Explore the Bible

Where did it happen?
It happened outside the walls of Jerusalem, in a very public place. The Bible says, "This thing was not done in a corner". Jesus Christ of Nazareth was crucified between two thieves. The place is called Golgotha, otherwise the Place of a Skull, or the hill of Calvary. These are places described in the gospel records – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John – which are identifiable today. It was a very real place.

We talk about hope in everyday conversation. We say "I hope you feel better soon", or "We hope to go abroad this year" or "I hope the strike will be over by next week". We mean there is something in the future we should very much like to happen, and we feel cautiously optimistic that it will. Life without hope would be very grim. Even in the worst of circumstances, people like to look on the bright side. A poet wrote: "Hope springs eternal in the human breast." Hope can give men extraordinary tenacity of spirit-miners trapped by a roof fall, or sailors drifting on a raft, will often fight death for days, convinced that their friends will come to the rescue before it is too late. Sadly, of course, they are sometimes disappointed. It can happen that the rock fall is too deep to tunnel through, or no one knows the ship has foundered. In this case the chance to which they cling does not exist, and their hope is an illusion.