On Sunday, March 4, the Discovery Channel will air a show describing how archaelogists have discovered the tomb of Jesus and his family, including Mary Magdalene and 'their son Judah'. You can see http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/tomb/tomb.html?dcitc=w99-502-ah-1024 to check out the background on the story and information about the tomb that was unearthed outside Jerusalem. The tomb was orignally unearthed in 1980 but information on the ossuaries in the tomb are just now coming to light thanks to Academy Award Winner James Cameron,
This should be pretty interesting. I mean, is it true? Could it be that the remains of Jesus and his family were actually found? And what does it mean? I suspect most of the press would point immediately to the juicy implication that maybe Jesus and Mary Magdalene actually had a tryst (a la Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code). That's sort of the Entertainment Tonight angle on the story. But when you get past that, you get to the only real point. Are the remains of Jesus in a box in a tomb outside of Jerusalem? If so, um Houston, we have a problem. It's a problem that Paul anticipated in his letter to the Corinthian Christians, "If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ . . .If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied."
The ultimate problem is not that all of Christian testimony will be undermined, but the implications of that undermining for you and me. The problem is not that I'm out of a job. The problem is that I'm still in my sins--sins that by the grace of God in the death and resurrection of Christ, I trust are forgiven. And so are you.
Well, I suggest you not get too excited or upset just yet. These kinds of archaeological finds are fascinating, but rarely prove or disprove the Bible (cf Shroud of Turin, James ossuary, Noah's Ark, etc.). It always has been, and probably always will be a question of faith. What do you believe and what are you willing to stake your life on to such an extent that if you are wrong, you should be pitied for giving your life to the cause? For me, it's Christ.
