Discovery Channel's, Lost Tomb of Jesus Does Question Resurrection

On Sunday, March 4th, the Discovery Channel aired an archealogical study film by executive producer James Cameron ("Titanic") about limestone bone boxes found in a tomb in Israel. The boxes are inscribed with names such as Mary, Joseph and Judah in Aramaic leading some scholars to believe that this is the family burial tomb of Jesus' family. Although the Discovery Channel's website states that the film is not in conflict with resurrection belief because they say there is historical testimony that the body was moved from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre site to a family tomb, they are missing the point that there was no body to be moved. No body, no bones of Jesus. The film has caused great controversy among Biblical scholars who feel that the very heart of the Christian faith has been questioned. If Jesus arose from the dead, he would have left no bones behind in a tomb. The fact that he arose physically as well as spiritually, is testified to by the Apostle Thomas, who supposedly was asked to touch the risen Christ's hand.

The Bible tells us that Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus helped to bury Jesus in an tomb which had never been used before. It also tells us that no bones of Christ were broken either on the cross or afterward in order to fulfill Old Testament prophecy. The Bible's eyewitnesses give an account of the empty tomb and the risen Lord Jesus. Mary Magdalene's tomb is still evident today in a town called Magdala near the city of Tiberias in Israel. There is early evidence of this town in Mark 8 (feeding the multitudes) and other early gnostic gospels.

Most Christians are in agreement on the importance of the resurrection of Jesus to the very foundation of Christianity. It is the defining moment of God's grace and confirms that Jesus is truly Lord. First, by raising Jesus from the dead, God puts his divine seal on all that Jesus had been preaching, particularly the claims he made to his disciples that he would be raised again to the fullness of life.

Second, the resurrection authenticates for the early Jewish Palestinian believers that he was the true Messiah. The Messiah was to usher in the resurrection of the righteous dead and Jesus does just that by being the first. This was "a going on through death and out the other side into a new mode of physicality, the beginning of God's new creation" (N.T. Wright, "Grave Matters" at page 52).

Third, it clarifies God's reward to Jesus for his obedience by going to the cross. The resurrection is viewed as a gift of salvation, a means of redemption of mankind and hope. "Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven," as the Lord's prayer tells us.

Fourth, it justifies Jesus as Lord. No one in history had returned in the changed form that Jesus did. It is therefore the basis for Christian hope, our leader is not dead and very much alive! When other early religious movements lost a leader, they carried on because a new leader emerged. But for Christians, "without the resurrection, there would be a gaping hole in the middle of first century history that nothing else can plug" (Wright, "The New Improved Jesus" at page 26). The doctrine of incarnation of Jesus is a consequence of the resurrection.

First century Judaism knew a good deal about hero figures who had been exalted to heaven and given participation in God's judgment, for example Enoch (see Jude), Abel and the mysterious Melchizedek. But the incarnation of Jesus was attested to more confidently after his death and resurrection, not only by early believers but the guards of the tomb themselves, and the discussions regarding the triune nature of God were of particular interest to the early Christian Church because Jesus was different.

The Apostle Paul is a good example of post-resurrection faith because he was the only apostle not to have known Jesus personally, who then wrote about not only an appearance experience of the risen Lord, but the subsequent revelation. "We are persuaded of the validity of the argument by the sheer difficulty in taking it apart" (John Crossan, pg 150). Paul cites his vision and emphasizes the centrality to the resurrection many times (Acts 23:6, Acts 26: 5). Paul even tells us, "If Christ is not raised, your faith is futile" (1 Cor. 15:17).

Jesus has defeated sin and death. There is life after death. There is a diversity of opinion on exactly how and when such resurrection doctrine and confessions of faith took place, but when you and I, like Paul, meet the Lord, make our confession of faith, and the Spirit of Truth indwells us, then we, like Paul, come to understand in a strange but very convincing way, Christ did in fact arise from the dead and is with us now.

"That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God." (Ephesians 3:16-19).Christ dwells in us, in our hearts and minds in "the fullness of God" and as Comforter, "even the spirit of Truth" (John 14:16). The resurrected Christ is at the right hand of the Father, yet the Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts by faith as believers

Crossan, John D., "Jesus: A Revolutionary", San Francisco, CA: Harper Collins, 1994

Wright, N.T. "Grave Matters" Christianity Today, April 1998

Wright, N.T. "The New Improved Jesus" Christianity Today, Nov 93