Arizona Wildcats among pilgrims to Church of Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem's Old City on Day 3 of Mideast Tour

JERUSALEM – Never before venturing outside of the United States to explore other cultures, Arizona forward Keshad Johnson is making up for it now.

Arizona’s initial exhibition tour swing through the Holy Land has made sure of that.

On Saturday alone, while the Wildcats toured Jerusalem’s Old City, Johnson was exposed to the history of Christians, Muslims, Jews and other religions, of people from centuries and centuries ago who built and tore down and reconstructed churches, monuments, mosques and other buildings, all on the same sites.

Johnson and the Wildcats saw the diversity in today’s Jerusalem, too. Visitors, wearing everything from the suits and hats of Orthodox Jews to the T-shirts and shorts of secular tourists, lined up to pray along the Western Wall or various sacred spots inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, on the site many believe that Jesus was nailed to the cross, died and was born again.

“I’m a Christian and seeing all these religious places that date back to the early Bible stage has been eye-opening,” Johnson said. “A lot of the stuff you learn growing up is all about faith, but once we’re actually here in the presence of all these places, it’s more facts.”

Even as temperatures soared into the 90s outside Saturday, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was mobbed, with pilgrims lining up at each holy spot to pray.

Some of the Wildcats stopped for prayer, too, and some visited the cave. All left with a potentionally powerful memory.

UA trainer Justin Kokoskie even called it “life-changing,” while Johnson described a significant impact.

“Seeing where Jesus was born, where he was crucified, it’s just crazy,” Johnson said. “It’s something that brings all cultures and races together.”

Still, each can have their own interpretation of things. The Wildcats’ tour guide, Shai Zalait, argued that point early in his interpretation of the Old City, when discussing the conflicts of Romans, Jews, Muslims and the others who lived on the site.

“The one who gets to write the history is the winner,” Zalait told them. “That’s how it works.”

The exact location of some events also may not be clear. Upon arrival on Thursday, the Wildcats were told there are different opinions today about where the City of David actually is. On Friday in Bethlehem, Zalait pointed the Wildcats toward a place where Jesus was said to have been crucified but noted that it had been built over, to what today is a church.

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Then on Saturday, at the Church of the Holy Sepulcre, wedged against the Muslim and Christian quarters of the Old City, there were areas Jesus was said to have been crucified. One where he was laid down after dying. And a cave where he was said to have been resurrected. But all of that was said to be built over.

After seeking out some additional interpretation, Johnson understood why.

“I didn’t have too much cultural knowledge about it so I’ve talked to a guy that’s native to here,” Johnson said. “He was pretty much saying there’s been so many ups and downs, with all the buildings being built up and broken down, built up and broken down.

“That’s just the result of how many people, how many different nations, have been in power here, like the Romans, and so on. Everything has been switching up constantly throughout the years.”

While Zalait said he was also a DJ, part of his livelihood is explaining the how and why and when of Jerusalem’s fascinatingly diverse history.

It’s not an easy job.

“Don’t try to make sense of it,” he said during his history talks. “That’s just the way it is.”

Exclusive coverage of UA hoops Mideast Tour — only in the Star and at Tucson.com/Pascoe