(Sergio) 2,000 years ago, Jesus of Nazareth was captured
and taken from the Garden of Gethsemane
to be judged and crucified.
The route that Jesus took to His crucifixion
is known as the Via Dolorosa,
Latin for "way of suffering."
♪ (music) ♪
So, what was the actual route that Jesus took?
Today, the Old City of Jerusalem
has a designated street called Via Dolorosa,
which, according to tradition,
is the same route that Jesus would have taken
while carrying the cross onto His crucifixion.
But, here is the problem.
After the first century,
Jerusalem had been destroyed and rebuilt many times,
and what that caused is the level of the streets to go up.
The rubble and the ruins would stay on the bottom
and a new street would be built on top of that,
and then again destroyed, then again on top and on top.
So, the stones of the Via Dolorosa,
of the modern street we have today,
that millions of pilgrims walk on every year,
actually dates back to the Middle Ages
and not the time of Jesus.
So, where is the original street that Jesus would have walked on?
Where are the stones that would have witnessed
the most famous and significant event in human history?
In this video, we descend underground
and explore the excavated ruins
beneath the street of Via Dolorosa.
(Daryl) It's amazing here because we're seeing something
that not everybody has seen.
You know, I've watched just about everything
that there is to watch about Jerusalem.
I don't know what else I could watch or read about this city,
and I've never heard about this place.
(Sergio) Could this be the original pavement
that Jesus had walked on?
Join us today as we embark on a very unique adventure.
So, there are two acceptable theories
about the route that Jesus would have taken
before crucifixion.
The first theory is the traditional route
through the Lions' Gate and goes along the Via Dolorosa street.
Its origins date back to the Byzantine pilgrims
that chose this route over a thousand years ago
as the official processional route.
The second theory is based on recent archaeological findings
that suggest Jesus would have walked on the other side of the city
at the Jaffa Gate.
This is a very intriguing theory
and requires more in-depth research.
We're gonna pin it down and get back to it in another episode.
For now, we're gonna focus on the traditional route
for two main reasons.
Number one, the Byzantine pilgrims who lived here
much closer to the time the events took place
wrote about this being the route that Jesus took.
And, up until the 13th century,
they wrote that they could still see the original places
which were preserved in a much better shape
than they are today.
Number two, we found out that in the 1930s,
a French archaeologist, Louis-Hugues Vincent,
excavated what he believed to be a portion of the Antonia Fortress
and, possibly, even the pavement where Jesus was judged by Pilate
before His crucifixion.
We actually found out that this excavation site
is accessible for visitors,
but it can be tricky to find it.
We've heard that there is a door but no signs.
You have to go through a convent deep underground.
So, we're excited to go to Jerusalem
and see if we can find this place.
Joining us on this adventure
is a pastor, a songwriter,
and a friend, Daryl Petree.
- Welcome to Jerusalem. - Thank you very much.
It's beautiful here.
(Sergio) When we are in Jerusalem,
we cannot pass the opportunity
to taste the Jerusalem cakes with hyssop.
(non-English conversation)
These are Jerusalem cakes, even though it's bread,
but they are called cakes.
And then you've got hyssop, the biblical hyssop.
- So this is hyssop? - Yeah.
- I've never seen it. - It's ground, dried and ground.
So, what you do,
you take a piece off, as big as you want it.
You dip in there or you can make an incision in it and dip it in there,
and then you eat it, and that's it.
It smells good.
- (Daryl) It's so good. - (Rhoda) A huge piece.
(Daryl) It tastes like bread, amazing bread, with hyssop.
(laughter)
- (Rhoda) You got that. - (Daryl) I've never had hyssop before.
This is awesome.
(Sergio) And since we are here in the fall,
it also happens to be the season
for fresh, raw almonds,
which you can buy at the Lions' Gate
before entering the Via Dolorosa street.
(speaking Arabic) Thank you very much.
OK, so this is an almond.
- I've never seen an almond in its coat. - It's velvety on the outside.
So, we actually eat both parts.
We crack it open, and this is the almond...
- before it's roasted, - (Daryl) Wow.
so you eat that.
And then you eat that,
or you could just eat it like that.
- What do you think?
It tastes very different.
I love the flavor.
- There's nothing like it.
I'm 48 years old.
I've never eaten an almond in its skin.
(laughter)
(Rhoda) That's awesome.
♪ (music) ♪
It's coming up. It's just a few feet away.
I've waited all of my life to see the Via Dolorosa.
(Sergio) We have actually been here before,
in the Via Dolorosa street, a year ago,
and we filmed an episode about it.
At that time,
even though we were not walking on the exact same stones
that Jesus would have walked on,
we knew that we were close.
But this time, we heard about a place
where you can go underground,
beneath the street of Via Dolorosa,
and see the original pavement.
To enter this place,
one must go through the Convent of the Sisters of Zion,
which is located about 1,000 feet from the Lions' Gate.
And, even though the door does not have any signs,
we found out that the best way to identify its entrance
is to look for the famous arch,
which, at first, was believed to be the very arch
under which Jesus stood when He was sentenced by Pilate.
And, right under the arch there will be a door
that takes you underground beneath the street of Via Dolorosa.
(Rhoda) Wow!
- (Sergio) Is this it? - (Rhoda) This is it, yeah.
It has to be.
Look how much lower.
- No way! - (Sergio) Yes. Look, ancient...
Look at these. These are ancient walls.
(Rhoda) Oh my goodness.
It does have mold on it.
(Sergio) Look how much deeper they go. Do you see where this city ended?
- This is the city wall. - (Rhoda) That's the street.
It is... breathtaking.
I can't believe we get to see the original walls
of the city and the street.
So, this place was excavated in the 1930s
by a very credible French archaeologist, Louis-Hugues Vincent.
And he is someone who has done
a lot of groundbreaking archaeological work in Jerusalem.
Above us is the New Jerusalem where we just walked.
This is the medieval-time Jerusalem,
and below us is the Jesus-time Jerusalem,
the original streets of Via Dolorosa.
Vincent identified this site to be part of the Antonia Fortress.
But, more significantly,
he identified one section of it to be the Gabbatha...
the pavement where Jesus was judged by Pilate.
We're looking here.
This is directly under the modern Via Dolorosa street.
The modern Via Dolorosa street is above us.
However, in the 1960s,
a French Catholic priest, Pierre Benoit,
became involved in excavations in Jerusalem
implying that Vincent was wrong.
He proposed that this site
is not the pavement where Jesus was judged,
but it is a Hadrian forum from the 2nd century.
This is a very good example
of how the same site with the same artifacts
can be interpreted in very different ways.
Look over here.
(Rhoda) Where?
The inscription?
(Sergio) Look at the inscription. This is a game inscription.
A game that the Roman soldiers used to play.
So, where do we go from here?
Frankly, it is not so easy.
It seems that even the scholars are divided on this matter.
Some institutions, like the Oxford University,
have accepted Pierre's theory that this is not from the time of Jesus
but from the 2nd century.
While others, like Zondervan Bible Dictionary,
still accept the original findings as legitimate,
making this site to be the best candidate for the Gabbatha...
the pavement where Jesus was judged.
So, this would be from Mark 15:16-20.
It says: "Then the soldiers led Him-- Jesus-- away
into the hall called Praetorium,
and they called together the whole garrison.
And they clothed Him with purple;
and they twisted a crown of thorns,
put it on His head, and began to salute Him,
'Hail, King of the Jews!'
Then they struck Him on the head with a reed
and spat on Him;
and bowing the knee, they worshipped Him.
And when they had mocked Him, they took the purple off Him,
put His own clothes on Him,
and led Him out to crucify Him."
♪ (Daryl Petree, "Let His Love Come Rushing In") ♪
♪
(Sergio) In the end, we know that the true location of these events
took place here in Jerusalem.
It could be in this site or on the other side of the city.
♪ With our kind word that's fitly spoken ♪
(Daryl) A lot of people don't realize
the significance of the Lord's ministry.
You know, they get this idea that He was very unpopular.
Mm.
Nobody cared
when He walked through these streets.
♪
(Sergio) And as intriguing as it can be to find the exact location...
not knowing it does not take away from the fact
that these events really happened.
He is real.
He really walked down the Via Dolorosa and shed His blood on that street.
He really died on the Cross of Calvary.
He really rose again in power and great glory,
and He is really coming back again,
and He loves us.
♪
Everybody has faith.
There's over 4,000 religions in the world.
You can follow after religious teachings.
You can become a religious person and be reformed.
But, you know, it's...
you've just turned over a new leaf.
You might be a better person, or you might make better decisions.
You might have deeper resolves to do good things.
That's reformation.
What Jesus does, what the blood of Jesus does
is literally transforms an individual.
- (Sergio) A new creation. - (Daryl) A brand new creation.
And that's the power of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the power of the blood that was shed on the streets
of the Via Dolorosa.
♪
And this is why
we have to share the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And this is why it's so important for people to hear the gospel.
Because...
salvation helps an individual
properly place their faith.
Faith is sort of like a fuse.
- I don't know if that makes any sense. - Yeah.
Faith is sort of like a fuse.
When you put the right fuse in the right place...
Pow! You have light.
Electricity.
If you put your faith in Muhammad,
all you have is religion.
Put your faith in Buddha,
all you have is religion.
Put your faith in Jesus:
Pow!
You become light of the world. You do.
♪
Hi, everyone. Thank you so much for watching this video.
And we also want to thank Daryl Petree
for letting us use his original songs.
♪
(Sergio) If you want to hear the full version of it,
check out his YouTube channel linked in the description of this video below.
You'll find there a lot of his other original music
and also the full version of this song with its lyrics.
And, until next time, may God bless you.
♪