard that the rooster was really an animal and that it crows three times. But we know that there were no roosters inside Jerusalem at the time of the Temple, why? Because animals are a dirty and unclean thing, we don’t want animal poop here in the place of holiness where people are pure going up to the Temple in Jerusalem. We are very close to it, you can see where the golden dome is this is where the Temple of Jerusalem was. So inside the walls it was forbidden to raise animals. Since we are not very far from where the walls were, it could be that Peter really hears a rooster crowing outside the walls as I also heard it just now. the second theory is that the rooster was not an animal but a man, a person, and we are going to know a little bit about this theory now. Two thousand years ago in the Temple of Jerusalem there was a Levite who was in charge of waking up the priests and warn of the beginning of the Temple services, how did he do this? He did this by blowing a trumpet and he was nicknamed the rooster. We know this also from Jewish oral tradition, which is called the Mishnah. And in archaeological excavations on the side of the Temple in Jerusalem, this stone was found, which was the upper end of the Temple, and with the passage of time it fell down, and on it is written in Hebrew: “L-beyt Ha-taqi’ah”, the place of the trumpet blowing. That means that exactly here is where this Levite played the trumpet. And now let’s read again the verse from Luke 22: 34 Jesus answered, “I tell you, Peter, before THE rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.” You see that Jesus does not say when a rooster crows, but he speaks about the crowing of the rooster. That is, he probably refers to a specific rooster. But now I ask you: do you think that the rooster that crowed was really an animal or that this passage is talking about the Levite who played the trumpet and was nicknamed the rooster? In fact everything that happens to Jesus here is very strong, these are very hard moments. And after spending the whole night in this prison, Jesus in the morning will be tied up and taken by the soldiers through this street to the central part of the Old City of Jerusalem where he will later be judged by Pontius Pilate but this is already part of our next chapter here in our mini-series following in the footsteps of Jesus. So don’t forget to subscribe here on the channel to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. And I wish you all a happy and blessed Easter and see you here next time!