Celebrating Easter reminds me of my first visit to Jerusalem while traveling with my wife and children. I was eager to take in all the sites and connect to the city that so impacted the world. Seems that every rock, street, building, twist, and turn had special historical or biblical significance.
I recall looking over a map when a local tour guide approached me and asked what sites I hoped to see. Top among my priorities was the burial site of Jesus. I wanted to confirm it was empty.
Imagine my surprise when the eager tour guide asked, “Sure. No problem. I’ll take you there. Are you Catholic or Protestant?” My simple answer was a question, “Why does it matter?” He then went on to explain how Catholics venerated the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, while Protestants held to the Garden Tomb as the near final resting place of Jesus. No matter, I checked them both out and found both plausible sites for His burial. I later found out in my research into Messianic Reveal, that many in the Islamic faith believe there’s an empty tomb for Jesus alongside Mohammed and two of his successors in Medina, Saudi Arabia. What?? (Check out the book for more on this…)
Also, see the cool article in National Geographic from 2016 that talks about some of the archaeological work on the Holy Sepulcher site. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2016/10/jesus-christ-tomb-burial-church-holy-sepulchre/
The scientists in this article came to the conclusion that yes, a tomb marked some three hundred years after Christ’s death could indeed have held his body. But so could the one in the Garden tomb. What’s certain is that wherever He was buried didn’t hold Him long. Happy Easter!
