Golgotha and the Garden Tomb

"At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there." (John 19:41-42)

Background...

There are two places associated with Calvary in Jerusalem today. The traditional site has been venerated since before Hadrian (117-138) built a pagan shrine to Venus over the tomb and a statue to Jupiter on Golgotha to eliminate the Christian churches. In 326 Queen Helena, the mother of the emperor Constantine was shown the site by Bishop Macarius, and had the pagan temple demolished.


In its place she built the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to encompass both the site of Calvary and the tomb of Jesus.
The other location, north of the Damascus Gate, has been venerated since 1885 when the rather eccentric General Charles Gordon popularised the notion that a rocky hill at the back of a disused quarry appeared to match the skull like description of Calvary. One of its names Betha-Sekilah means 'Place of Stoning'. Its proximity to a tomb discovered in 1849 seemed to corroborate this assertion. The tomb itself may date from the time of Herod Agrippa (A.D. 37-44), although the doorway and windows appear to be Byzantine or later. Gordon disputed the authenticity of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre because it lie within the walls of Jerusalem. Jews would not bury their dead within a populated area because tombs were regarded as unclean. What Gordon did not appreciate, however, was that the Ottoman walls of the 16th Century were built further north than those of the 1st Century Roman Jerusalem so later encompassing the area around the Church of the Holy


Sepulchre. (On the floor just inside the entrance is this pink stone of Unction, where it is said, the body of Jesus was cleansed and prepared for burial)
Evangelical tastes also came to prefer the simplicity of the Garden Tomb to the ornate and complex oriental religious shrines within the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.


Scriptures give us some clues as to the location of Calvary. Matthew, Luke and John specifically mention that this was a new tomb in which no one had yet been buried, one that was sealed with a rolling stone (Matthew 27:59-60; Luke 23:50-53; John 19:41). John and the writer of Hebrews emphasise that Jesus was crucified outside the city walls (John 19:20; Hebrews 13:12) while John specifically mentions that the tomb was within a garden (John 19:41). Matthew adds that Jesus was buried in a tomb belonging to Joseph of Arimathea, a wealthy member of the Sanhedrin who had not consented to the execution of Jesus but was himself a secret disciple (Matthew 27:57-60).
The place where Christ was crucified is called Golgotha in the Gospels. This is the transliteration of an Aramaic word meaning "the place of the skull" (Mark 15:22). The word is also used twice in the Old Testament literally of the skulls of Abimelech and Jezebel (Judges 9:53; 2 Kings 9:35). Our English word "Calvary" means the same thing and comes from the Latin "calvaria". It is probable that the location was given this name because it was a place of execution and a skull symbolised death.
In ancient Palestine, caves were commonly used as graves or tombs. Over several generations, members of the same family would share a cave to bury their deceased. The word "sepulchre" is translated from the Hebrew and refers to a niche that was carved out of the side of the cave in which the body of a deceased person would be placed (Genesis 23:6). When only the bones remained they would be gathered and placed at the back of the cave, sometimes in a sarcophagus. Jewish tombs had small niches carved out of the walls in which bodies were placed. 1st Century examples of these can still be seen at the back of the Syrian chapel within the Church of the Resurrection, ironically named the Tomb of Joseph of Arimathea.

Faith Lesson...

The most significant fact about the tomb of Jesus, however, is not its exact geographical location. What matters is that it empty! "He is not here He is risen" (Luke 24:6). Only after they had encountered the risen Lord did the disciples begin to comprehend his incredible promise, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die." (John 11:25-26). At Golgotha heaven and earth unite, where time and eternity meet. The place uniquely demonstrates to us the extent of God's unconditional love, the cost of achieving forgiveness for our sin, and proclaims the assurance of life everlasting. Have you acknowledged that Jesus died in your place in order that you may share his risen life? (1 Peter 3:18; Romans 5:8).


- Posted from my iPad

Location:ג'ורג' וושינגטון,Jerusalem,Israel