The Garden Tomb is Empty on Easter Morning

Christ the Lord is Risen

“Then took they [Joseph of Arimathaea and Nicodemus] the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid. There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews’ preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand.” John 19:40-42.

“The first day of the week [Sunday] cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark [sometime before 6 a.m.], unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.” John 20:1.

“But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre, and seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him and I will take him away. Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.” John 20:11-16.

While most of Christianity believe both Golgotha and the Tomb are located in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, many Protestants and many Latter Day Saints believe the two sites are adjacent here at the Garden Tomb and at adjacent Golgotha. Additionally, there is inside the Garden Tomb two Byzantine era (5th century) crosses painted with the signs for “Jesus Christ, Alpha and Omega”.

Inside the Garden Tomb (pictured above), there would have been two stone slabs placed like tables, one on the right and one on the left. Under each table slab there is a hollow space. The middle of the room was open for the living to arrange the dead on the slab tables. Bodies were left on the table slabs for at least a year to decompose, leaving only bones. Then a family member would gather the bones and arrange them in a small stone box called an ossuary. The ossuary would then be placed under the slab table as the permanent resting place.

The problem arises as the style of this tomb is that of the Old Testament’s first temple period. And therefore could not be “a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid.” Either it is the wrong tomb, or the Gospel writers misunderstood that it was not a newly hewn tomb, but one to be reused. The original interments having been long since cleared out and was newly purchased by Joseph of Arimathaea for his own eventual internment?

There is evidence that the area of the Garden Tomb was in fact an agricultural garden as a grape press was found there. And it is next to a possible site for Golgotha. Whether it is or is not the correct place, the Garden Tomb is a beautiful and peaceful place where a person can feel the Spirit of God. It is probably my most favorite place in Israel, with Gethsemane a close second.