THOUSANDS CELEBRATE THE EPIPHANY AT WHAT MANY NOW BELIEVE TO BE THE BAPTISM SITE OF JESUS

Journal Chretien, France
Jan 15 2007

It is in a barren former minefield, close to the Dead Sea in Jordan

It was once a minefield and in the summer months, it’s hot, humid and
covered with scrub, but the significance of this unlikely place close
to the Dead Sea in Jordan may be the greatest discovery for Christians
in the Middle East for many centuries. The startling discovery is at
Bethany-Beyond-the-Jordan where many believe that John the Baptist
baptized Jesus and so began His earthly ministry that took him to the
cross and then the resurrection, and birthed the largest religion in
the world.

More and more Christians are now visiting the site and on Friday,
January 12, some 7,000 Christian pilgrims – Orthodox, Protestants
and Catholics – joined in much cooler weather to celebrate at the
site and mark the feast of Epiphany and the Annual Day of Pilgrimage.

Part of the crowd that attended the celebration Latin Patriarch of
Jerusalem Michel Sabbah, who conducted a mass at the site, made
remarks in which he highlighted the importance of this occasion,
adding, "Christians meet at this site each year, where John the
Baptist baptized Jesus Christ."

He expressed thanks and appreciation for His Majesty the King, The
King’s Special Advisor HRH Prince Ghazi Bin Mohammad and the Jordanian
government for the attention and care given to this place to enable
Christians from Jordan and the world to come to the site and perform
their prayers.

"We pray for all peoples and for all issues, at top of which is the
Palestinian issue, and we hope that peace will prevail in the holy
city of Jerusalem," he added. "We also pray for all Middle East and
world issues and we hope leaders around the world would work to avert
wars and destruction.

Latin patriarch in Jordan, Saleem Sabbagh, also made remarks in which
he said this occasion reflects the true image of coexistence between
Muslims and Christians, and the attention given by Christians to
their holy sites.

Charge d’affaires of the Vatican in Amman, Reverend Monsignor Luka for
his part, called on all Christians in the world to visit this site,
for it is the "most sacred site for Christians in Jordan."

Fr. Ashraf Al Nimri of the Latin Church of Jordan said later, "God
gave our country a gift which is the baptism site, where Jesus was
baptized. Every year the people go there like a pilgrimage, and this
pilgrimage has two meanings for us : The first is religious, to pray to
renew our faith and receive a blessing by visiting this holy place. The
second meaning is that it is a feast for all Jordanians – the place is
in Jordan, and all Jordanian people are blessed by this celebration."

On the 19th of this month, the Greek Orthodox will be celebrating
the same event at the site.

Background on the site

Last year, along with a small group, I was shown around the site by
Rustom Mkhjian, an Armenian Christian who is the deputy director of
the site and possibly the greatest expert on it. As we stood just
across the Jordan River from Israel, this enthusiastic champion of
the site explained about how it was discovered and its significance,
especially for Christians.

"I’ve been working here for around ten years and we began to uncover
the site after Jordan signed the peace treaty with Israel in 1994,"
he began. "This area was cleared of landmines and prepared for us to
come investigate and look for archeological sites because, we heard
from a lot of experts, plus saw from our documents that this was
a holy site. Even the local community, the people living round us,
called this site ‘Elijah’s Hill,’ for it was believed to be the place
where Elijah ascended into heaven."

I then asked Mkhjian how could he know that this spot was the actual
baptism site for Jesus Christ ?

He replied, "When we started our studies, our first reference was
John 1:28, where it says that Jesus came to Bethany-Beyond-the-Jordan
where John was baptizing. Now, as experts in archeology, we generally
have to have our sources. Here, let me refer to something that Jesus
himself said, ‘Build your house on a rock.’ We in Jordan, the local
group that have worked here, are dependent on four issues to show
that this is the site where so many biblical events took place.

"Not only the baptism of Christ – that was the most important,
of course – but so many important events took place. So these four
foundations are the Gospels, and then the pilgrim’s occurrences,
because this site was on the pilgrimage route between Jerusalem and
Bethlehem and up to Mount Nebo where Moses died. The archeological
discoveries that go along with the description of the pilgrims was
the exciting part actually ; and according to what we have in the
Gospels : and the fourth issue is what we have depicted in the Mosaic
map of the Holy Land that was prepared in 562 AD. So that was a very
good reference to us on which so many things were depicted that we
can talk about later.

"But let me briefly talk about what we have in the Gospels actually.

When Moses died Joshua took over as we know. In Joshua chapters one to
five we have the story of Joshua crossing the Jordan towards Jericho
city with the twelve tribes of Israel, of course, turning around the
walls of Jericho city ; blowing the horn and having it come down. So,
that’s the first instance where the Jordan River was crossed by the
prophet, head of a community, from the east to the west. "As we said
earlier in II Kings, chapter two, we read about Elijah and Elisha
coming from Jericho. Elijah’s mantle touches the Jordan River, it
splits and they walk on dry ground toward the east.

Eventually, Elijah ascends to the heaven. Elisha takes his mantle
and goes back to Jericho again.

"Between the Old and the New Testament is John, or as we know him –
John the Baptizer, who was called John the Baptist. That’s an important
issue because Luke 1:17 says that John came in the spirit and strength
of Elijah. That’s actually the first reason why he came to dwell and
prepare the way for the Lord at the place from where Elijah ascended
to heaven.

"As we know, the second reason was water, because John was
clear when he said, ‘I’ll baptize with water, but the one coming
after me will baptize in the Holy Spirit.’ This all happened in
Bethany-Beyond-the-Jordan where John was baptizing. Now, this is in
brief what we have in the Gospels. But if you want to end the story
of John the Baptist we know Matthew 14 tells us about Herod Antipas,
who married his brother’s wife, Herodias. When Salome, her daughter,
danced in an area so close to here, she asked for the head of John
the Baptist. That’s where John the Baptist was beheaded – about forty
kilometers from here, southeast of the castle."

When asked if tourists, particularly Christian pilgrims, were
welcome at the site, he replied, "Definitely sir, this site is open
to everybody. Let us remember our late majesty, King Hussein, who
had a famous statement about heritage. He said, ‘Heritage belongs to
humanity.’ This site belongs to you, me, everybody. Our duty in Jordan
is to take good care of it depending on the international charters
regarding heritage and their well being and eventually opening it to
everybody ; because everybody deserves to see this site."

It seems that many leaders from around the world are beginning to
recognize this site as the place where Jesus Christ was baptized.

Among those who have already visited it include : Pope John Paul II ;
Pope Shenouda III, head of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Egypt ; even
Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne ; and Prime Minister,
Tony Blair, who according to my guide, had one of his children baptized
in a font at the site by the Jordan River.

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