The Garden Tomb
Andy and Wendy have volunteered at the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem three times – each for two months. The Garden Tomb is believed by many to be the garden and sepulchre of Joseph of Arimathea, and therefore the site of the resurrection of Jesus. It provides a quiet place for people to consider the Crucifixion and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Garden is a beautiful oasis just outside the walls of the Old City, and includes an ancient tomb cut out of solid rock.
Over the back wall of the Garden, we look out over a bus station to a little cliff-face that has weathered into the shape of a skull (locals call it Skull Hill.) This could well be the place of the crucifixion.
Thousands of people from every nation of the world come to the Garden Tomb every year (sometimes 2000 a day) to see these things and to have a worship service in the Garden. Andy’s job was to take them round and talk about the things that happened here (or very near to here) on the Good Friday and on Easter Sunday. Wendy would either work in the shop, or help prepare communion for groups. It was a tremendous joy to serve there.
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Because we lived just outside the old city of Jerusalem for 6 months total, we were able to explore Jerusalem and its surrounds very thoroughly indeed. We also were given a long weekend off every time we were there, and we used those to travel widely around Israel. We are by no means an expert on Israel, but we certainly have had intense first-hand experience of it, which was a tremendous privilege and has given us wonderful new insights into Scripture. We have captured these insights on three videos called “Israel then and now.”
