Watching Jesus Die

Book excerpt: What if you could transport yourself back to the first century, walking the dusty streets of Jerusalem, late on Thursday night before Passover? And what if you were tagging along behind eleven men led by Jesus to the Garden of Gethsemane? You’d leave the Upper Room and go deep into the Kidron Valley to the garden. There the temple police and a half-crazed crowd arrive brandishing torches. Jesus is taken to the palace of Annas and then to the High Priest Caiaphas. What insight do we gain from history, archaeology, and most importantly the New Testament about where they lived? In the morning Jesus would be sent to the Chamber of Hewn Stone. What was this place and why is it important to the Passion narratives? On to Pilate’s Judgment Hall where new archaeological evidence questions its traditional location. You pick up the trail again on the Via Dolorosa and follow Jesus to Jerusalem’s killing field. There you find the Savior dying on a Roman cross. In just a few hours you have followed him from the Upper Room to Joseph’s tomb and have gained valuable insight into each stopover to help you on your own journey to Calvary.