The Garden Tomb

One of the most moving parts of being in Israel comes with realizing that the events I have heard about since a child happened right here, leaving footprints somewhere here, near my feet.

Like the resurrection of Jesus. We know that he was crucified outside the city gates, outside the wall surrounding Jerusalem; we have a pretty good idea where the old city walls ran. But the exact address, we don't know.

One contender for the site of Jesus' resurrection is the garden tomb. As the garden tomb tour guide said, the resurrection might have happened here or it might have happened 100 meters away from here. Though no one can be certain of a more exact location, what really matters is that Jesus rose from the grave. Glancing over the hill at the garden tomb and seeing the old city wall just a few blocks away, stirred my heart to say: Jesus is alive. It happened here, outside this city. ,With these thoughts in my mind, our tour guide's voice broke into my thoughts: "He is risen!" "Hallelujah," we replied. He is risen indeed!