The Church of the Holy Sepulcher, 1700 years old, is the cathedral that was built on the supposed site of the crucifixion and burial of Jesus.In A.D.326 Empress Helena, the mother of Constantine the Great, came to Jerusalem in search of the hill on which Christ was crucified.The Bishop of Jerusalem took her to a rugged outcropping outside the northwestern wall of the city.On this granite mound, there was a Roman-built temple to Jupiter. Surrounding the hill was a cemetery made up of other walls of rock, dotted with stone-sealed graves.Helena demolished the pagan temple and built a chapel in its place. Every visitor since has had the same idea.

Dawn and I got to visit the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the site of the crucifixion and burial of Jesus, in 1999.We were maybe thinking we would actually see a hill, or place outside Jerusalem that you could picture Jesus being crucified on.No, you find yourself right in the middle of what is now the city, in a crowded, cramped, cathedral-like building built right over the site.Calvary is hidden in ornate decoration.After entering the cathedral and climbing a dozen stone steps, we stood at the top of the hill.A glass case covers the tip and the tip is the only part of the hill you can see.Beneath the altar is a gold-plated hole in which the cross supposedly was lodged.Three crucified icons hung on crosses behind the altar.

Gold lanterns.Madonna statues.Candles and dim lights.We didn’t know what to think.I was at once moved because of where I was standing, and disturbed by what I was seeing.We descended the stairs and walked toward the tomb.The traditional burial spot for Jesus is under the same roof as the traditional Golgotha.To see it, you don’t have to go outside.You do, however, have to use your imagination.2000 years and a million tourists ago, this was a cemetery.Today it’s a cathedral.We tried picturing it in its original state.We couldn’t.We aren’t even sure if this was the spot.An elaborate sepulcher marks the traditional spot of Jesus’ tomb.43 lamps hang above the portal and a candelabra sits in front of it.It is solid marble with golden leaves.There was a line of people to go in and see it, but it could have taken hours to wait in that line.We just strained our necks and got the best view we could.

Then Jackie, our tour guide, called us out of the line. “Come this way!” He showed us something we won’t forget.He took us behind that fancy sepulcher chapel, away from the crowd, to a plain little room behind it.It was dark, musty, unkempt, and dusty.Obviously not a place designed for tourists.While our eyes adjusted, he said, “A few of these have been found, but are seldom visited.It is much more likely that something like this could have been the burial place for Jesus.”Behind him was a tiny crack of an opening.It was a rock-hewn tomb.Four feet high at the most.“Wouldn’t it be ironic,” he smiled as he spoke, “if this was the place?It is dirty.It is uncared for.It is forgotten.The one over there is elaborate and adorned.This one is simple and ignored.Wouldn’t it be ironic if this was the place where our Lord was buried?”

We walked over to the opening and peered in like the Apostle John must have done.It wasn’t the huge room I had imagined.Just a tiny, dark cave.Cut out of the rock.And here it hit us.This was a tomb.A tomb which could have held the body of Christ.A tomb which could have imprisoned the body of God. A tomb which could have witnessed history’s greatest moment.Someone whispered softly, “God put Himself in a place like this.”He did.God put Himself in a dark, tight, claustrophobic room and allowed them to seal it shut.The Light of the World was mummied in cloth and shut in darkness.The Hope of Humanity was shut in a tomb.

We could hardly speak.The elaborate altar we were behind seemed far away, as did the crowd of people.In front of us was a tomb.A tomb that may have had God in it.Just try comprehending how far God has come for us!An infant wrapped in a feeding trough, to an adolescent in Nazareth, to the scourging post in Jerusalem, to being nailed to a cross, to this.And this surpasses them all:God in a tomb.God died.For you.For me.His love for us is so unimaginable that He was willing to go through this.He took our sins on Himself and paid the ultimate price for them: death - separation not only of body and soul, but separation from his Father.And the outcome?You and I will not ever have to fear separation from our Heavenly Father!We are forgiven.At peace with Him.All because God put Himself in a place like this.

Nothing is blacker than a grave, as lifeless as a pit, as permanent as a tomb.But into the tomb He came.So the next time you find yourself entombed in a darkened world of fear and guilt, remember that.The next time pain seals you into a world of horror, remember the Tomb.The next time a stone seals your exit to peace, think about the empty, musty, tomb outside of Jerusalem.It isn’t always easy to find.You may have to slip past all of the ornate decorations.You may have to sneak past the priests and the statues.Sometimes the hardest place to find the Tomb is in a cathedral.But it’s there.And when you see it, bow down, enter quietly, and look closely.For there, on the wall, you may see the charred marks of a divine explosion.

Because what happened in that tomb has made a difference in your life for all eternity.Both God’s going into it and God’s going out of it.Today is Good Friday.It is solemn.We remember with seriousness that God did put Himself into this tomb for us.But it is also Good.Because this was the greatest expression of love He could give us.His death brings us life!His punishment erases ours.By his death we are healed.Forgiven.Restored with God.All because God put Himself in a place like this!Amen.

Back to the Lent page
Back to the Pastor's Messages page