M E R I D I A N     M A G A Z I N E

More Insights from Israel
By Susan Law Corpany

Now that you’ve met my grandbabies, I thought I would take you back to Israel, a trip that is on my mind once more, especially with Christmas coming. I have mentioned previously that for some events in Christ’s life, more than one site claims to be authentic. Imagine if that were the case in Salt Lake City.

“This is the place.”

“No, this is the place.”

“Here, see. There is an indentation in this rock where Brigham put his staff. This is the place!”

The Garden Tomb

After visiting the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, we visited The Garden Tomb. It was a beautiful clear morning, and there were only a couple of other people in the carefully tended garden. It was peaceful and uncrowded that day. Near the tomb is the hill of Golgotha, which now deceptively benignly stands watch over a bus terminal.

There is a photograph that illustrates why this hill was called “The Place of the Skull,” and one can clearly see the face of the skull in the rocks. As I sat on a bench looking at this hill, trying to imagine what took place there, the travesty of it hit me in a way it never had before. “He was an innocent man. Beyond innocent, He was perfect. It was so unfair!”

They took this man who had spent His life in service to others, healing the sick, comforting the weary, giving strength to the downtrodden, and they killed him in the most inhumane way. I felt so ashamed of myself, for the many times I had complained about the unfairness of things that had happened or not happened in my life.

I had always thought of the atonement in terms of remission of sins, and had always thought of how Jesus understands suffering, but never before had I been struck by the unfairness of it all. He understands when life is unfair to us, because He endured the ultimate unfairness. He understands how it feels to be childless when all around you are blessed with children. He understands when the promotion you worked so hard for is given to someone less qualified. He understands when you lose a child or a spouse or a friend in an untimely manner. He understands how it feels to run the race and not get the prize.

The emotions I felt looking at that hill were so overwhelming, that I could not endure looking at it any longer, the eyes of the skull hollowly looking back at me. Wiping the tears from my eyes, I walked toward the nearby tomb. I read the words written on the door nearby. “He is not here. He is risen.”

Immediately my spirit rose from the depths of despair, and I was overcome with a feeling of great joy. I sat down on a bench across from the tomb and let the tears flow again, unable to staunch the flow and not wanting to.

My despair was replaced by joy, so much so that I felt I could not contain it. I understood that someday our difficulties will all be swallowed up in the joy we will feel. I walked into the tomb, stepping over the groove where once a stone was rolled in front of the door and then rolled away.

Visiting places like this and the Garden of Gethsemane reminded me of the movie Mary Poppins, where the children jumped into the chalk pictures and they came to life. Here I was in places I had seen in photos and in paintings, and they had come to life! I was alone in the tomb, able to contemplate and feel without company or interruption. Although my husband was nearby, we were each wandering the garden allowing each other to experience this site individually.
Someone had laid a lone flower on the stone where His head would have rested.

I was overcome with a feeling of love for my Saviour, that He had made it possible that I would see my brother, Mike, again, and would someday be reunited with my husband, Paul, with whom I had spent such a short time before he died. I even thought about my little dog, Corky, and how I hoped that when Paul came to collect me, she would be bounding along by his side.

Eventually I came together again with Thom, and we sat down in the shade at a little table. It seemed again that we had the garden all to ourselves. He had purchased some small bottles of olive oil from the gift shop. He blessed each bottle there in that sacred place to be used for the healing of the sick, to be given to our sons and son-in-law as a special Christmas gift.

Does that oil have power beyond any other oil? No, but it has power to make the bearer think of holy things, of the holy place from which it came, and perhaps to strive to be more worthy, listen more carefully and seek the spirit more diligently.

BYU-Jerusalem Center

The following Saturday, we attended church services at the BYU-Jerusalem Center. In Relief Society, I learned new words to “Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree.” courtesy of teacher V-Ann Ludlow.

I looked out the window and what did I see?
Date nuts popping on the date palm tree.
Israel has brought me such a nice surprise,
Date nuts popping right before my eyes.

I can take a handful and throw them in the Sea,
A great big wave will bring them back to me.
It wasn’t really so, but it seemed to be
Date nuts swimming in the Sea of Galilee.

One of the speakers in sacrament meeting said that being in Israel in the land of holy sites had not strengthened her testimony because she did not need to see the sites to know the events were real. Although I don’t disagree with her, there is something powerful about sitting in a sacrament meeting with windows that look out over the old city of Jerusalem and singing, “There is a green hill far away” and knowing that it is actually quite nearby.

For me, visiting the holy sites had a faith-affirming power that makes me want to try harder to be a better person. I visit them now in my mind by looking at the pictures in my scriptures. I hope someday I get to jump back inside and make them come to life again.