Respect and Worship

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

RESPECT AND WORSHIP

John 19:38-42

38 Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jews. With Pilate's permission, he came and took the body away. 39 He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.   40 Taking Jesus' body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. 41 At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. 42 Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

NIV

Much debate, and perhaps without any absolute empirical evidence, has been going on for centuries as to the exact location of this place called Golgotha and the garden tomb. The greatest challenge is in locating the original wall to the city at the time of Jesus. For centuries it has been believed the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is the site where Jesus was crucified. However, where it is located could or could not be outside the wall of the city. No one really knows and to some extent, the exact place of Golgotha is not that important. What has happened is a division between Catholic and Protestant believers over the correct site. Having visited both sites, we have observed a major difference in the behavior of believers. Within the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, there was almost a sense of worship of the site. Lines of people waiting hours to kneel under a small altar type structure to peer through a hole in the floor in order to catch a glance at a hole in a stone which has been said to be the place the Cross of Jesus stood. Not far from there, still within the church was another larger type structure, almost a building, again with lines of people waiting to enter to view what is said to be the garden tomb. The sense we got was the sites were considered holy ground and almost worshipped as holy. The other site did not feel like that at all. The point of this is not to diminish either or the beliefs of people, but to once again consider this site is not the issue, but rather the actions that happened there. The ground is ground, the earth is earth, we do not worship things or places, but we worship our Lord and Savior. Joseph and Nicodemus cared not as to mark the spot, but were concerned for the care of the body of Jesus. It is interesting to view what might have been the type of tomb Jesus was laid in, but no one knows for certain where exactly he was laid, and we believe that is on purpose. God does not want us to worship a site, but to worship Him. Today, we have almost turned our churches into holy ground, some denominations more than others, but we all have done it, to some extent. We might be paying too much attention to the physical building then we should. Of course, we want to maintain the building, which would be good stewardship and just good common sense. But we should not place so much importance on the buildings as we do, whom it is we come into the building to worship. Joseph and Nicodemus took the body and prepared it in accordance with Jewish customs, they were respecting their customs, but they were focused on caring for the body of Jesus, respecting his body, as they respected him when he walked among them. We respect our customs of belief, but we need to be more focused on respect and worship of Jesus, himself.