Jesus’ Family Tomb
On Sunday, March 4, at 9 pm, the Discovery Channel will air a feature on the “so-called” tomb of Jesus’ family called The Lost Tomb of Jesus. This special presents the claim that the bones of Jesus, his mother, his brothers, his wife, and his child have all been found. This, of course, would be quite disheartening to Christians whose faith is based on the bodily resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.
However, the Discovery Channel special turns out to be much ado about nothing. I would recommend two assessments of this affair. One, found here, is by respected New Testament scholar, Ben Witherington III. The other, more concise and readable for the average person, written by Paul Maier, professor of ancient history at Western Michigan University, is found here.
Long story very short:
1. This information is not new. Scholars have known about these findings since 1980. There has been no great noise because the findings are insignificant.
2. The names on the ossuaries are all very common names and in no way can be identified as Jesus Christ and family members.
3. There is no tradition whatsoever – Christian, Jewish, or secular – that any part of the Holy Family was buried at Jerusalem.
HT: Mark Roberts