The Place of the Skull

There is a green hill far away, outside a city wall,
Where the dear Lord was crucified, who died to save us all.

We may not know, we cannot tell what pains he had to bear,
But we believe it was for us He hung and suffered there.

He died that we might be forgiven, He died to make us good,
That we might go at last to heaven, saved by His precious blood.

There was none other good enough to pay the price of sin.
He only could unlock the gate of heaven and let us in.

Oh, dearly, dearly has He loved! And we must love Him too,
And trust in His redeeming blood, and try His works to do.
Cecil Francis Alexander, 1818-1895

The above hymn, simply called "There is a Green Hill," is one that I learned and memorized at a very young age. I sang it, every year, with the children I taught in Lutheran Kindergarten and preschool, because it tells the story so well. Yet, I've always thought that those first few words sanitize Jesus' crucifixion just a little bit.

When I was young, this song evoked a picture of a nice, green, grassy hill with gentle slopes and soft breezes, with three crosses lined up neatly on the top. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth.

The hill might have had a few green weeds scattered here and there, but it was really a place of death, called Golgotha in the native Aramaic language that was spoken by Jesus and his contemporaries. That word, Golgotha, means skull. 

And they brought him to the place called Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, the place of a skull. Mark 15:22

I used to think that the hill was named the Place of the Skull because of its function as the site of mass executions. What would have been a fitting name becomes even more appropriate when you see a picture of the actual place, located just outside of the city of Jerusalem.

As you can see, the whole hillside appears to have a skull sculpted into the rocks. I don't know if the skull is a natural formation, or if it was made or enhanced by some ancient people but, either way, it was a suitable place for the crucifixion of God's Son.

In the early Greek translations of the New Testament, the word for Golgotha was usually written as Kranion, which also means "skull." But, in one verse, in the earliest English translations, the Roman name for the location, Calvary, is used to denote the place where Jesus died. All three of the words mean the same thing: skull.

I find it interesting that so many churches, including the one I currently attend, are named Calvary to commemorate Jesus' great sacrifice on our behalf, but only a few churches have been named Golgotha. Perhaps that word, Calvary, seems to be a nicer word that rolls off our tongues a bit easier than the more guttural Golgotha. I wonder, though, if our church were named Golgotha, if it would be easier for us to visualize the horror of crucifixion in general, and Jesus' death in particular.

At one time, the top of that hill would have been littered with the uprights of countless crosses, standing at attention like modern day telephone poles, waiting for the cross pieces to be attached. Some days, nearly every cross held a condemned criminal or political prisoner, languishing there at the top of the hill for everyone to see.

And when they came to the place called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the evil doers, one on the right hand, and the other on the left. Luke 23:33

On the Friday that Jesus died, his cross was flanked with the crosses of two condemned thieves. I'm sure that every other person who hung up there was guilty of something, even if a few were unjustly condemned to die for crimes they didn't commit. But Jesus was the only totally sinless one, who didn't deserve to die because he had never done anything wrong. In spite of that, he purposefully chose to die for the wrongdoings of everyone else who has ever lived or ever will live.

I am so thankful that the story didn't end on that infamous hill. I'm already looking forward to Resurrection Sunday, traditionally called Easter here in North America. I'm ready to sing hallelujahs in praise of our Lord and Savior, because he overcame death. He didn't stay dead! He is alive! And as he said, in John 14:19: "Because I live, you also will live."

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