DEVOTION - HOLY LAND 2010
Good Friday
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(Top) The Anointing Stone and
(bottom) The Place of Crucifixion
- photos by Greg Milinovich
CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE
By Rev. Heidi Bak, Porchtown Zion UMC, Franklinville, NJ
One of the most holiest shrines in Christendom is the Church of the Holy Sepulcher built over the Crucifixion of Jesus on Golgotha as well as the Tomb of Jesus where he was resurrected. This church was first built by Emperor Constantine in 325 AD and dedicated in 335 AD.
Just inside the entrance of the church, is the anointing stone "the Stone of Unicion." It is the place upon which the body of Jesus was placed, anointed with ointments and wrapped in a linen shroud, the common preparation for burial among
the Jews.
Luke 23: 32-34 "Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals-one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."
Words cannot describe the incredible changes in my life because of my Holy Land Pilgrimage. I truly appreciated connecting the scriptures to the antiquity of the land. The sea of Galilee, the Judean Wilderness and the Garden of Gethsemane were more natural, easier for me to picture Jesus' life & ministry.
While I appreciated the ornate-ness, detail and beauty of many of the churches, especially the one pictured above, I felt disconnected. How could something so awful as our Lord and Savior nailed
to the cross for our sins, be portrayed so ornately? As I reflect during these last days of Lent, maybe I've been too disconnected from the cross in emotional, relational and spiritual ways. Maybe, I too, have allowed the crucifixion to be pretty and have lost the heart of what Christ did for me on Calvary. How about you?
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