What Really Matters is Jesus

The Church of the Holy Sepulcher

One of the interesting things about traveling in Israel is that almost every place we go, people there seem to be certain that their place is where Jesus was born, where Jesus was baptized, where Jesus was crucified, where Jesus was buried, etc.

The truth is, no one really knows with any certainty.

In fact, there are multiple places that say that their place is where the actual event occurred. For instance, both the Church of the Sepulcher and the Garden Tomb claim that their place is where Jesus was crucified and resurrected.

The Garden Tomb

Both of them can't be right.

Jesus only died once and only rose once.

So what are we to make of all this?

The truth of the gospel doesn't depend on a particular location. The truth of the gospel is all about a particular Savior.

I don't mind that we don't know the exact places where Jesus did this and where Jesus did that. Because they're just places. What really matters is that Jesus did those things.

I am glad that we don't have the original cross or the know the exact places of particular events. Because human beings have a tendency to make idols of such things.

Can you imagine people saying such things as:

• "I got to touch the cross of Jesus" 
• "I sat in the very stone where Jesus rose from the grave" 

The truth of the gospel has nothing to do with venerated places and icons. The truth of Christianity has everything to do with a God who so loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son, so that whosoever should believe in him will not perish but have ever lasting life.