1Now when morning had come, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. 2They bound him, led him away, and delivered him up to Pontius Pilate, the governor.
3Then Judas, who betrayed him, when he saw that Jesus was condemned, felt remorse, and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, 4saying, “I have sinned in that I betrayed innocent blood.”
But they said, “What is that to us? You see to it.”
5He threw down the pieces of silver in the sanctuary and departed. Then he went away and hanged himself.
6The chief priests took the pieces of silver and said, “It’s not lawful to put them into the treasury, since it is the price of blood.” 7They took counsel, and bought the potter’s field with them to bury strangers in. 8Therefore that field has been called “The Field of Blood” to this day. 9Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled, saying,
“They took the thirty pieces of silver,
the price of him upon whom a price had been set,
whom some of the children of Israel priced,
10and they gave them for the potter’s field,
as the Lord commanded me.”
11Now Jesus stood before the governor; and the governor asked him, saying, “Are you the King of the Jews?”
Jesus said to him, “So you say.”
12When he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing. 13Then Pilate said to him, “Don’t you hear how many things they testify against you?”
14He gave him no answer, not even one word, so that the governor marveled greatly.
15Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to release to the multitude one prisoner whom they desired. 16They had then a notable prisoner called Barabbas. 17When therefore they were gathered together, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release to you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?” 18For he knew that because of envy they had delivered him up.
19While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him, saying, “Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered many things today in a dream because of him.”
20Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the multitudes to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. 21But the governor answered them, “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?”
They said, “Barabbas!”
22Pilate said to them, “What then shall I do to Jesus who is called Christ?”
They all said to him, “Let him be crucified!”
23But the governor said, “Why? What evil has he done?”
But they cried out exceedingly, saying, “Let him be crucified!”
24So when Pilate saw that nothing was being gained, but rather that a disturbance was starting, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, “I am innocent of the blood of this righteous person. You see to it.”
25All the people answered, “May his blood be on us and on our children!”
26Then he released Barabbas to them, but Jesus he flogged and delivered to be crucified.
27Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium, and gathered the whole garrison together against him. 28They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him. 29They braided a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and a reed in his right hand; and they kneeled down before him and mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 30They spat on him, and took the reed and struck him on the head. 31When they had mocked him, they took the robe off him, and put his clothes on him, and led him away to crucify him.
32As they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name, and they compelled him to go with them, that he might carry his cross. 33When they came to a place called “Golgotha”, that is to say, “The place of a skull,” 34they gave him sour wine to drink mixed with gall. When he had tasted it, he would not drink. 35When they had crucified him, they divided his clothing among them, casting lots, 36and they sat and watched him there. 37They set up over his head the accusation against him written, “THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS.”
38Then there were two robbers crucified with him, one on his right hand and one on the left.
39Those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads 40and saying, “You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross!”
41Likewise the chief priests also mocking with the scribes, the Pharisees, and the elders, said, 42“He saved others, but he can’t save himself. If he is the King of Israel, let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him. 43He trusts in God. Let God deliver him now, if he wants him; for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” 44The robbers also who were crucified with him cast on him the same reproach.
45Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. 46About the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lima sabachthani?” That is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
47Some of them who stood there, when they heard it, said, “This man is calling Elijah.”
48Immediately one of them ran and took a sponge, filled it with vinegar, put it on a reed, and gave him a drink. 49The rest said, “Let him be. Let’s see whether Elijah comes to save him.”
50Jesus cried again with a loud voice, and yielded up his spirit.
51Behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom. The earth quaked and the rocks were split. 52The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; 53and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection, they entered into the holy city and appeared to many.
54Now the centurion and those who were with him watching Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that were done, were terrified, saying, “Truly this was the Son of God!”
55Many women were there watching from afar, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, serving him. 56Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.
57When evening had come, a rich man from Arimathaea named Joseph, who himself was also Jesus’ disciple, came. 58This man went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. Then Pilate commanded the body to be given up. 59Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth 60and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut out in the rock. Then he rolled a large stone against the door of the tomb, and departed. 61Mary Magdalene was there, and the other Mary, sitting opposite the tomb.
62Now on the next day, which was the day after the Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees were gathered together to Pilate, 63saying, “Sir, we remember what that deceiver said while he was still alive: ‘After three days I will rise again.’ 64Command therefore that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest perhaps his disciples come at night and steal him away, and tell the people, ‘He is risen from the dead;’ and the last deception will be worse than the first.”
65Pilate said to them, “You have a guard. Go, make it as secure as you can.” 66So they went with the guard and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone.
Two sites are in competition for the burial place of Jesus of Nazareth, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, near the Jaffa Gate, and the Garden Tomb, near the Damascus Gate. The former site has ancient tradition supporting it but within the confines of a church that obscures a place of crucifixion and burial, while the latter has a more visible tomb near what is alleged to be the location of the crucifixion. Determining which of these two is, in fact, where Jesus rose from the dead is important for the Christian faith, since Christianity is tied to history. Regarding the resurrection of Jesus, Paul said that if he has not risen (understood, in the flesh), then we are yet in our sins and the apostles are liars (1 Cor 15:1-19)
In the late nineteenth century British General Charles Gordon discovered a site outside the Damascus Gate that is now called Gordon’s Calvary, or Skull Hill, where he believed that Jesus was crucified. Near this site was also a tomb within a garden that he believed to be the tomb of Jesus. Unlike the traditional site located in an ancient church surrounded by ornate crosses and incense thuribles that detract from a former location of garden and rock quarry from which tombs were carved, the Garden Tomb is in the open, easily recognized as a place of burial, and in a beautiful garden.
The Garden Tomb resides in a beautiful quiet setting, and is frequented generally by Protestant Christians who find the darker surroundings of an ancient church steeped in ritual. The Garden Tomb satisfies many of the requirements of the place of Jesus’ burial and resurrection, including situation in a garden, outside the city walls and near what is arguably a place of crucifixion. The mystical manner in which Gordon sought to connect the place of crucifixion and burial with the temple mount and pool of Siloam has been a point of criticism. He placed a skeleton with its head at Skull Hill, its backside on the temple mount, and the feet at the pool of Siloam, viewing this as a confirmation of its identification. This is highly speculative, and is not argued by staff at the Garden Tomb.
The ancient and traditional site of the crucifixion and burial of Jesus has many points of support also, but there is no tomb to observe. The tomb there, which early had been separated from other tombs in the stone quarry, making it a place of homage, was destroyed in the early 11th century A.D. by order of Muslim caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah.[1] In spite of there being no tomb, with a structure (called an Edicule) standing where the tomb once stood, the tradition for this site is very strong, going back to the second century A.D. When the emperor Hadrian had defeated the Jews (A.D. 135), and banished them from Jerusalem, in his attempt to replace Judaism and Christianity, he built a temple to Venus over where the Church of the Holy Sepulcher stands, a temple to Jupiter over where the Temple once stood, and a shrine to the god Adonis at the location of the Church of the Nativity. This was a standard practice of emphasizing triumph of one religion over another in the ancient world (a practice that has continued in Islam through the centuries). The Church of the Holy Sepulcher (known as the Church of the Resurrection by the Greek Orthodox) satisfies many requirements defined in Scripture. The existence of a tomb outside the city wall, situation near a place of crucifixion and situated within a garden. This was the place that early Christians took Queen Helena when she came to Jerusalem and requested to know the location of Jesus’ death and resurrection.
In order to be the historical location of the burial and resurrection site of Jesus, certain factors must be present. Both of the two competing sites (the only two) fulfill conditions, but only one fulfills them all. The conditions for the correct tomb are:[2]
1. It had to be near the site of the crucifixion.
2. It had to be located in a garden.
3. It had to be outside the city walls of Jerusalem when Jesus was crucified in the early A.D. 30s.
4. It had to be hewed out of a stone quarry.
5. It had to be an exceptional tomb since it was a rich man’s tomb.
6. It had to have a rolling stone.
7. It had to have an outer chamber and inner chamber in view of the biblical accounts regarding the women, apostles, and angels at the tomb
8. It had to be a new tomb, thus hewed in the first century A.D.
The Garden Tomb satisfies numbers 1-4, and 7.[3] Item 5 is questionable since there are larger tombs than the small Garden Tomb. Item 6 is uncertain since a rolling stone was not found at the site and the trough in front of the Garden Tomb is not a grove for a rolling stone but is rather a water trough going all the way across the front of the tomb. Item 8 is the most significant since there is no doubt that the Garden Tomb is a 1st temple tomb, created hundreds of years before Jesus and part of a quarry of 8th century B.C. Tombs; consequently, it cannot be the correct tomb, since Jesus was placed in a newly created tomb.”[4]
The Church of the Holy Sepulcher satisfies items 1-4.[4] The tomb resided near a place of crucifixion, and evidence of a garden has been found. The city walls at the time of Christ did not extend beyond the site of the tomb during the time of Jesus, and there are several other tombs found near where the tomb of Christ stood before the Islamic caliph destroyed it. Since there is no tomb to investigate, there is no way to substantiate items 5, 6, or 7, but one would expect that the tomb of Jesus would have the features of other first-century A.D. tombs. An outer chamber of a tomb is found just a few feet away from the current commemorative site of the tomb, built on the place of the former tomb. The tombs in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher are first-century A.D. tombs, so this would satisfy number 8.
We cannot know for certain the location of the death, burial, and resurrection, but most of the evidence, including Hadrian’s early marking of the spot, points to the traditional site as the correct location.[5] It was long remembered in the minds and hearts of the Christians of the first century and afterwards and has been accepted by Christians of all faiths for nearly two thousand years.
[1] http://orthodoxwiki.org/Church_of_the_Holy_Sepulchre_(Jerusalem) (last visited November 18, 2011).
[2] The list is from H. Wayne House and Timothy Demy, “8. Where did Jesus die and rise again?,” Answers to Common Questions about Jesus (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2011), 25. Also see Topographical description of the region of Golgotha, Basicilia of the Anastasis, www. holyland.ccreadbible.org/holysepulchre/ (last visited November 18, 2011).
[3] The book (mentioned in footnote 2) has 7-8, but this is an error. The Garden Tomb is a first temple tomb, used in the 8th century B.C., and is part of a quarry of first temple tombs found adjacent at École Biblique, a Dominican study center and monastery. Consequently, it does not satisfy number 8 in the list. A case for the Garden Tomb may be found at The Resurrection Garden, http://www.oxfordbiblechurch.co.uk/pages/books/mount-moriah-golgotha-the-garden-tomb/chapter-4a.php (last visited November 18, 2011). But see W. Harold Mare, The Place Of Christ’s Crucifixion And Burial, Associates for Biblical Research, Bible and Spade (1974) Volume 3 (Ephrata, PA: Associates for Biblical Research, 1974; 2005).
[4] Jerusalem Report: "Israeli Scholars Date Garden Tomb To The Israelite Monarchy," Associates for Biblical Research, Bible and Spade (1982) Volume 11 (Ephrata, PA: Associates for Biblical Research, 1982).
[5] For more on the long and important history of the site and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, see Martin Biddle, The Tomb of Christ. Stroud (UK): Sutton Publishers, 1999. See also Dan Bahat, “Does the Holy Sepulchre Church Mark the Burial of Jesus?” Biblical Archaeology Review 12:3 (May-June 1986): 26–45.
The Tomb of Jesus the Messiah https://hwhouse.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/10-the_tomb_of_jesus_the_messiah.pdf; You may also find this article in an excellent book on Biblical Archaeology, Joseph M. Holden and Norman Geisler, The Popular Handbook of Archaeology and the Bible: Discoveries That Confirm the Reliability of Scripture, pp. 315-318.