The City of Lost Secrets: A Mara Beltane Mystery (18 page)
“Some Christian symbol, maybe?”
“At first glance, one would think it is. The Dominus Flevit chapel, after all, was built on the site where Christians believed Jesus of Nazareth sat and mourned the fate of Jerusalem. Since the chapel has a long Christian history, it’s easy to see how the circle and gable found on many of the ossuaries there could be misinterpreted as being a Christian symbol.”
“Misinterpreted?”
“This symbol is common in ancient Jewish art and architecture,” Uri explained. “It can be seen in synagogues in Palestine and elsewhere around the world, and in catacombs and tombs that are of Jewish descent. Tombs excavated at Beth Shearim in Galilee, for example, were found to have similar gable motifs. All of this art and architecture pre-dates Christianity.”
“The symbol is pre-Christian, has nothing to do with Jesus and his movement, and is therefore strictly Jewish,” I concluded.
“That’s right.”
“So what does the symbol represent?”
“It’s most likely a reference to the Second Temple. A lot of the artifacts that contain a gable and rosette have been dated to the time of Herod the Great, who was responsible for the reconstruction of the Second Temple. It was during his reign that Jesus of Nazareth was born.”
“Hence another reason why people would incorrectly identify the gable as a Christian symbol—-because it was a popular motif during Jesus’ time.”
“Exactly,” Uri said, taking a step closer to the tomb entrance. “Now, enough about that. We mustn’t wait another minute. Are you ready?”
I nodded.
“Good. Let’s finally see what brought you to Jerusalem.”
“Welcome to the tomb--the final resting place--of Jesus,” he said.
Uri had just shone his flashlight into the six loculi that radiated out like spokes on a wheel from the inner chamber of the tomb, where we now found ourselves crouched on our knees, breathing in the dusty air. These six deep niches were empty, their contents now resting in various museums around Jerusalem. But I imagined how the ossuaries had been positioned inside the loculi, recalling from photocopies I had seen of sketches made during the time of the original tomb excavation.
The most important ossuary, at least in my mind—-the
Yeshua bar Yohosef
ossuary—-had been found in the loculi closest to the tomb entrance on the eastern wall. As Uri’s flashlight beam came to rest inside this deep niche, I saw the Jesus son of Joseph inscription in my mind, on the narrow side of the ossuary under the rim, badly scratched and clumsily carved, like graffiti on a concrete wall.
“The final resting place of Jesus of Nazareth, huh?” I asked. I inspected Uri’s face in the dim light. “Do you truly believe that?”
“Given more research, more testing…” he said, and then, after a moment, “Who knows?”
“So you don’t believe this is the tomb of Jesus? I thought you said…” I trailed off, suddenly unsure of what, exactly, Uri had said he believed.
“Make no mistake, Mara--this is the tomb of Jesus. A Jesus who lived and worked in Jerusalem in the first century A.D. Perhaps it is Jesus Christ, perhaps not. I never said I believed anything otherwise.”
“So why did you let me believe that this could be the tomb of the holy family?”
Uri sighed. “I’m sorry if you feel deceived. But you led yourself to your own conclusions. I only told you what I knew and showed you the artifacts. The rest was up to you.”
I thought about his comment a minute. “I suppose you’re right.”
Uri moved closer and took my hand. “You told me several days ago at the warehouse in Bet Shemesh that you didn’t think you could write the book because you didn’t believe. That it was all a lie and you didn’t feel right telling the whole world this tomb belonged to Jesus Christ. You came to that conclusion before you even knew what I thought.”
“Yes, I did say that,” I said, looking at Uri’s hand as it caressed the top of mine. I had grown used to the way that felt, how he wrapped his palm around my fingers and gently kneaded the skin. Within the past week or so, Uri started to do it with more frequency, reach out and—-without notice or warning—-grasp my hand. I felt comforted by it, welcomed it, even, like a soft blanket around the shoulders on a cold night. And after our experience at the Bet Shemesh warehouse, where I all but backed away from his kiss, I think holding my hand was Uri’s way of showing he could be respectfully affectionate without overtly breaching the line of professionalism he thought I wanted to maintain.
If he only knew…
“So there’s nothing left for us to discuss,” I said, awakening from my reverie to the realization that my legs were starting go numb from the way I was kneeling with my feet pinned beneath me. Uri seemed comfortable in a squat position, his arms resting on his bent knees.
“Ah, but wait,” Uri said, releasing my hand as I shifted positions and sat cross-legged. “There is still one more piece of the puzzle. Perhaps the most important piece. If there is to be any truth to the theory of the Talpiot tomb, then we must reconcile what we know with this last piece of the puzzle. A piece that is absolutely crucial to the Christian faith.”
I thought a moment, pouring over everything Uri and I had discussed over the past few weeks: The names on the ossuaries; the historic sites of Jesus’ sermons and appearances; his birth in Bethlehem; his life in Jerusalem; the historic sites linked to his sermons and appearances; the possibility of his marriage to Mary Magdalene and raising a child named Judah; his death at the hands of the Roman authorities; the traditional site of his…
“Resurrection!” I called out. “We’ve never discussed his resurrection!”
“Yes, that’s it exactly,” Uri said. “If there is to be any truth to what is being said about the Talpiot tomb, then we must reconcile the Christian belief in resurrection with the existence of the Jesus bone box.”
“Why is resurrection such a large piece of the puzzle?”
“Because a lot hinges on the definition of resurrection.”
“The
definition
…?”
“If you stick with the New Testament accounts of the resurrection, then Jesus’ tomb was found empty shortly after the resurrection,” Uri explained.
“Right. So?”
“So, that is in line with the predominant Jewish notion of the afterlife of the time—-that of bodily resurrection.”
“So the traditional definition of resurrection is ascending body and soul into heaven.”
“Correct.”
“So if Jews in first century Palestine believed in bodily resurrection, then there should be no Jesus bone box, because his family and disciples would’ve expected him to be resurrected and therefore not require an ossuary,” I recapped.
“It seems that way,” Uri said. “And Jesus’ disciples claimed to have seen the risen Jesus on several occasions. This would suggest a bodily resurrection, which would explain why Mary Magdalene, the Mother Mary, and others, according to the New Testament, witnessed an empty tomb. All ancient sources, in fact, point to an empty tomb. Even Jewish authorities at the time thought his tomb was empty.”
I didn’t like how this conversation was going. I thought Uri said the resurrection theory was supposed to help my case? It seemed to be making things worse. I thought about approaching the resurrection debate from a different angle.
“If Jesus hadn’t been resurrected,” I said, “do you think the disciples had reason to lie and say he did?”
“Not a chance,” Uri said, shaking his head. “They would risk ridicule and possible death for lying. Most of them were eventually martyred for their belief in Jesus, but why risk being martyred for a lie? To suggest they would do so is ludicrous.”
That made sense, but again, it did little to help prove the Talpiot tomb was real.
“Most scholars conclude that the disciples truly believed they had seen a risen Jesus,” Uri said. “Their account in the New Testament and a lack of other explanations or alternatives leads us to believe the disciples were telling the truth. Not exactly what you want to hear, Mara, but interesting nonetheless.”
“Well, there is, in fact, another explanation for sightings of a resurrected Jesus.”
Uri raised an eyebrow and nodded, encouraging me to go on.
“We must remain open to the fact that the Bible is fiction,” I began. “And that every person in the Bible is a character within a made-up story.”
Uri was silent for a moment, formulating a response.
“That might very well be your belief,” he said, “but for our purposes it’s best to assume the Bible is a historical record of real people.”
“C’mon, Uri. An ark with two of every animal on it? Burning bushes that speak? Men that live to be hundreds of years old…?”
“The Bible is one of the few resources we have,” Uri stated firmly. And then he was silent, and I heard nothing inside the tomb except the echo of his words.
I have offended him, I thought. Uri was a scholarly man, an educated man of science who sought out the truth at all costs. But he was still Jewish, and I had questioned the validity of his faith and the existence of his ancestors.
“I’m sorry, Uri. I was out of line,” I said. “It’s just that I thought you said the resurrection theory was supposed to help my case. But it seems to be the final nail in the coffin.”
Uri cocked his head. “How so?”
“Well, for instance, if Jesus was resurrected, how do you explain the New Testament account of Mary Magdalene and the Mother Mary going to his tomb to prepare his body for burial? Wouldn’t they have anticipated resurrection? And if so, why did they seem so surprised to find an empty tomb?”
“So, you think that because they went to visit his tomb they weren’t anticipating the resurrection, and maybe therefore didn’t believe in resurrection?”
“I guess what I’m saying is, if Mary Magdalene and the Mother Mary prepared his body for burial, what does that say about their faith? If they were Jewish--”
“They were Jewish,” Uri interjected.
“Since they were Jewish,” I rephrased my statement, “then they should have believed in reincarnation, that is, body and soul. So Jesus’ body shouldn’t have been there!”
“Now you see why resurrection is such a crucial piece of the puzzle,” Uri said. “It’s such a complicated subject, whole books and classes have been dedicated to the topic.”
“Right, because it’s not just limited to Mary Magdalene and the Mother Mary,” I continued. “Think of all the people listed in the New Testament who claim to have seen a resurrected Jesus: Peter, Paul, Jesus’ own brother James…they are some of the most important disciples. What does it say about them if they believed in Jesus’ resurrection while simultaneously accepting an ossuary with Jesus’ name on it? Given the presence of a body and an ossuary to house his bones, how could Jesus’ disciples go on believing that he had truly risen from the dead?”
“You make a good point, Mara. Knowing the truth about what happened to Jesus’ body, how could anyone’s faith remain unchanged?”
“That is the heart of it, isn’t it Uri?” I asked. “If Jesus’ disciples believed in bodily resurrection, but then they heard about his body being prepared after death and were witness to an ossuary that would house his bones, how could they possibly go on believing that Jesus was the son of God?”
“Yes, my dear Mara,” Uri said. “We have reached the very heart of the conflict. And there is no evidence that the disciples didn’t believe in the resurrection, and the fact that they were willing to die for their beliefs is telling.”
“Not exactly what I wanted to hear, Uri,” I said.
Uri held the flashlight under his chin, the way a storyteller relaying a scary ghost story around a campfire might. “That is why we must present another alternative to the resurrection theory,” he said, his face a yellowish glow of light.
“Another theory…” I said, sighing. I wasn’t sure I could stomach another theory. My mind was already swimming, the tomb was stifling, and the stale, dusty air was starting to wreak havoc on my lungs.
“The disciples’ faith would remain unchanged if we were to change the definition of resurrection,” Uri explained.
“The definition of resurrection…” I whispered. This was how our whole conversation started, with Uri stating that resurrection was central to Christian origins. But that it depended on your
definition
of resurrection…
“Think about it,” Uri said, shifting positions so that he was now sitting in the same position I was, cross-legged on the floor of the tomb. “The resurrection of Jesus is the main event that affirms the validity of Christianity, right?”
“Right.”
“And even Jesus himself said his resurrection would prove that he was the true son of God. But the Bible doesn’t give a good indication of what resurrection means. Up to this point we’ve only been discussing a
bodily
resurrection.”
“What are you getting at?”
Uri smiled and paused a moment. “How about a
spiritual
resurrection?”
“Spiritual resurrection,” I repeated. “As in, your spirit, or soul, rises to heaven but your physical body is left behind? Isn’t that what a lot of other world religions are based on?”
“Yes, of course.”
“But the New Testament doesn’t exactly allow that as an option, does it?”
“Not really. But I think spiritual resurrection is a possible option, and it would certainly help your case.”
“How?”
“In order to prove that the Talpiot tomb is real, we must somehow reconcile Jesus’ resurrection with the discovery of an ossuary that contains his bones. Spiritual resurrection allows you to do that.”
“Meaning a bodily resurrection, partnered with an ossuary containing his remains, would essentially falsify Christianity. But a spiritual resurrection and an ossuary have little impact because it wouldn’t affect anyone’s faith.”
Uri nodded.
“But is that what the Apostles meant when they said they saw Jesus rise from the dead?”
“Well, yes and no,” Uri said. “The New Testament gospels make it clear that Jesus’ tomb was empty, and that his corpse, through bodily resurrection, was made immortal. But the apostle Paul…he’s a different story.”