Daniel McCabe

Part 5: “Life in the Land” Series: Stories from the Church of the Holy Sepulcher…

November 18, 2023

—I’ve always been fascinated by the naval battles of the Pacific during War World 2 and the accomplishments of the U.S.S. Enterprise in particular. My dad served in the Navy, and I had fleeting hopes of serving on a nuclear submarine following college, but the eye chart did me in. A few years ago I learned about another fascinating ship inside the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, the traditional site of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Not a life-sized ship, of course, and actually only the drawing of a ship, but this ship has a story to tell.

—Long before Emperor Constantine authorized the building of the Holy Sepulcher church, another emperor, one hostile to the Christian faith, built a pagan temple atop the site to honor the gods of Jupiter and Venus. Some of the foundation stones and ashlars used in the construction of Hadrian’s temple were reused by Constantine during the construction of his church and can even be seen today.

On one of those ancient stones is inscribed a 12 X 25 inch drawing of a Byzantine sailing ship above a Latin caption that reads … well, that’s where the archaeologists disagree a bit with most suggesting something like “Lord, we came” or its antithesis, “Lord, we will go.” The ship is pointing away from the site of Golgotha, suggesting to some that a long-ago Christian pilgrim, after having visited the site where his Savior died and rose again, was determined to take the message of the gospel back home and perhaps beyond.

So, this ancient drawing is either a great reminder for us to go into all the world to proclaim the gospel or if “Lord, we came” is a preferable translation, then it parallels the beautiful words of King David in Psalm 122:1 who rejoiced upon his arrival at the temple over 1000 years earlier, “Let us go into the house of the LORD.” Needless to say, whether the pilgrim who drew his ship was arriving at Golgotha to worship or leaving for home, we can share in his joy that we have a great Savior, a risen Savior. We too have a story to tell.

—Daniel McCabe

Trivia

Discovered in 1961 the “Pilate Stone” proves that Pontius Pilate’s correct title was WHAT?

  • A. Governor of Judea
  • B. King of Judea
  • C. Prefect of Judea
  • D. Procurator of Judea

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