Looking for Jesus in All the Wrong Places

In February 2007, National Geographic published an article announcing that director Simcha Jacobovici was going to air a film on the Discovery channel that would outline proof positive that he and others found the burial remains of Jesus Christ and his “family.” The film was the second of this genre for Jacobovici who earlier in 2003 directed a documentary presenting proof that the tomb of James (the brother of Jesus) had been found. This new film that provided “proof” that Jesus’ remains had been found along with those of his wife and son was also produced by James Cameron, director of the box office smash hit Titanic.


Something to Consider First
Before we look at the evidence, it is prudent for us to consider what it would mean to produce the remains of Jesus. The apostle Paul said that without the Resurrection of Christ, our faith is dead. He is right. Our faith hinges the guarantee of life we have in the resurrected body of Christ. If he is not resurrected, then how can we have hope of being so? The bible says that we are alive in Christ, yet if he is dead, then so shall we be.

With this in mind, it is important to consider that directly after the death of Christ, the apostles were making bold claims that they saw the Lord Jesus alive, without regard for their personal safety. The religious leaders in Israel believed that these claims were blasphemous. These very same leaders knew that Jesus said He would rise from the grave, and they placed Roman guards at the tomb of Jesus immediately after the burial to prevent anyone from stealing the body and falsely claiming Jesus had risen.

All the religious leaders in Israel needed to do to end what they believed was a blasphemous, heretical movement was to produce a body. These claims were not made in some foreign land where they could not be investigated. They were made only miles from the tomb, and only days from the Crucifixion. The leaders needed only to produce a body and parade it around the streets of Jerusalem and Christianity would have ended 3 days after Jesus' death.

The fact is that there was no body to produce then. If there was no body then, only 3 days removed, any rational thinker would have to be skeptical that remains have been produced now--2000 years later.

The Evidence
Discovery channel president Jane Root was quoted in the article as saying, “The evidence is compelling... the consequences are enormous.” Most of the leading experts in archaeology disagree. Sandra Scham wrote in an article published in Archaeology Magazine:

“For scholars, however, at least those who are not too busy fulminating on television about the publicity-seeking proclivities of those associated with this project, this case is an eminently flawed one.”

The “compelling” evidence can be defined in two categories. The first is the statistical category. When archaeologists found this particular tomb, there were several ossuaries (small coffins). Engraved on these ossuaries were the names of “Maria, Joseph, Jesus--Son of Joseph, Miriamne (said to be the name of Mary Magdalene), and Judah (said to be the son of Jesus).” The producers brought in a statistician saying that the odds of these names appearing in the same tomb were between 1 and 600 to 1 in 1000 that these ossuaries could belong to anyone else other than the family of Jesus of Nazareth and Jesus himself.

The second is the DNA evidence. DNA samples were taken from the residue in the ossuary (at this point the author thinks it would be prudent to mention that there were no actual remains found in the ossuary). Scientists were able to determine that the remains found in the ossuary labeled “Miriamne” and the remains in the ossuary labeled “Jesus, son of Joseph” were not blood relatives. The film makers assert that this is evidence that the two must have been married and that “Judah was there Son.”

Why is the Christian faith still around?
This whole documentary was discredited almost immediately after airing. This was partly due to the fact that Jacobovici’s subject matter for his previous documentary was proven to have been faked, and partly to the fact that the numbers used in creating the "statistics" were wildly exaggerated. In 2003, experts in Israel found that the ossuary supposedly belonging to James, brother of Jesus was a fake. Also, the archaeologist who originally found the tomb disputes the claims that Jacobovici make in the film. According to the National Geographic article, Amos Kloner, who originally examined the tomb, said that the names found on the ossuaries were the most common names of the day. He refutes the claims made by Jacobovici.

My Thoughts
Personally, I believe that hoaxes like this tend to discredit themselves quickly enough. When this film originally aired, there was an outcry; however, hardly a week passed after its airing before scores of brilliant, world renowned, secular archaeologist came forward to completely debunk the claims made in this film. I think this is the best possible scenario for Christian apologists. The refutation had much more gravity coming from secular scientists than it would have coming from apologists. Certainly there are heresies that must be confronted head on, but this issue was so ludicrous that it was wise in this circumstance to allow other scientists the opportunity to discredit it.

One would imagine that finding "the remains of Jesus" would change the world forever, but now, this film that was to change existence as we know it is but a vague and fuzzy memory. It is relegated to the, "Oh yeah! I kind of remember that" category.

Sources
De Pastino, Blake. “Jesus' Tomb Found in Israel, Filmmakers Claim.” National Geographic News; February 26, 2007. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/02/070226-jesus-tomb.html

Scham, Sandra. ‘The "Jesus Tomb" on TV.’ Archaeology; Online Reviews; March 3, 2007. http://www.archaeology.org/online/reviews/jesustomb2.html