February 13, Site #7

CRUCIFIXION
Crucifixion was a form of capital punishment used by the Romans for slaves, violent criminals, and those involved in revolution. Judea was littered with crosses after each of the revolts against Rome (4, 70, 135 AD). Josephus, the Jewish historian, describes a time when there was a cross on every hilltop. Victims were normally naked. They were rarely buried – their corpses being left for birds of prey. People impelled to a tree were considered cursed by God (Deuteronomy 21:22-23). People who were crucified were nailed to the cross through their forearms just above the wrist and through their heels. Their legs were pushed up so that their arms had to carry the body’s full weight. This then caused the nails to tear through the flesh of the forearm until they reached the wrist. The victim had no place to rest. Normally their legs were broken to make rest more difficult. Eventually they would die of suffocation, unable to pull themselves up sufficiently to breathe.

CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHER
This church includes under its roof the events that happened at stations ten through fourteen of the Via Dolorosa. It is where Jesus was crucified, buried, and was raised from the dead. It is a compound of churches divided between six Christian communities: Greek Orthodox, Armenians, Franciscans, Ethiopians, Coptics, and Syrian Jacobites. Each group zealously protects its rights. Through the years the various sects have had difficulty uniting to maintain the complex. The first church here was built by Helena, mother of Constantine, in 326.

I Peter 1:3-9 (our faith in the risen Christ)
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith—being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.