Having finished praying, Jesus left with His disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley. –John 18:1
Here is where this book began, at this ancient Roman stairway known as the Holy Steps. Standing beside these steps on a hot Jerusalem afternoon, it suddenly struck me: Jesus walked here.
He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed. –Luke 22:41
If this book were about the trees of the Bible, rather than the rocks, we would now be at the heartwood of our story: the Garden of Gethsemane, home to an ancient grove of olive trees, some of which may be two thousand years old.
See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. –Mt 21:5
When I first heard about the “Stele of Bethphage,” I laughed.
I tell you, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out. –Luke 19:40
What is more inert, more inanimate, more incapable of voice than a stone?
Do you see all these great buildings? Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down. –Mark 13:2
Jesus could be such a killjoy. One of His band of Galilean rustics, agog with wonder at the sights of the big city, exclaims, “What magnificent buildings!”
The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes. -Mt 21:42
Here we come to one of the central messianic images in the Bible.
He Himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility. –Eph 2:14
So far we have examined impressive first-century remains from the Temple Mount platform and from some of its auxiliary structures. When it comes to the Temple itself, however, the fact is that not a single positively identifiable stone survives.
A poor widow put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny. –Mark 12:42
If we want to get technical in this book about stones in the life of Jesus, we must admit that a number of miscellaneous materials—including pottery, glass, and metals—are all forms or components of stone.
Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away?” –Mark 16:2-3
On the first Easter morning, the women who wanted to anoint Jesus’ body with spices had a problem. Who would move the stone from the tomb entrance?
They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull). –Mark 15:22
Just inside the entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is a narrow stone staircase, at the top of which are two ornate chapels. The one on the right commemorates the nailing of Jesus to the cross. The one on the left marks the site of His crucifixion.