Via Delorosa

I write about my last day in Jerusalem from home because there was no time to blog before I had to go to the airport. We spent most of the day visiting the famous places along the Via Delarosa - the "Road of Suffering". This is the traditional path that Jesus took on his last day; the day of his crucifixion. This day helped to deepen my understand of what Jesus experienced on his last day...

Crowds, crowds, crowds. There are people everywhere along this path: pilgrims seeking a blessing, shopkeepers hawking their wares, pickpockets working the crowd, doubters, believers, sceptics, sinners, saints, Jews, Muslims, Christians, people from every tribe and nation. Everyone is there. All of humanity gathers on the streets of the Old City. At times I wanted to escape from this mass of humanity, from the marketers of religion and the manipulaters of seekers. But is it really any different than it was in Jesus' time? I think not. This is the same crowd that Jesus saw in his time, the same money changers whose tables were overturned, the same seekers who questioned him, that same beggars who had their hands out. These are the same people that Jesus had compassion on and the same people whom Jesus asked his Father to forgive for they do not know what they are doing. I am one of those people.

The crowds in the Old City.

There is no place that is more religous than right here in the Old City. I use the word "religious" in its broadest sense - people who have a religion, a belief, and it permeates the place. Five times a day the Muslim call for prayer goes out on the loadspeaker and you hear the sing song chant go on for some time. People walk around in religious dress, wearing religous symbols, phalacteries, cross, headcoverings, and so on. My group is the least look religous people in the crowd, we look very secular. Makes me wonder...

Religious people walking by me in my secular "Trailblazer" shirt.

There are two places that have been identified as possible sites of the crucifixion and burial. We know that Golgotha (the place of the skull) had to be outside the city wall  because executions were not allowed in the city. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is the tradition site of the crucufixion and burial of Jesus. It a church built on top of a cave that is said to the burial place of Jesus, and a rocky hill that could have been the place of crucifixion. Pilgrims flood this place like no other looking for a blessing, kissing the stone where Jesus' body may have been laid to be anointed prior to burial, and touching the rocky entrance to the cave. The crowd was so big and the line so long to see the cave that we decided to leave after seeing the site where the cross was to have been.

Crowd of Pilgrims waiting to see the traditional site of Jesus' burial at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

The second place, preferred by most Protestants, is the Garden Tomb. This is a more recent place that was identifed after people began to question the veracity of the Holy Sepulchre. The Garden Tomb is located outside the Damascus gate, just off the famous Road to Damascus. It would have been a likely place for Romans to crucify a criminal and the hill that is there has caves in it that make it look like a skull (Golgotha). There is an ancient cistern there, so a garden is likely to have been located here. The place of crucifixtion is on a flat area in front of the steep embankment with the skull looking caves (the bible does NOT say that Jesus was crucified on a hill). Today, in front Golgotha, where Jesus would have been crucified, is a parking lot for tourist buses. When you visit you look out at the caves and down on the parking lot. It seems strange that Jesus could have been crucified here, right where a bus is parked. Then again, Roman crucifixions always took place along a highway, where travelers walked, so that everyone could see the gruesome event. Maybe it is not so strange that a bus should be sitting on the site of the cross.

About 100 feet away from Golgatha is an ancient tomb, carved into a rocky hillside. It is clearly a rich man's tomb. the tomb is big with two separate room; one form preparing the body and mourning, and one to lay the body. Outside the tomb is a groove where a stone could be rolled across the entrance. Here is what Matthew writes about the tomb:

"⁵⁷ As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. ⁵⁸ Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. ⁵⁹ Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, ⁶⁰ 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 27:57-60

I got in line and waited my turn to go into the tomb. It was empty. Could this have been what Mary and the others saw when they came to the tomb? " ⁵The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. ⁶ He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay." Matthew 28:5-6.

Was I looking on the place where Jesus had lain?

After going into the tomb our group went into the garden and had a worship service that included the Lord's Supper. We sang "Were You There?" and "Beneath the Cross of Jesus." It was a special time that I will never forget because in that garden, even though it may not have been the actual place of his death, burial, and resurrection, nevertheless, I experience the resurrected Christ in that place.

Picture of "The Skull"

Bus sitting on the possible site of the Crucifixion.

Scott entering the tomb.