Mt 27:33 And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull,
Mr 15:22 And they bring him unto the place Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, The place of a skull.
Joh 19:17 And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha:
As I prayed this morning, God gave me a vision. In it, Jesus stood crucified and dying upon that famous mount called Golgotha.
Gologotha comes from an Aramaic derivative “gulgoleth” translated as skull or head.
In Christian circles, this famous hill is also categorized as Calvary for its Latin derivative “calvaria”, or skull.
If one looks cautiously at the picture on my post, he or she will appreciate the two cavernous holes resembling eye sockets on a skull and what appears as another vertical hole below them where a nose could be. Above the skull, in the fenced in grassy knoll, is where tradition says, that the cross with Jesus crucified stood.
In my vision, as Jesus hung bleeding and dying, God took me down into the left eye socket of the skull. I would estimate that this eye could not be more than 15 feet below the base of the cross.
Deep inside the rocky socket a wooden table was set with twelve church goers eating. I could not tell what was served but everybody was obsessed with devouring the food. No one looked up. No one spoke. Everybody was transfixed with the sole role of consumption. How sadly ironic that Jesus was bleeding and dying fifteen feet above and no one recognized it, or cared to do so.
Have our churches become malls for Christian consumption? Maybe so, but this was also a “Club Golgotha; Members Only Please!”
And have our churches become Club Golgothas where we dine, socialize and just cater to one another, as Jesus dies bleeding for the world, dripping blood on top of our heads?
In my vision, someone finally got up from the table awe-struck at the Jesus in a piece of bread which he had picked up from the food. As everybody else continued munching down at Club Golgotha, he went to the edge of the eye socket still transfixed on the bread. I knew that he was ready to leave Club Golgotha. I realized that person was me. That person is you. That person is meant to be every Christian.
Yes, we are to assemble and not forsake one other. Yes, we need to fellowship, we are His body. Yes, we are to go to church.
I love the church, and have laid my life down for it.
I love the church, and so enjoy ministering within it.
But Lord, deliver me from just being a Club Golgotha member. Lord delivers us all as we go to our respective churches!
May they not become Club Golgothas, lose their saltiness, and be worthy only to be trampled underfoot by wicked people
May the unchurched not see the church as an exclusive “members only” fraternity made up of legalistic and judgmental rules which prohibit the many who want to join.
May the church get away from Christian jargon and serve the world by being authentically real and genuinely loving.
Who today is ready to serve the church, but leave Club Golgotha?
I think that it’s not just a good idea but a “God Idea!”
Jose and Mary Alvarez 