This Sunday, March 4, the Discovery Channel premieres "The Lost Tomb of Christ," directed by James Cameron (Titanic, The Terminator). According to the Discovery Channel website, "The Lost Tomb of Christ" purports to show that an ancient tomb near Jerusalem belonged to the family of Jesus of Nazareth.
Major media news reports further say that, according to "The Lost Tomb of Jesus," the tomb contains the bones of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and "their son," Judah, along with other family members. Researchers involved in "The Lost Tomb of Jesus" say they reached this conclusion using a number of methods, including DNA testing and statistical analysis.
The tomb in question was discovered in 1980 as developers were preparing land for new homes. (Which raises one of many questions: If the claims made in "The Lost Tomb of Jesus" were really serious, doesn’t it stand to reason that this discovery would have been big news in 1980, rather than in 2007?)
If the researchers’ claims are true—that the physical remains of Jesus have been discovered—then the obvious conclusion is that the Resurrection never took place and, as Phil Lawler (Catholic World News) writes, "Christianity is a false religion."
This is not, of course, the first time people have questioned Christ’s Resurrection. History has seen an abundance of skepticism and hoaxes. Even St. Thomas the Apostle ("Doubting Thomas") initially doubted that Jesus had truly risen from the dead (see Jn. 20:24–29).
St. Paul addresses the question of Christ’s Resurrection in his First Letter to the Corinthians:
But if Christ is preached as raised from the dead, how can some among you say there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then neither has Christ been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then empty (too) is our preaching; empty, too, your faith. . . . and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain; you are still in your sins. Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are the most pitiable people of all.
But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. (15:12–14, 17–20)
Not surprisingly, though, the claims made in "The Lost Tomb of Jesus" have little credibility among experts.
A Zenit News Agency article, for example, reports that the research center Studium Biblicum Franciscanum of Jerusalem calls the discovery a phenomenon "between invented archaeology, advertising and sales."
An article in Newsweek notes that archaeologist Amos Kloner, who in 1980 wrote the official report on the site, "found nothing remarkable in the discovery."
To this day, Kloner says the burial cave is not extraordinary. "It’s a typical Jewish burial cave of a large size," he says. "The names on the ossuaries are very common names or derivatives of names." The echo of the names of the members of the Holy Family, he says, "is just a coincidence."
Further, while DNA testing can show whether the people buried in the tomb are related, it cannot show to whom the DNA belongs. And again, statistics cannot prove that the remains belonged to Jesus; they can only determine the likelihood, based on the factors under consideration. When the factors under consideration are themselves questionable, then how can the resulting statistics be compelling?
The news reports don’t say whether "The Lost Tomb of Jesus" accounts for the Church of the Holy Sepuchre in Jerusalem. For over 1,600 years, the church has stood on the spot where Christians have traditionally believed Christ’s empty tomb to be.
The Catholic Encyclopedia entry "Holy Sepulchre" (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07425a.htm) discusses the 2,000 years of evidence—complete with biblical and patristic testimony—that supports the traditional location of the tomb of Jesus.
St. Helena (the mother of Emperor Constantine) found the tomb on her search for the Cross of Christ.
Interestingly, as the author of The Catholic Encyclopedia article comments: "It was not until the eighteenth century that the authenticity of this tomb was seriously doubted. . . . No one, however, has pointed out any other tomb that has a shred of tradition in its favour."
The New Catholic Encyclopedia, in its entry on Palestine, discusses how one evaluates the authenticity of Palestine’s holy places: "Two main conditions must be fulfilled if the site is to be considered authentic: its localization must not contradict the data of the Bible, and the tradition connected with it must go back to Apostolic times."
The New Catholic Encyclopedia affirms the authenticity of the tomb discovered by St. Helena: "When the site of the Holy Sepulcher was recovered in 326, the Gentile Christians took pains to verify its authenticity by establishing its agreement with the Gospel data, such as the earthquake fissure in the rock of Calvary and the single burial niche in the tomb chamber there, so that the tradition that had been maintained by the Judeo-Christians for this site was relegated to a subordinate position."
While it would be nice to think that no one could possibly fall for the argument "The Lost Tomb of Christ" makes, The Da Vinci Code and the "Gospel of Judas" have shown that Christians have a long way to go in educating Christians and non-Christians alike.
On the plus side, Christians once again have a wonderful opportunity to share the truths of the faith: Christ has died, Christ is risen, and Christ will come again!
For More Information (Selected Resources):
Newsweek: Have Researchers Found Jesus Christ’s Tomb?
