If Stones Could Talk

To look at the Old City from afar, except for the Dome of the Rock, it might appear to be just a city of ruins. That was what I pictured but as I passed through the Jaffa gate into the city for the first time, there was much more there than I ever imagined. It was early in the morning the first day we began to explore inside the city. What first caught my eye were the carts of fresh baked breads that were being hurried through the streets to their destinations.  This was a bustling city of restaurants, shops, bakeries, historical sites and the suk. Suk is the term used to describe the maze of alley like streets that take you throughout the city and are filled with vendors selling everything from fabrics, clothing, jewelry, meat, baked goods and your typical souvenir trinkets. Women could even be found sitting on the streets of the suk selling fresh vegetables. Part of the fun or frustration of buying anything in the suk was having to bargain with the vendors. Most of the time none of the items you saw would be marked with a price. The most important rule to remember was never pay the price they quote you. This could be fun but might take awhile. I would often say to Rob, “I’m just not in the mood to bargain today.” I remember haggling with a particular gentleman over a piece of jewelry. We went round and round. After we finally came to an agreed upon price, the man turned to Rob as he pointed to me and said, “She is a nice lady but she is a hard woman.” Rob much too quickly responded, “You ought to live with her!” (wink, wink) We were done shopping for the day.

The streets of the suk are paved with large, smooth stones worn shiny with age. Many of them are thought to be as old as the first century. I found myself on several occasions almost left behind as Neal, Ruby, Rob and I made our way through these streets to various places. I was so easily distracted by these beautiful stones and the history they represented. If stones could talk, I was sure they would tell of Mary or Martha (probably busy Martha) traveling the same streets to go to market to buy spices or grains.

The disciples’ dusty feet may have walked over these stones on their way to the upper room where Jesus exemplified the importance of selfless service by washing the disciples’ dusty, dirty feet. Jesus himself was certain to have walked these stones, helping to wear their rough surfaces down to the beautiful sheen that I now had to be so careful not to slip on.

These stone paved streets seemed to magically transport us back in time. Our winding, twisting and turning through streets that sometimes made me feel almost dizzy, inevitably lead us to a significant part of history that took place almost 2,000 years ago….part of Nehemiah’s wall, the place where Peter may have denied Christ, The Church of the Holy Sepluchre, the pools at Bethesda where a crippled man was healed by Jesus (John 5), the southern steps of the old city where Peter may have preached to thousands at Pentecost. Who would ever imagine that a path of old stones could take a person to such places? I had never imagined it before, but was beginning to now.