Bethany beyond the Jordan
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| The bedouin tent in which I slept in Wadi Rum last night. |
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| In 2008 when I was here, just as we departed Jesus' baptism site, the sky parted and we saw this. I could easily imagine the Father giving His approval to the Son as the Spirit descended. |
Dawn broke around 6:30 AM, and we began the day with a Jeep ride out of Wadi Rum followed by a four-hour drive to Bethany beyond the Jordan. This site is rich with history. It's the wilderness where Elijah ate locusts and was taken up, where the people went to meet John the Baptist, and where Jesus was baptized. When our team arrived at Jesus's baptismal site in 2008, Eng. Rustom Mkhjian, assistant commission director at the site, spontaneously offered to hop on the bus with us and give us a personal tour. A native Jordanian and an Armenian Christian, his passion for his subject was contagious. Using the Bible, info from an old pilgrimage route, statements from pilgrims though the centuries, the ancient mosaic of the Holy Land with this site marked as the place, and archeological discoveries on the site itself, he let us decide for ourselves if the evidence suggested this was the place.
Eleven land mines had to be removed to excavate and allow tourists here, which kept archeologists from working. This time we got more time with Eng. Mkhjian, and his passion was still obvious.
We proceeded to our nearby hotel on the Dead Sea, all of us in need of rest, writing time, and some solitude. Eng. Rustom raised a question for us to consider: Why would the Father, Son, and Spirit be manifest on earth at its lowest spot? Might it have a connection to why Jesus was born in a cave?
Disclosure: The Jordan Tourism Board is covering most of the expenses for this trip, though it exercises no influence over what we say or write about it.