Today is Good Friday. What a deep, meaningful day to remember what Jesus did for us.
The Good Friday service is my favorite service of the year. I love how it forces me to stop and think and remember what Jesus went through for me. To remember that He left Heaven, came to earth as a baby, and went to the grave to reconcile me with the Father. This Easter has been different for me in a couple of ways. One is that I’m engaged, which is an adjustment from the previous 26 years of celebrating Easter. Now I get to celebrate it with my soon-to-be wife, which is awesome. Secondly, my church has intentionally taken more time to focus on the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus…which means that I have focused more on the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.
In 2007, I had the opportunity to go to Israel. I’ve posted a few pictures from that experience below. The first one is of the Garden of Gethsemane. We spent about 20-30 minutes in the Garden of Gethsemane, and the thing that struck me is that Jesus could see the people who were coming to capture him. It was night, and the view from the Garden is that of Jerusalem, so Jesus would have seen them carrying their torches on their way to arrest him.
Second is a picture of what many Christians believe to be the place of Christ’s death, Golgotha. You’ll notice that it is not located on a hill…rather, it is just outside of Jerusalem, very close to an ancient road/path that many people would have traveled along while they were making there way in and out of Jerusalem for passover.
The third picture is of the Garden Tomb, which many Christians believe is the place where Jesus was buried. It is only about 150 yards from Golgotha. It was fascinating to see these places….I hope it helps make Good Friday and Easter feel a little more real for you this year.
