FROM TABLE TO TOMB

Jerusalem’s Eastern Gate from Gethsemane - Feb 2016

On the flight home from his first trip to Israel, I asked my son Nicky for his thoughts. “What was the most surprising thing to you?”

It only took him a second, as if he’d been keeping it in the forefront of his mind all along. “I was surprised to see tall buildings.” His ten-year-old countenance dropped. He didn’t want me to think he was disappointed by anything. “I thought everything would look like it did when Jesus lived there. …at first I was sad, but then I got over it." His face brightened. He was born resilient.

Nicky and I in 2019 flying home from Israel

To be sure, there are many places in Israel that seem untouched by time, but 21st century Israel also holds the tension of both the ancient and the modern in coexistence.

At times the sacred is interrupted by the mundane.

At times the mundane is hijacked by the sacred.

As we consider the Suffering, or the “Passion,” of Jesus Christ, Yeshua the Messiah, walk with me for a moment, from an upper room to an empty grave. Or as my friend Joshua Aaron sings, from “The Table to the Tomb”.

“The Room of the Last Supper” - 2016

Tucked within the narrow streets of Mount Zion is nestled The Room of the Last Supper. In the Christian tradition, Believers say it was in this very room that Jesus shared His last Passover meal with His disciples on the night before His death.

On our first visit, we entered in hushed reverence, marveling at the beautiful structure, renovated in 1335 AD, long after any famous Supper may have taken place in this room. Maybe it wasn’t even here…

But, maybe it was.

If so, Yeshua was in this very space when He washed the disciples’ feet, when He illustrated a deeper meaning for broken bread and poured out wine, and when He spoke the luminous words recorded in John chapters 13-17.

Luke recorded the following:

When the hour came, [Jesus] reclined at the table, and the apostles with Him. And He said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.” …and He took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it an gave it to them saying, “This is My body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.”

- Luke 22:14-15, 19-20

And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives

- Matthew 26:30

A view of the Eastern Gate from the Garden of Gethsemane - 2016

The Garden of Gethsemane (“oil press” in Aramaic) is located at the foot of the Mount of Olives, a short “Sabbath day’s walk” from Mount Zion. There are olive trees in this garden today alleged to be 2,000 years of age. If true, they would have been mere saplings when Jesus prayed nearby…

“Father, if You are willing, take this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.”

- Luke 22:42

Basilica of the Agony ceiling - 2016

The Basilica of the Agony at Gethsemane (also known as All the Nations Church) boasts a stunningly gorgeous domed-ceiling, portraying the night sky full of stars, and Passover’s full moon, under which Jesus languished alone.

Jesus was arrested in that garden, and His disciples fled. He was taken to the home of the high priest, subjected to a secret trial, false accusations, beatings, and mockery. Peter, one of Jesus’ closest companions, denies ever knowing his Rabbi. His Savior. His Lord.

Then the whole company of them arose and brought [Jesus] before Pilate. And they began to accuse Him…

- Luke 23:1-2

Sarah and friends descending into the cool depths of Herod’s fortress

Beneath The Tower of David lie the remains of Herod’s palace, uncovered in 1999. Evidence leads many scholars to name it the most likely location of Jesus’ sentencing by Pontius Pilate. The cavernous room took our breath away. It wasn’t difficult to feel the events, events so familiar to us, taking place right here. The ancient voices echoed off the walls around us:

…“Are you the King of the Jews?” And [Jesus] answered [Pilate], “You have said so.” Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no guilt in this man.”

- Luke 23:3-4

[Pilate] said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” They cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” So he delivered Him over to them to be crucified.

- John 19:14-16

I hesitated to share this image because, for me, present-day Golgotha is one of the most disturbing things to witness. “The Place of the Skull”, one of two possible locations of Jesus’ crucifixion, is now a loud, noxious bus stop. It’s quintessentially mundane and ordinary. Its very existence seems disrespectful…

However, Jesus was killed like any ordinary criminal, and in the typical Roman fashion of execution. Only half of a day had elapsed since His arrest, and suddenly Israel’s beaten and bloodied Messiah hung naked before a jeering public audience. There’s something far too accurate about this disrespectful atmosphere. It’s unsettling.

And perhaps it should be.

Flowers blooming at The Garden Tomb

…but Death could not hold Him, could it?

“You will not leave my soul among the dead or allow Your Holy One to rot in the grave.”

- Psalm 16:10 NLT

“Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from Heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for He has risen, as He said.

COME AND SEE THE PLACE WHERE HE LAY.”

Matt 28:1-6

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