Caiaphas' house is now a church built over dungeon rooms, two thousand years old. It is south of the Old City, between the Dung Gate and Mount Zion (the Upper city). After his betrayal and arrest Jesus was brought here for a mock trial.
Since that night was the first half of the Preparation Day, incarceration, interrogation and trial were illegal under the circumstances. Caiaphas was the High Priest over three councils that made up the grand Sanhedrin assembly. However, it is apparent that only one of the councils met this night, further making any trial illegal.
It was a priestly tradition never to say "God" or utter his name. Instead they would substitute words representing God's name and use phrases like, "He that comes in the clouds of Heaven." Referring to the Messiah they might say, "He sits on the right hand of Power," or "Blessed is his name." Yet Caiaphas broke this tradition when he directly challenged Jesus (See Matthew chapter 26).
"I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God."
Jesus replied:
"Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, hereafter shall ye see [this] Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven."
Caiaphas, perhaps realizing that he himself had invoked God's name, cried out:
"He hath spoke blasphemy! . . . What think ye?"
The council answered:
"He is guilty of death."
Under the Roman political system, the Jewish priests could not carry out executions except for Temple violations. And so, the priests bound Jesus and took him to Pontius Pilate, the governor, in the Antonio Fortress.
The ruins of the Judgement Hall of the Antonia Fortress now lie underneath the Arab Section of the Old City, just north of the Temple Mount. Today, the site is maintained by the Catholic Order, The Sisters of Zion. Floor stones reveal markings of ancient Roman games the guards played for own amusement.
It was here that Jesus was brought before Pontius Pilate. Initially, Pilate wanted nothing to do with the situation, but then he saw a potential political gain. After having Jesus beaten, flogged, and crowned with thorns, he taunted the Jewish priests.
". . . I find in him no fault at all." (John 18:38)
The priests became angry.
". . . Away with him, crucify him. . . ." (John 19:15)
Pilate continued to goad them.
". . . Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, we have no king but Caesar."
And so Pilate got what he wanted, the public acclaim by the priests that Caesar was their king.
"Then delivered he him . . . to be crucified." (John 19:16)
We return to the streets of the Old City and the route of the Via Delarosa (The Way of the Cross). After about a city block we reach an intersection. A left turn would take you along the Via Delarosa to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. A right turn takes you up through a marketplace of the Arab Section to the Damascus Gate.
It is one of my regrets that I did not take the time to snap some pictures of this market. It had been a long day; it was hot; the muscle I pulled at Lazarus' Tomb was still bothering me; and I felt the crowd pressing in.
Out through the Damascus Gate we cross the street into the Arab part of Modern Jerusalem. A block to the north we find the Garden Tomb.
Sometime in the 1880s General Charles Gordon, of the British Royal Army, peered over the wall of the Old City from a little bit east of the Damascus Gate. In the side of a hill, at the site of an ancient quarry, he saw what looked like the eyes of a skull. Could this be Golgotha - the Place of the Skull? It was the Roman practice to crucify along the roadways. In this abandoned quarry, known by Jews as a place of execution, a roadway still passes by.
Further exploration of the area revealed an empty tomb. In 1893 the Garden Tomb Association was founded with its headquarters in London. Today, the grounds of the Garden Tomb are maintained by this group.
We enter the Garden and take a path that hides the tomb from us, because first we are going to a place where we can see Golgotha. Here we read the accounts of the Crucifixion.
If this site is the real Golgotha, then Jesus would have carried his cross, on a route similar to ours, through the Damascus Gate. It is also probable that He carried just the cross beam of his cross, as the upright post was most likely already at the place of crucifixion. Along the way, a man named Simon from Cyrene was made to carry the cross beam, perhaps Jesus stumbled. The name Simon is Jewish, but Cyrene is in North Africa. He was likely one of the hundreds of thousands of Jews gathering to Jerusalem for Passover. In any case they,
"Went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha." (John 19:17)
Crucifixion was a slow, strangling death. The prisoner's hands, wrists and feet were nailed to the cross. The knees were bent so that as he hung from the cross his lungs were suffocated. By standing on the nails in his feet he could unbend his knees and ease the pressure on his lungs. This way he could breath for as long as he could stand the pain in his feet. By periodically changing his position on the cross he could prolong his life, but also his agony.
"And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama Sabachthani? That is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46)
"And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost." (Luke 23:46)
"When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost." (John 19: 30)
As it was still the Preparation Day the Jewish priests did not want the crucified bodies hanging on the crosses on the Sabbath days. The first of the Sabbath days, the High Day, would begin with the setting of the sun. The priests asked Pilate to have the legs of the prisoners broken. This would hasten their deaths since they would no longer be able to stand on the nails to enable them to breath. But the Roman soldiers saw that Jesus was already dead, ". . . they brake not his legs." (John 19:33)
After reading about the Crucifixion at the overlook of Golgotha, we walked over to the Garden Tomb. It is situated west of the Place of the Skull in a little clearing in the garden. It is a very beautiful and peaceful setting.
As with most tombs, one must duck down to enter - the smaller the opening, the smaller the stone is that is rolled in front, too big and it is too heavy and immovable. A door has since been installed and a carved wooden sign reads, "He is not here, for he is risen." We enter a very small mourning chamber and to our right is the tomb itself. My wife has been moved to tears, the only time on the entire trip. I feel a sweet, peaceful feeling.
We find a spot nearby where we read that Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the Sanhedrin, and an unnamed disciple, with the help of Nicodemus, prepared the body of Jesus and laid him in a tomb.
"Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre. . . .
"There they laid Jesus therefore because of the Jews' preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand." (John 19:41-42)
Then we read:
"The first day of the week (what we now call Sunday) cometh Mary Megdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.
"Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple . . . and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the Sepulchre, . . ." (John 20:1-2)
They ran to the tomb and saw that:
". . . the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself." (John 20:4-7)
The tomb was empty!
For Jews today, the cloth put over the head of the deceased is the talith, the garment or prayer shawl. Perhaps the "napkin that was about his head" was a talith.
Mary lingered in the garden,
". . . and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus.
". . . She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away."
Jesus said, "Mary,"
". . . she turned herself, and saith unto him . . . . Master." (John 20:14-16)
We read more accounts of appearances of the resurrected Jesus to his disciples and other, including an appearance to over five hundred people.
And here, in this garden, is a spirit of peace and love.
The Garden Tomb was the last stop of the tour. Our guide ran us ragged for six days . . . and I loved every minute of it! And there was so much more that we didn't see!
