If my first post seemed rather negative, please don't be too hard on me. Neither turn your back on the city of Jerusalem, for this is a major city, and every city has its problems. For a second impression I hope you'll be more pleased to hear the delightful aspects of this region that can only be found here.
It is hard to comprehend a city with at least 4000 years of human civilization. An area that has seen more war and conquest than I can keep up with. In all the war and changing of culture, comes era after era of building up and tarring down. What one king or people erected, another tore down.
Entire valleys have been backfilled with as much as 100 feet or more of fill, so that to reach an actual "street that Jesus walked," could require an excavation several stories below the current ground level. Everywhere one looks there is significant history. Many times that history has been built upon the ruins of previous history, and that upon the ruins of, who knows how much previous history. Trying to keep it all straight makes my brain ache!
There is however, one period of archeology that uncovered the possible location of Calvary. The place where Jesus the Christ would have been crucified. This place is refereed to as
Gordon's Calvary, named after Charles Gordon, who researched the sight back in 1883.
It is indeed an impressive place. So many indicators point to the possibility that this is the very place where Jesus of Nazareth died. At the bottom of this article is the wiki link with pics and history that would be worth your time to read. On the edge of the rocky outcrop, that resembles a skull, is "a garden, and in the garden a new sepulcher, wherein never man was yet laid." (John 19:41)
Incredible, that was the experience. The place really puts color into my pencil sketch of what the area looked like where Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection occurred. We had the pleasure of not only an excellently guided tour by a fellow believer in Christ, but we also had the honor of sharing in the Lord's Supper under the shade of the garden, between Calvary and the Garden Tomb. How humbled I was, when the group asked me to serve the bread and wine of the Lord's memorial. Even as I write this, I look through blurry eyes from the tears I work to hold back. Oh, to eat that supper one day, with our Lord in the Father's kingdom!
Most impressive though about the day, is not what we found, but what we did not find. If you come to Jerusalem to find Jesus the Christ, you will be disappointed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_Tomb
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