Calvary is real, but is the crucifixion story?

THE CRUCIFIXION and the resurrection of Jesus Christ of Nazareth is the foundation story of Christianity. Jesus Christ, the physical representation of God, the Messiah, sent by God to redeem the world, was betrayed and crucified on a cross on top of a hill called Calvary. Days after Jesus was buried, he ascended back to God, for his work was done.

But, while Calvary is a geographical fact, a physical space, the story of the crucifixion and the ascension of Jesus that took place there is highly disputed as a fact. Thousands of people the world over believe that it is a fictitious story set in the region, just as any other fiction story is set in a real place.

Many reasons are posited for the disbelief in this crucifixion, and, by extension, in the redemptive power of the blood of Jesus that flowed while He was still affixed to the cross. Yet, this article is not about discussing such reasons; it seeks to explore the Old City section of Jerusalem, which is also chock-full of historical value, and is the bedrock for three of the world’s biggest religions.

The Old City is surrounded by a very thick and high wall. It is a place with a long history of religious conflicts, and where three major Abrahamic religions are freely practised in separate quarters. There is also the Armenian quarter.

It has an area of 0.9 square kilometres (0.35 squaremiles). Up to 1860, this area constituted the entire city of Jerusalem, and within it are significant religious sites, such as the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque (Muslim), the Temple Mount and Western Wall (Jewish) and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (Christian).

Because of its vast number of heritage and religious sites, it was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Site list in 1981. That is over four and a half centuries since the current city walls were built.

In 1535 when Jerusalem was part of the Ottoman Empire, Sultan Suleiman ordered the ruined city walls to be rebuilt. The work took some four years, between 1537 and 1541.The length of the walls is 4,018 metres (2.4966 miles). Their average height is 12 metres (39.37 feet) and the average thickness is 2.5 metres (8.2 feet).

The walls have 34 watchtowers and seven main gates open for traffic, with two minor gates reopened by archaeologists. Now, the gated walls of Jerusalem, which were originally built to protect the Old City against invasions, are major tourist attractions.

MUSLIM QUARTER

The Muslim Quarter is the largest and the most populous, while the Armenian is the smallest. The Armenians are Christians who are independent of the greater Christian Quarter, where the Via Dolorosa and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher are located.

The Via Dolorosa, the ‘Way of the Painful’, starts in the Muslim section. It is said to be the route on which Jesus travelled with the cross to Calvary where He was crucified. It has 14 stations, important points along the way, which lead up to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

Also known as the Church of the Resurrection, it is a massive centuries-old structure of many archaeological influences. It is regarded by many as the holiest place in Christendom. It has the two holiest sites in Christianity, where Jesus was crucified, and Jesus’ empty tomb, which is enclosed by an 18th-century shrine. It has several more important sites, including the last five stations of the Via Dolorosa.

JEWISH QUARTER

The Jewish Quarter has a long history of conquests, exiles, destruction and reconstruction, and is replete with archaeological remains, including the Western Wall or the Wailing Wall, which is the last remnant of an ancient retaining wall of the second Jewish temple, built by King Herod. It is traditionally used by Jews for prayer and has been called Wailing because of the practice of Jews weeping at the site over the destruction of their temples. It is considered holy because of its connection to the Temple Mount, situated at the extreme south-east of the Old City.

The Temple Mount, to the Jews, ‘Mount of the House of God’, is known to Muslims as the Haramesh-Sharif, ‘the Noble Sanctuary’. It is one of the most important religious sites in the world. It has been revered as a holy site for thousands of years by Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The present site is dominated by three monumental structures – the al-Aqsa Mosque, the Dome of the Rock and the Dome of the Chain.

The Temple Mount is the holiest site in Judaism, which regards it as the place where God’s divine presence is manifested more than in any other place. Because of its sanctity, many Jews will not walk on the mount itself, to avoid unintentionally entering the spot where Jesus walked.

But the mount is also widely considered among Sunni Muslims to be the third-holiest site in Islam. It is revered as the place of the prophet Muhammad’s journey to Jerusalem, and from which he ascended to Heaven. The al-Aqsa Mosque is at the southern side of the mount, facing Mecca. The Dome of the Rock is in the middle, close to the area where the Holy Temple previously stood. In light of the dual claims of both Judaism and Islam, it is one of the most-contested religious sites in the world.

That there was a man from Nazareth, who was crucified at Calvary, is one of the most-contested religious stories in the world, but the existence of Calvary is indisputable. It is a very interesting place visited by thousands of people yearly, whether the resurrection story is real or imaginary.

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