26 March 2005
This afternoon we had the opportunity to go to Bethlehem which, like Jericho, is currently a Palestinian portion of the country. After passing the checkpoint through the wall we went shopping at a store owned by a Palestinian Christian, ate lunch and then went to the Church of the Nativity. Like many historical sites, it has a church built over it to "commemorate" the event but the effect is much less commemorative than it is annoying. The picture is of a portion of the cave where Jesus was likely born (or a cave much like it). The indentation in the wall, which is currently filled with the big candle display, was probably a carved-out feeding trough for the animals who lived there (and thus, Jesus' manger).
I have to confess that all the gaudiness of the location made it hard to imagine what the original might have been like. Nonetheless, being in Bethlehem in a cave that may have been Jesus' birth place was pretty amazing. I love that God became a man and dwellt among us.
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