case you haven’t heard, we should pack up church and call it quits. Well, that is if you listen to the words of movie director James Cameron and documentarian Simcha Jacobovici. In a recent documentary that aired on March 6th, coupled with the book release of The Jesus Family Tomb in late February, there have been claims that the lost tomb of Jesus and His family have been found. What are we to do as Christians with this claim? First, the facts.
Yes, there was tomb found in East Talpiot, just south of the old city of Jerusalem. Inside of the tomb were several ossuaries (a stone box used in the first century Middle East to store bones of individuals after about a year). The names inscribed on these ossuaries were “Jesus, Son of Joseph,” “Mary,” “Mary, known as the Master,” “Judah, Son of Jesus,” “Jose” and “Matthew.” The tomb was discovered in 1980, documented, and then recovered.
Now to the good stuff. At the time of its discovery, the BBC aired a report claiming that the bones of Jesus could have been found. However, archaeologists quickly disproved this claim and nothing more was said. Enter Cameron and Jacobovici, like the bad actors of a sequel to a movie that never should have been. Their speculation is based on DNA evidence that gives us little information, not breaking insights as the documentary would speculate. More on this in a second. For now, there are a few glaring problems with the documentary’s proposal. These five points were initially discussed by Mike Licona, the director of apologetics and interfaith evangelism at the North American Mission Board, on www.baptistpress.com.
1. The ossuaries are located in the wrong place. For Jesus and His family, they would have been buried in Galilee. Why? Because the first century practice was to be buried in the city that a family was from. Further, historical documents place some of the burials in places quite a distance form East Talpiot. The location of Jesus’ traditional tomb in the Church of the Holy Selpucher predates the 4th century. James’ tomb, as recorded by Eusebius (as known as the father of early church history for his work recording the early history of the church), was marked by a stone just outside of the Temple Sanctuary in Jerusalem, quite a distance from the proposed site in East Talpiot. According to tradition dating back to the 6th century, there are two places that could have been the burial spot for Mary, neither of which are East Talpiot. And further adding weight is the fact that no tradition places Jesus’, James’, and Mary’s tombs together.
2. There is an impressive collection of names. However, today, it would be no different than seeing a Mike, John and Jane buried together. Mary was the most popular female name during Jesus’ time. There are, in fact, at least six different Mary’s mentioned in the New Testament. Joseph was the second most common name for men at the time, Judah the fourth, and Matthew the ninth. Of the 1,000 ossuaries that have been uncovered, at least 22 of them have the name Jesus inscribed on them, and two have the words “Jesus, Son of Joseph” To find a tomb with this collection of names is not extraordinary, but in fact, a little unexciting when really examined. Lastly, what is one to do with the name Matthew that was found? He was not a sibling of Jesus, and not postulated as a child. Anyone looking at the facts critically could not pass by this oddity.
3. There is strong evidence against Jesus being married. In I Corinthians 9:5, Paul builds a case for both he and Barnabas to have the right to be married. He lists others who are in their position that were married to build his case. Among them are Peter, other apostles, and the Jesus’ brothers. If Jesus had been married, Paul could have ended the discussion by point that out. In the NT, no mention is made of Jesus being married. At the cross, two women named Mary are present, only one of which provision is made for. Lastly, concerning the idea of Jesus being married (namely to Mary Magdalene), liberal scholar and Princeton professor Elaine Pagels said that Dan Brown (who put forth this idea in his NOVEL The DaVinci Code) is perhaps the “only person in the world who believes that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married.”
4. Jesus appeared to many of His disciples. In fact, Paul, James, Peter, John and other Jerusalem apostles all testify to the resurrected Jesus. What is interesting is that James, the brother of Jesus, did not become a believer in Jesus until later, after the crucifixion and resurrection. Why would he then support the idea of the resurrection even when he was not a believer? Buy yet, he did. There is no defense for the record of eye-witness accounts of Jesus’ resurrection.
5. The DNA evidence. This establishes very little. At best, it only links a “possible familial relationship between those in the Talpiot tomb.” There is no way for it to even suggest that the remains belong to the family of Jesus of Nazareth. And then, it is only a possible familial relationship.
6. Lastly, one must wrestle with the fact that Jesus’ disciples were martyred for believing in Jesus and His resurrection. Why would anyone die for something that was untrue? This, too, is a question that has no answer from the opposing party. At some point, the threat of death would cause someone to let the proverbial cat out of the bag and stop holding to this lie. But that was not the case. Fervently, the disciples held fast to their confession of the resurrected Lord. We will follow suit and hold boldly to this unwavering truth of Christianity.
Cameron and Jacobovici seek to pull blind us to the truth of Jesus, but their claims cannot hold up under scrutiny. Dr. Mark Rather from the Baptist College of Florida calls it a case of Indiana Jones meets Dan Brown meets CSI. While these can be entertaining, they are all fiction, just like the mere speculation of this “documentary,” which would find a better home on shelves next to fiction novels than historical textbooks. Prayerfully, this short essay will help you with questions you may have, or the questions that co-workers may voice your way.
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