THE GARDEN TOMB JERUSALEM

            THE GARDEN TOMB JERUSALEM

Garden Tomb also referred to as Gordon’s Calvary is found outside the old city walls of Jerusalem. It was unearthed in 1867 and faces a rocky escarpment which scholars from the mid-19^th century have proposed to be Golgotha.  Within this garden, there is Jewish ancient rock-cut tomb and many Christians consider it to be the site where Jesus of Nazareth, the son of God was buried and later He resurrected. So it’s a site where many Christians visit to be witnesses of Jesus history and worship.

With a purpose of preserving and maintaining this site, the garden grounds were purchased by the Garden Tomb Jerusalem Association in 1894. It is a charitable Trust which is based in the United Kingdom (Kark, R., & Frantzman, S. J. (2010). The Association is made up of people from various different national and denominational backgrounds that are united by their belief in the glorious message of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Volunteers from all over the world in association with the local team of Israelites and Palestine assist in maintaining this site.

For about 120 years, the Garden Tomb has received countless people visiting it to feel connected to the Messiah’s story of crucifixion and resurrection (Von Wahlde, U. C. (2018). Following up the scriptures, Jesus’s crucifixion took place in a place known as “the skull” which in Aramaic refers to Golgotha. It’s read that the place where Jesus was crucified was a garden and in that garden, there is a tomb that no one had been laid before. And archeological evidence presents that this place was originally an agricultural garden and inside that garden grounds there was an ancient tomb, therefore perhaps this is probably the scriptures referred empty tomb of Jesus.

For many Christians, this place holds great importance to them. Many looks at it like a site where they can connect both mentally and emotionally with the fateful night of the painful occurrences of Jesus death. Many Christians from all over the globe come to visit here and even share their Holy Communion from this place that they believe connects them closer to the happenings that led to the celebration of the Holy Communion. And if this place is indeed the resting place of Jesus Christ then that would discredit The Church of the Holy Sepulcher which is the other tomb that is debated that Jesus was buried( Kochav, S. (1995). Though it’s been hard decision to establish the real tomb where Jesus was rested, the Garden tomb remains to be the most accurate option and therefore it has served as a significant site for the followers of Jesus and has a great impact in the Christian community. Following are the reasons why the Garden Tomb is considered the most suitable;

• It is found directly opposite the skull feature which is said to be the best option for the site called Golgotha
• The Garden Tomb is certainly almost around 200m of where Joseph of Arimathea’s tomb was located
• The physical characteristics suited the New Testament claims about the burial of Jesus of Nazareth.
• The spirit that is encountered by the people who visit the place. It is empty and it instills how Jesus rose and left His tomb empty.

However, there is an argument that challenges the authenticity of the Garden Tomb site. The fact that the tomb is located within the city limits of the Jerusalem walls it places it in question whether it really is the site that Christians should pose importance to. According to  Jewish customs, the dead cannot be buried with the city walls. And this argues that the Romans could not have taken the risk to go against the customs and perform a crucifixion inside the walls. Centrally, “the skull hill” which was discovered later is near the old city walls, it would have been the ideal location used for the execution. Therefore, there is still a fact holding that execution was held here but in the second Temple era. So whether Jesus’ crucifixion and burial took place here it’s still a question that has been in the hands of scholars for over generations now. But regardless of the awaited truth, the site is still seen as indisputable.

There has been a new controversy that goes against the Christian faith. The New evidence is said to potentially contain the bones of Jesus Christ of Nazareth (Sadducees, E. (2019). The bones box found is claimed to be inscribed with Jesus’ brother name, James, the son of Joseph. The box is traced back to a tomb in Talpoit which is in Israel and based on a chemical analysis carried out the box belongs to Jesus family members. The geologist who conducted the study claims that it would be very contradicting to claim that all the biblical names found in the bone boxes were put together by chance, so this suggests that the tomb belonged to Jesus.

If these findings are correct then the central tenets of Christians would be undermined. The idea that Jesus died and buried on earth and that His physical resurrection witnessed would be placed on doubt and it will be like a stab at the back for His followers who hold Christianity at the depth of their hearts.

However, historians have expressed doubts concerning the controversy. They say that the bone boxes found inside the Talpoit tomb the names found on the boxes not all matches the names of Jesus family. In 2003, Antiquities Authority in Israel argued that “the brother of Jesus” text on one of the bone boxes was forged and a man named Oded Galon (the collector) was tried for fraud. Seven years later a judge concluded that he, Golan was not guilty of forgery. In a current study Shimron (a scholar), took a sample from the alleged James ossuary and the Talpoit tomb ossuaries and after studying the chemical traces from the two he concluded that the two chemicals ended up matching.

A new finding strengthens the idea that the Talpoit tomb actually contains bones belonging to Jesus of Nazareth. To put this into an interpretation it could have been that Joseph of Arimathea (the man who buried Jesus body), after placing the body in the empty tomb it was later laid in His family tomb. But there is no way to completely prove that the tomb belonged to Jesus of Nazareth and not another totally different Jesus.

Many experts have said that this case’ claims don’t hold up. For instance, the claimed inscriptions are even hard to read even the one that has been alleged to read Jesus. In addition, several names found on the Talpoit ossuaries lack proof from the historical precedent. One of these names include, “Juda, son of Jesus” , there is never a mention of Jesus having a son either in the scriptures or any other references books let alone one named Juda. In that tomb, there were many common names at the time and there is no way to prove that they belonged specifically to Jesus’ of Nazareth family.

Another debatable point is the timing when the discoveries were made. The ossuary claimed to belong to James was already in the collector’s hands by 1976 but the tomb was discovered later in 1980.  And to top it all scientific standards to support the claims have not been met yet. But all this puts the Garden Tomb at risk of questioning. So to the latter-day Christians and the educators teaching Christianity as a religion Garden of Tomb Jerusalem still remains to be the site that they associate with their mighty Messiah and the place they can worship His glory from and until proven otherwise the garden will continue to be held as an important shrine for the followers of Christ.

                                    REFERENCES

Kochav, S. (1995). The search for a protestant holy sepulcher: the garden tomb in nineteenth-century Jerusalem. The Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 46(2), 278-301.

Kark, R., & Frantzman, S. J. (2010). The Protestant Garden Tomb in Jerusalem, Englishwomen, and a land transaction in late Ottoman Palestine. Palestine Exploration Quarterly, 142(3), 199-216.

Israel, B., Zealots, P., & Sadducees, E. (2019). The Life of Jesus.

Von Wahlde, U. C. (2018). The Gospel of John and Archaeology. The Oxford Handbook of Johannine Studies, 101.

Johnson, A. (2018). “You Wonder Where the Spirit Went” The Spirit and the Resurrection of the Son in Matthew and John. Journal of Theological Interpretation, 12(1), 58-75.