Israel is surely one of the most diverse countries both geographically and culturally. Nothing is boring about Israel, and each day’s experience in this country stimulates thought and feeling and understanding. For example, one has difficulty understanding a Jewish view of the sabbath until witnessing the celebration and joy that are expressed at the Western Wall at the beginning of Sabbath.

For all of the stimulating places though, after the stairs at the southern end of the temple mount, the most striking place for me was the visit to Herod’s family tomb. Herod was not buried there, for, as recent evidence confirmed, he was buried on the slopes of the Herodion, one of several fortresses he constructed. His family tomb site is not elaborate, but it offers an instructive example of a tomb near the time of Jesus. As the attached picture shows, the opening is small, perhaps about four feet, and the stone to roll in front of the tomb is a carefully constructed round stone. Such tombs are not rare, but something about this one grabs the attention. Perhaps it is the testimony of Josephus about Herod’s family tomb or the connection to Herod, but I think it is the stone itself that arrests and causes contemplation. The IBR group spent a fair amount of time at this site, did some videotaping, and then later the same day visited the site of the Talpiot grave, the site recently trumpeted—without credible evidence—as the site of Jesus’ tomb. This latter tomb is sealed and, if one did not know the site, has nothing that even suggests a tomb. The visual contrast between the two sites made the Talpiot site almost uninteresting. What is so important though and visualized in that round stone at Herod’s family tomb is the reminder: the stone was rolled away. He is not here; he is risen, which is the only reason for this faith. The relation between faith and history is one fo the most significant issues for Christian thought, one the IBR group discussed repeatedly. The event character of this faith cannot legitmately be diminished, even if we struggle to find the appropriate language to describe it. In the end, we do not judge the event by our concept of reality so much as the event judges our pseudo-reality and calls us to deeper understanding of life and God.