It’s not the place that is important. What’s important is the event.
This Easter has been very different. Over the years, I have always looked forward to putting on my “Easter dress” and going to church to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. After church, I have always gotten together for brunch with my parents, my siblings and our families. That is the way it has been since the year I was born—put on my Easter dress, go to church, get together with my family.
This year was different. I didn’t put on an Easter dress. I didn’t go to a church building. I didn’t gather with my family for brunch.
It was very strange for all the churches to be closed due to the Covid-19 “quarantine.” However, Christians all around the world were able to celebrate together live via online services. My family sang along, listened to the message, visited via online chatting and even had oyster crackers and grape juice for communion.
The quarantine also kept our extended family from gathering under one roof for our annual Easter brunch, but we were all able to see each other and visit through an online session using Zoom. All twenty-two of us plus two dogs and a cat shared the screen talking, singing and laughing.
It’s not the place that is important. What’s important is the event. The first time I heard this phrase was in Israel.
One of the places that my husband and I visited on our recent trip to Israel was “The Garden Tomb.” The tomb which was actually found by accident, fits the description the Bible gives of the tomb where Jesus was buried. We know that Jesus was taken to Golgotha for his crucifixion. Mark 15:22-24 says, “They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. And they crucified him….” Just beside the site of this garden tomb we visited, is a rock face called Skull Hill (or Golgotha).
We also know that Jesus was buried in a garden tomb near the place of His crucifixion. “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). Not only is this tomb near Golgotha, there is a winepress near the tomb indicating a vineyard or garden.
The fact that there is a wine press nearby would also indicate that the owner was rich. Matthew writes, “As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away” (Matthew 27:57-59).
Matthew, Mark and Luke all tell us that there was a rolling stone that closed the opening of the tomb. The garden tomb that we visited has a shaft in place for a rolling stone. To the left of the opening of the tomb, we find a metal pin embedded into the rock which was used to seal the stone in place and keep it from rolling.
Though the Garden Tomb we visited has many similarities as the tomb described in the Bible, we cannot be certain that this tomb is the actual place where Jesus was laid after he died on the cross. But again, it’s not the place that is important. What’s important is the event and the fact that Jesus body is not there. He is risen! He is alive!
“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?’” ~John 11:25-26
What about you? Do you believe?
I believe! Thank you, Jesus, for dying in my place and rising from the dead so that I can have eternal life through you!
