Jesus and Jerusalem

Jerusalem is considered holy to Christians primarily because of Jesus. No, he wasn’t born there, but he spent a significant amount of his life in the city. He healed and taught people, performed miracles, was crucified, overcame death, and ascended into heaven, all in the city of Jerusalem. Without Jesus, Jerusalem would most certainly not be held in such a high regard by Christians. His life in the city is studied and scrutinized. Thousands of Christians travel to Jerusalem every year. They want to walk where he walked, they want to pray where he prayed, they want to feel the holy spirit in the city.

Working our way through Jesus’s life, a good place to start is at the Temple Mount. Jesus is said to have first been brought to the city of Jerusalem by his parents, Mary and Joseph, as a child. As an adult, Jesus cleansed the temple. Mark 11:16 details this cleansing, as;

He entered the temple and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves.

In Matthew 21:13-14 Jesus;

Declared to them, “It is written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer.’ But you are making it a ‘den of robbers’”. The blind and the lame came to Him at the temple, and He healed them.

Furthermore, as written in John 8:2;

He came again into the temple, and all the people were coming to Him; and He sat down and began to teach them.

Jesus spent such a considerable amount of time at the temple, from growing up there as a child, to restoring the temple to its intended purpose as a sacred place, to teaching, and to healing, it’s no wonder Christians worldwide consider the temple a place close to God. It’s important for Christians to be able to spend time and pray in the temple that Jesus lived in, cleansed, healed, and taught in.

The majority of pilgrimaging Christians, however, are more interested in the events leading up to his death and subsequent resurrection. A place many start is the Cenacle, or Upper Room, located above the Tomb of David, on Mount Zion. This is the site of the famous Last Supper.

The night of his arrest, Jesus and his twelve disciples made their way into the city of Jerusalem, intending to share a meal. Matthew 26:25-30 says that;

While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.”

Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

For the sake of this presentation, I’ve omitted parts of the Last Supper, things like Jesus washing the disciples’ feet, and his predicting Peter’s denial and Judas’ betrayal. But this passage is perhaps one of the most important in the Bible, as it outlines the first communion, communion being a ritual that millions of Christians take part in every year, some even every month, and others every week.

All of that began in this Upper Room. The Cenacle is one of the most important rooms in all of Jerusalem to Christians, with depictions of the room spanning the centuries. From Leonardo di Vinci, to Philippe de Champaigne, to George Kocar, to Vladimir Zunuzin, to Loi Duc, to Scott Scheidly, this First Communion is undeniably held close to the hearts of Christians.

© George Kocar

Partially because of Jesus’ words at the communion, and partially because of what followed. After the communion was over, Jesus and his disciples went to the Mount of Olives and the Gardens of Gethsemane, which sits at the base.

In Matthew 26:36;

Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”

“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”

Continuing in Matthew 26:47;

Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived. With him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people. Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: “The one I kiss is the man; arrest him.” Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed him. Jesus replied, “Do what you came for, friend.”

Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested him.

The Gardens of Gethsemane is another place in Jerusalem that Christians come to to feel the Holy Spirit.  It’s in these gardens that Jesus’ humanity was shown, as he prayed to be spared from crucifixion, but in the end accepted his fate willingly.

With olive trees as old as 900 years old, true believers who walk through the Garden of Gethsemane find it to be emanating with the holy spirit, and many find it a comforting place to pray. Following his arrest, Jesus stood trial inside the Temple. Ultimately being sentenced to death by crucifixion, he was tortured and forced to carry a cross to Golgotha, the traditional Roman crucifixion site. The path he took was the Via Dolorosa, or the way or sorrow.

As written in Luke 23:26;

A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him.  Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children”.

Jesus, along with two thieves, were walked to their crucifixion. They carried their own crosses, and although many wept for Jesus, many others taunted him while he walked. Christians today still walk the path Jesus took, still carry crosses with them, in the same route that Jesus took. This has happened for over 2,000 years; Christians attempting to carry Jesus’ burden, to walk in his footsteps, all the way to Golgotha.

Golgotha is known by multiple names. Golgotha, the Calvary, the Place of the Skull. All refer to the traditional Roman execution spot, which in modern times is contended.  Either way, Christians believe that Jesus was crucified and died at this location, where ever it may be. In Luke 23:33 it is written that;

When they came to the place called “The Skull,” they crucified Jesus there, and the two criminals, one on his right and the other on his left.

And 1st Peter 3:18 says that;

Christ died for sins once and for all, a good man on behalf of sinners, in order to lead you to God. He was put to death physically, but made alive spiritually. We are healed by the punishment he suffered, made whole by the blows he received.

According to Christian faith, Jesus died in order to wash away the sins of man. His death is regarded as the ultimate sacrifice, as he knew what was going to happen to him, but went through with it anyway because he loved his people so much. Because of this, Golgotha represents God’s eternal love and sacrifice to Christians everywhere. But exactly where Golgotha lies is complicated.

Identified in ancient writings as the place of the skull, the name actually refers to the skull cap, not the face of the skull. With all four gospels referring to the hill with the greek word cranion, meaning cranium, it was probably a rounded hill, not a rock face that looked like the front of a skull. False interpretations of Golgotha as the face of a skull has lead to many misidentifications over the centuries. However, the site that many archaeologists and historians consider to be the authentic Golgotha lies inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is also believed by many to house the tomb of Jesus himself. According to John 19:41; Jesus’ tomb was close to the place of the crucifixion, and so the church was planned to enclose the site of both the cross and his tomb. This is the image I used for my title slide, and it shows the Tomb of Jesus on Good Friday, as hundreds of people crowd the inside of the church, with many more outside, all praising, praying, and preserving their faith.

Another location that some believe to be the burial site of Jesus is the Garden Tomb. Discovered in 1867, the Garden Tomb is accepted by some Christians because the surrounding rock resembles a skull, it’s peaceful and beautiful, and it’s more serene that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

However, scholars do not believe it to be the true resting place of Jesus Christ primarily because of its age, as it dates back to the 7th century. Despite this piece of rather damning evidence, the Garden Tomb is still a heavily visited Christian “biblical” location in Jerusalem, one that sees hundreds of thousands of visitors annually, and one that evokes feelings of spirituality and goodness in its visitors.

Today in the Holy City, some Christians are facing discrimination and persecution, however. Notably, this Easter in regard to Palestinian Christians attempting to travel for the holiday. In an unprecedented decision, Israeli authorities are denying hundreds of Palestinian Christians the right to travel to Jerusalem for the holiday, while barring all movement between the West Bank and Gaza for what they site as ‘security purposes’.

Without a doubt, Easter is the most holy time in the Christian calendar, and with this aggressive act by the Israeli government, hundreds of Christians were unable to take place in their yearly rituals, unable to praise their God in the way they see fit. Protests where held, but ultimately nothing was accomplished. This kind of social violence against people of faith in the region is absolutely nothing new, but demoralizing nonetheless.

Jerusalem is the most holy city on the planet for Christians. The places we’ve walked through today are only some of the many, many places in the city that Christian people hold sacred, although these are some of the more important ones. Without Jesus and his presence in the city throughout his life, Jerusalem have been just another city. But because of Jesus’ life and death in the Holy City, it’s become just that to Christians-- the Holy City.