He is not here; He has risen! –Luke 24:6
Beneath the larger of the two domes of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is a rotunda known as the Anastasis, a Greek word meaning resurrection.
Author Archives: Mike Mason
The Anointing Stone (Chapter 62 of Jesus: His Story In Stone)
Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. Taking Jesus’ body, they wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. –John 19:39-40
The Church of the Holy Sepulcher (Chapter 60 of Jesus: His Story In Stone)
And they crucified Him. –Mark 15:24
Of the fourteen Stations of the Cross, the last five are in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher: Jesus is stripped; He is nailed to the cross; He dies; He is taken down; He is laid in the tomb.
Column of the Flagellation (Chapter 59 of Jesus: His Story In Stone)
He had Jesus flogged, and handed Him over to be crucified. Mark 15:15
This fragment of a column, composed of red porphyry, is housed in the Franciscan Chapel of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. Is it the actual column to which Jesus was tied to undergo flogging?
Stone Handprint (Chapter 58 of Jesus: His Story In Stone)
As they led Him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene … and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. –Luke 23:26
The first ten Stations of the Cross on the Via Dolorosa probably preserve no authentic first century remains. But Station Five—“Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry His cross”—does exhibit one arresting stone artifact.
The Lithostrotos (Chapter 57 of Jesus: His Story In Stone)
Pilate brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). –John 19:13
At this point in our story, the trail of stones that Jesus actually saw and touched begins to grow cold, buried beneath twenty centuries of urban development.
The Ecce Homo Arch (Chapter 56 of Jesus: His Story In Stone)
When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!” –John 19:5
The Ecce Homo Arch marks the beginning of Jerusalem’s Via Dolorosa.
Pontius Pilate (Chapter 55 of Jesus: His Story In Stone)
The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews. Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.” –John 19:21-2
The Sacred Pit (Chapter 54 of Jesus: His Story In Stone)
You have put me in the lowest pit, in the darkest depths. –Psalm 88:6
The night Jesus was arrested He was taken to Caiphas, the high priest, where He was tried summarily and beaten.
Holy Steps (Chapter 52 of Jesus: His Story In Stone)
Having finished praying, Jesus left with His disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley. –John 18:1
Here is where this book began, at this ancient Roman stairway known as the Holy Steps. Standing beside these steps on a hot Jerusalem afternoon, it suddenly struck me: Jesus walked here.