Weeve Ministry

Last public ministry in Jerusalem

Holy Week from Bethany to Gethsemane

Mark 11:1 to 14:42; John 12 to 17 · 11 stops · 16 readings

Six days walked over and over between Bethany and the Temple, ending in an upper room, across the Kidron, and in an olive grove.

The geography of the last week is tiny and repetitive: Bethany to the Temple and back, about two miles each way over the shoulder of the Mount of Olives, walked daily. It begins with an arrival at Bethany six days before Passover and the entry into the city from the Mount of Olives, met by crowds with palm branches. The next morning a fig tree in leaf but without fruit is cursed on the way in, and the Temple is cleared of its traders for the second time. By the following day the tree has withered, and the Sanhedrin meet Jesus in the courts to demand by what authority he acts. Those Temple days are dense with argument and parable, and they end with the denunciation of the scribes and Pharisees, the widow whose two small coins he notices, and the long discourse on the Mount of Olives about the destruction of the Temple and the end of the age. The last day and a half are quieter and more private. At a supper in Bethany, Mary pours out costly ointment and Jesus calls it preparation for his burial, and Judas goes to the chief priests to settle a price. In a borrowed upper room the Passover meal becomes the bread and the cup, the farewell discourse is spoken, and the group goes out singing, down across the Kidron valley to an olive grove where Jesus prays alone while the others sleep.

Walk it on the map

The stops

  1. Bethany near Jerusalem

    High confidenceAl-Eizariya · West Bank

  2. Mount of Olives

    High confidenceMount of Olives ridge · Jerusalem

  3. Jerusalem Temple

    High confidenceTemple Mount platform · Jerusalem area

  4. Bethphage

    ProbableBethphage traditional village site · Mount of Olives, Jerusalem

  5. Jerusalem Temple

    High confidenceTemple Mount platform · Jerusalem area

  6. Mount of Olives

    High confidenceMount of Olives ridge · Jerusalem

  7. Bethany near Jerusalem

    High confidenceAl-Eizariya · West Bank

  8. Jerusalem

    High confidenceJerusalem settlement centroid · Jerusalem area

  9. Upper room in Jerusalem

    DebatedCenacle traditional site · Jerusalem

  10. Kidron Valley crossing

    High confidenceKidron Valley representative point · Jerusalem

  11. Gethsemane

    ProbableTraditional Garden of Gethsemane · Jerusalem

The line drawn on the map connects these stops in narrative order. It is schematic: it does not claim to trace the exact road between them, and each place carries its own confidence rating.

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