A tale of two empty tombs
By Mike Haynes
We can’t be
together physically this Easter, the day Christians celebrate a Sunday 2,000
years ago when scripture tells us Jesus Christ rose from the dead after he was
crucified the previous Friday.
But
technology allows most of us to join virtually through live-streaming of church
services and in some cases, through online meetings of small groups where we
can see each other at home.
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A small portion of a long line of people is shown in January
2019
as they wait to enter the Edicule, a small building inside the
Church of
the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem which many
scholars believe covers Jesus
Christ’s tomb.
(Photo by Kathy Haynes)
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Kathy and I
and about 75 others, mostly from the Amarillo area, were blessed to have walked
on that land called holy just over a year ago, when airplanes still landed in
Tel Aviv, Israel, and tour buses still crisscrossed the busy streets of modern
Jerusalem.
Two
locations we visited were saved until near the end of our journey –
appropriately, because they are the two spots most directly linked to that
first Good Friday and first Easter.
West of where
the Jewish temple stood in Jesus’ time is the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
North of the Temple Mount is the Garden Tomb. Both are possible sites of the death,
burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Before our
trip last year, local Bible teacher Jim McKee told us that biblical sites in
Israel can be either “authentic” or “traditional.” For example, when we touched
the Western Wall, we knew our fingers were on stones that history and
archeology prove were part of the retaining wall of the temple when Jesus entered
it days before his crucifixion. It’s an authentic site.
On the
other hand, the Via Dolorosa, the Jerusalem streets where pilgrims retrace
Christ’s trek to the cross, is in the traditional category. So much of the
city’s layout has changed over the centuries, and the exact route involves so
much speculation, that it’s not likely that it follows Jesus’ footsteps, at
least not all the way.
Since 300
years after the astounding events, Christians have identified the Church of the
Holy Sepulcher as the authentic site of both Christ’s cross and his tomb.
Although within Jerusalem’s Old City today, it was just outside the western
city wall in Jesus’ time.
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Visitors from Amarillo approach the Garden Tomb in the heart
of Jerusalem
in January 2019. The location is one of two primary sites that scholars
believe could be where Jesus’ body was laid and where he rose
from the
dead on the first Easter. (Photo by Mike Haynes)
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In the
100s, Roman emperor Hadrian had a pagan temple built on the site, presumably to
cover up the place where Christians had been coming to commemorate Christ’s
death and resurrection. In 326, Christian emperor Constantine’s mother, Helena,
visited Jerusalem and concluded the location was authentic. According to Dr.
Donald Brake’s book, “Jesus: A Visual History,” Constantine ordered a rotunda
built around Jesus’ tomb and a basilica constructed between the rotunda and the
place of crucifixion. Brake wrote, “It appears likely that Constantine built the
rotunda on the exact spot of the tomb.”
After the
Crusaders took Jerusalem from the Muslims in 1099, they built a huge church
that enclosed the entire area of Christ’s death and burial. It’s the Church of
the Holy Sepulcher. Within it is an ornate structure, the Edicule, that is
believed to cover the exact spot of Jesus’ tomb, although the original tomb was
destroyed in the early 1000s.
Now, the
church’s interior is filled with candelabra, crucifixes and hundreds of decorations.
Tourists and pilgrims form long lines to enter the Edicule and get close to the
tomb site. Although visitors are reverent, the atmosphere is crowded and busy.
Brake wrote, “It no longer (has) the appearance of a peaceful garden or the
eerie feel of a cemetery. It now contain(s) all the religious trappings many
today find objectionable.”
We felt the
opposite ambiance at the Garden Tomb, less than a mile’s walk north of the
Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Surrounded by a modern stone fence, with
traffic-filled streets on the outside, the Garden Tomb looks like what you
would expect from reading the Bible accounts.
Walking through a lush garden, we
came upon a rock wall with a rectangular door cut into it. Our group of about
30 quietly took turns entering the small tomb that had benches hewn into the
stone. While in the garden, group leaders Tony Clayton and Dane Williams led us
in communion.
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A corner of the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem is shown during a
January 2019
visit by travelers from Amarillo. The Garden Tomb location is one
of two
primary sites that scholars believe could be where Jesus’ body was laid
and where he rose from the dead. (Photo by Mike Haynes)
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British General Charles Gordon
popularized the Garden Tomb as the authentic site in 1883. Near the tomb, a
rock cliff includes two holes that resemble the eyes of a skull with the bridge
of a nose between them, and the Bible describes the crucifixion place as
Golgotha, or “Place of the Skull.” Archeologists have determined that the
ancient tomb is from Old Testament times, however, which doesn’t fit the New
Testament’s description of it as a new tomb.
The Garden Tomb is a wonderful, quiet
place amid a bustling city to pray and to picture the scene when Mary
Magdalene, Salome and Joanna came upon two men in white and one told them, “Do
not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He
is not here; he has risen, just as he said.” (Matt. 28:5-6)
Based on
evidence, I tend to think the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is where the
greatest event in history happened. But it doesn’t matter which tomb it was. As
our friend Mark said the other day, they’re both empty.
