First Presbyterian Church
No Lost Tomb
Sermon for March 11, 2007
by Pastor Susan Barnes

Children's Time:

Raise your hand if you can name any place in the Bible.

Yes, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Judea are all real places in the Bible. I was in another real place, Jerash, I picked up these broken pieces of pottery. They are about 2,000 years old. Some archeologists can tell how old a pot is by the type of decoration on it and the color of the clay. (I passed around the pieces of pottery and mosaic tiles.)

Listen for the word of God as we read it together in Psalm 63:1-8.

63:1 A Psalm of David, when he was in the Wilderness of Judah. O God, you are my God, I seek you, my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.

3 Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.

4 So I will bless you as long as I live; I will lift up my hands and call on your name.

5 My soul is satisfied as with a rich feast, and my mouth praises you with joyful lips

6 when I think of you on my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night;

7 for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy.

8 My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.

This ends our reading of the Psalm. Let's listen to the choir interpret it.

Anthem

Jesus has been teaching the crowd to: stick together, help one another, mediate between yourselves; don't worry about defending yourselves if you are brought before the authorities because the holy spirit will be with you, and teach you what to say. Don't store up treasures for yourselves, nations do that. Consider ravens – God feeds them; consider lilies- God clothes them. Strive for the realm of God; don't be afraid, just be ready. Don't let fear of Roman law make you greedy; be generous. Don't squabble among yourselves and expect the Roman courts to offer fair judgment. You know what is right. He urges them to repent.

And then he tells this parable in the Hebrew tradition about plants that don't yield enough food; so they are cut down and replaced. Listen for the word of God as it is found in Luke 13:1-9.

1 At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 He asked them, "Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? 3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. 4 Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them-- do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did."

6 Then he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. 7 So he said to the gardener, 'See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?'

8 He replied, 'Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.'"

This ends our reading of the gospel.

So there is a chance for repentance, but there is some urgency as well. We can't just continue on, being greedy and fearful and worrying about so many things. We have to trust that God is merciful. One theologian said about this passage “If human beings die by the sword, by accident, or by natural disaster, it is not because God has arbitrarily chosen to punish them for their sins while sparing others. God would give even an unfruitful fig tree another chance.” 1

But still, repent now, for the time is short. Paul writes to the gentile Christians in Corinth about repentance. Their freedom in Christ doesn't mean anything goes. He includes the church members in the history of the Hebrews even though they are gentiles Paul reminds them of the history of their spiritual ancestors, the chosen people, and warns them of the results of immorality, idolatry, and complaining.

Listen for the word of God as it is found in 1 Corinthians 10:1-13.

1 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.

5 Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness. 6 Now these things occurred as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil as they did. 7 Do not become idolaters as some of them did; as it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play."

8 We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. 9 We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents. 10 And do not complain as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer.

11 These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down to instruct us, on whom the ends of the ages have come. 12 So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall. 13 No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.

This ends our reading of God's word.

The yous are plural because of the phrase God “will not let you be tested beyond your strength”. Those are words spoken to a church. They mean “Don't worry that the trials you face will be too much for you and destroy what you have worked so hard on; you gathered to follow Jesus and practice his ways, and that will not be destroyed.” When it says “No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone,” it means God will make sure you have a way through, like the exodus. Don't be discouraged that you are messing up now, just stop messing up.

Verse 13 has been ripped out of context, the yous made singular. It has been popularized into bumper stickers and posters as “God never gives you more than you can handle.” Well-meaning but ignorant Christians pull that one out to comfort people who are grieving. What it says is “Don't worry, what happened to you isn't that bad. God will help you. Cheer up.” It doesn't help the grieving person.

Paul is cautioning the Corinthians. One theologian put it like this: being called “does not inoculate believers from the responsibility to love one another and therefore to please God.” Their “unrestrained freedom is hazardous to themselves and each other.” And so Paul says “So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall.” You have some repenting to do also, even though you were baptized. You still have something to learn from the old stories. We still want to know why terrible things happen. We want someone to blame.

I remember one time, years ago, I was at one of my children's soccer games. You all know that I am not an expert in any sport, not even bleacher sitting. During a lull in the soccer game, I asked one of the parents in front of me how she was. She was mad about what had happened at a ball game the week before. The referees had it in for her child's team. Her child's team lost because of the referees. I was shocked. How could a referee do that? Shouldn't he be fired?

I went home and told my husband about this terrible referee. Mike has coached many teams in several sports for many years. He said that parents, when their child loses, routinely blame the referees. Oh. I had just assumed she knew what she was talking about because she knew so much more about sports than I did. But what Mike said made sense, and in the years since, I have noticed that many parents complain about the refs.

I think that anytime we are ignorant on a subject, someone who knows anything about it is an expert to us.

Some of you have seen “The Lost Tomb of Jesus” that was on the Discovery channel last Sunday night. You've asked me what I though and so once again I am giving my opinion about a show about the Bible made by filmmakers, not by theologians, archeologists or historians. I would rather have explored these interesting scriptures about trouble and loss and hope. But enough people have been disturbed by the show that I thought I should weigh in and offer some background to reassure you.

“The Lost Tomb of Jesus” was produced by James Cameron, an Oscar-winning director. It's an entertaining show about a group of people who learned that in 1980, the Israel Antiquities Authority quickly excavated a two thousand year old tomb. The tomb was discovered when builders were digging a foundation for a new apartment building. The IAA stopped the builders for three days so they could excavate the tomb. In the tomb were some bone boxes made out of limestone cement called ossuaries.

Two thousand years ago in Jerusalem and the surrounding area, wealthy people were able to own tombs, large rooms carved from rock, with shelves in the walls and tiny niches on the side. After someone died, a family member would wrap and anoint the body, then put it on the shelf. After a year and a day, they would return to the tomb, and put what was left, mostly bones, into an ossuary, and store the ossuary in a niche. Sometimes the family would mark the ossuary with the person's name.

So in the tomb found in 1980 were ten ossuaries. Six of them had inscriptions: One said “ Mariamenoumara” inscribed in Greek, “Judas son of Joshua” in Hebrew,

“Matthew” in Hebrew, “Joshua son of Joseph” in Aramaic, “Joses” in Hebrew, “Maryam” in Hebrew. The other four ossuaries were plain, and one of those was broken. The IAA took the ossuaries, catalogued them, cleaned them, and stored them. Any of the bones that were inside were reburied, according to ultra-orthodox Jewish custom. The tomb was filled in, and a metal cover was attached over the opening. The Talpiot apartments were built.

Joshua is the Hebrew word for the Greek name Jesus. Miriam is the Hebrew word for Mary. So we have a tomb with the bone boxes of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. When several of the filmmakers learned this a few years ago, they were astonished. They thought this would shake the foundations of the Christian faith. Jesus' bones had once been in the tomb. Surely everyone should know.

So they made a documentary about their search for this tomb that had been catalogued and mapped. One of the things that bothered me is that the narrator would often refer to Christian tradition, scholars and scientists, without identifying the documents or naming the experts they quoted.

The ossuary marked “ Mariamenoumara” could be translated as “Mariam called Martha,” or “Mary Martha,” or it could be interpreted to mean “Mary the Master.” Several gnostic gospels, writings about the early church, characterize Mary as a religious leader. The filmmakers guess from that that people called Mary Magdalene master. But even so, Mary Magdalene isn't referred to as Mariamenou 2 in any text that I know of. There's no textual evidence that Mary Magdalene was called a master. A similar sounding name is given in the fourth century “Acts of Philip,” although she's described as Philip's sister. 3 Mariamne is the name of two of Herod's wives.

DNA testing of some remains in the “ Mary Magdalene” or “Mary Martha” ossuary and in the Joshua, or Jesus, ossuary revealed that the two people involved did not have the same mother. They concluded that it was a strong possibility they were husband and wife. Really, these two people not being maternally related didn't mean they were married; they could have been father and daughter, half brother and sister, cousins, or in-laws.

Jesus brothers' names are listed in Matthew 13:55 as James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas. Jose is another common name found on a Talpiot ossuary. The filmmakers suggest Jose is a nickname for Joseph.

Some of you might remember reading about 3 years ago an ossuary with an inscription on it that reads “James brother of Jesus.” Unfortunately, that ossuary comes from a man named Obed Golan, an antiquities dealer who's now on trial for forgery. Police found forging tools and antiquities in various stages of being forged in Golan's storeroom. Jacobovici suggests the James ossuary was stolen from the Talpiot tomb. Using their reasoning, we have two names of Jesus' brothers in the tomb: James and Jose or Joseph.

The documentary spent a long time explaining how they arrived at the estimate of a 600-1 chance that there would be a tomb with most of these names in it. 4 One problem with their answer is that Jesus, Mary and Joseph are incredibly common first century names in what is now Israel. Judging from the names listed in first century documents, ossuaries, and inscriptions, half the women were named Mary or some form of it, and the name Jesus is the sixth most common man's name and Joseph is the second 5 most common man's name. James is number eleven. The archeologist who excavated the tomb in 1980 said there are three or four ossuaries with “Jesus son of Joseph” on them 6 from other sites.

Over twenty years later, Filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici uncovered the tomb without permission from the Israel Antiquities Authority; when the IAA found out what he was doing, they stopped him and closed the tomb. That's how the movie ends, with workers welding the door shut and the narrator saying over swelling violins “But despite our pleas, we were asked to cover it again. … The tomb that arguably held the remains of Mary the mother of Jesus, Matthew from Mary's family line, Jose and James, the brothers of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, her husband Jesus and Judah their son is sealed up again. Who knows what secrets are still inside and how long they will be kept hidden under the Talpiot apartments?”

I saw two of the filmmakers, James Tabor and Simcha Jacobovici on the follow-up program, “A Critical Look at the Lost Tomb of Jesus.” I wasn't impressed with Jacobovici. He interrupted the other scholars, while demanding no one interrupt him. When he was held accountable for some of his unproven statements, he said “We're just raising questions. It's up to scholars and theologians now.”

Scholars and theologians have been raising questions about Jesus for two thousand years. They write and lecture and talk and discuss. The questions aren't quashed – they're debated and dissected and re-presented. When responsible archeologists make a significant find, they write papers about it, present it at conferences, ask their own questions, share evidence and encourage peer review. They don't take their evidence to Hollywood directors and make a documentary about a hypothesis.

I say this because my fear is that people who don't know much about the Bible will believe the filmmakers. They don't have the tools to know what questions to ask. They will see people who can translate Aramaic, Hebrew and Greek as the experts with the evidence, rather than scholars with a hypothesis that has not been examined by other scholars.

If a famous person on tv says that there's a tomb where the bones of Jesus Mary and Joseph were, we wonder. Could that be true? What would happen if they found Jesus' bones? Could we still be Christians?

You know, there are Christian theologians who argue about the resurrection. Did Paul believe in a bodily resurrection or not? What about the gospel writers? What was the Jewish theology of resurrection? What did the Gnostics say about resurrection? What did Greek philosophers say about it? How does the mystery of Jesus' resurrection differ from all those?

When asked about the show's premise, John Dominic Crossan, a retired professor of religious studies says, “Would that destroy Christian faith? It certainly would not destroy MY Christian faith. I leave what happens to the body up to God.”

I believe God is faithful. The books in the Bible raise and respond to deep questions. The stories in the Bible instruct us. They tell us how to live and how not to live. Some of it is history and some of it is theology and some of it is poetry and some of it is prophecy. We Christians are called to repent and follow Jesus so that we can bear much fruit. We're supposed to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly, and serve the Lord with gladness.

Christians have nothing to fear from historians, scholars, archeologists and other academics interested in uncovering and talking about the truth. We do have to remember to be critical even of experts, and to ask our own questions. Thanks be to God.

1New Interpreter's Bible, v IX, p. 271.

2 Mariamenou is a Greek spelling of a Hebrew name, with a Greek ending. It would be the genitive (possessive) case of Mariamene, meaning “Mary's.” The nominative case would be Mariamene, which is how you would write the name as a subject in a sentence. See www.christilling.de/blog/2007/03/guest-post-by-richard-bauckham.html by Richard Bauckham.

3 One scholar, François Bovon, believes that Mariamne in the Gospel of Philip refers to Mary Magdalene. But note that the ossuary's name is Mariamene. http://christiancadre.blogspot.com/2007/02/acts-of-philip-mariamne-and-jesus-tomb.html

4 The name for Matthew is in Joseph's genealogy in Luke 3 (Some scholars believe this is actually Mary's genealogy, so that's the name given in the show). Filmmakers saw this as evidence that Matthew was Jesus' family name. There are 75 names in the Luke 3 genealogy. If any one of those names had appeared in the tomb, the filmmakers could have used that one too as evidence for a Jesus family tomb.

5http://www.denverseminary.edu/dialogue/jesusbones , citing Lexicon of Jewish Names in Late Antiquity, Part I: Palestine 330 BCE—200 CE (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck) and Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans).

6 Kloner, Amos. www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1171894527185&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull