Death to Life

Yesterday I walked with a friend through the Arab Market in Jerusalem to visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for the first time.  Believed by many to be a church built over the place of Christ's crucifixion and where He was entombed, it is a tourist attraction frequented by Catholic pilgrims from all over the world.  A crowd of people filled the courtyard, and it was even more crowded inside.

The first thing which struck me as I entered the building was how crowded and dimly lit it was.  Though I had seen pictures of the interior of the church before, they didn't capture how big and sprawling the place was inside.  Ambiance aside, it was the activities of the visitors which surprised me most.  People were kissing stones, prostrating themselves on the ground in prayer, and crawling under the foot of a cross to kiss and touch a picture.  In a word, I felt it was bizarre.  People queued up before stones and relics like people at Disneyland for rides, venerating the stones which some believed had witnessed Christ's final hours and resting place for days.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is a place perpetually focused on the death and burial of Jesus.  Painting and mosaics in the dim atmosphere portray Christ being crucified, mourned, and prepared for burial.  I had the feeling people were paying homage to dead stones in memory of Jesus.  It was a somber veneration of death without remembrance of Christ's resurrection!  It seemed an incongruent assembly, to remember and mourn the Light of the World Jesus Christ among tombs when He is risen and living.  It is good for a man to remember His death, but not to the neglect of the celebration of new life through Him.

There is a massive contrast between the two areas many believe to be where Christ was crucified and buried:  the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Garden Tomb.  The Sepulchre is dark, musty, and filled with relics whilst the Garden tomb is filled with living plants with the bright sky overhead.  Birds can be seen and heard in the trees.  On the door of the tomb it says, "He is risen!"  In the Church of the Holy Sepulchre there was no such light or life, the trappings of religion rather than joyous relationship, veneration of stones rather than praise of the Cornerstone who lives.

I believe everyone should visit both sights to compare and contrast them.  They are both versions of the same story, yet one is focused on death and the other a proclamation of life.  Jesus died and was buried, but He is risen in glorious power and life.  We should proclaim the LORD's death until He comes, the One who has delivered us from idols to serve the living and true God.  Stones are not holy because a dead body laid on them, but we have been made holy living stones by God's grace through faith in our risen Saviour.  Let us walk in newness of life and rejoice in His light!