Finding Jesus (TV) – James Ossuary (ep. 4/6)

Who was James, the brother of Jesus? And is the ossuary authentic?

 

In 2002, an ossuary is unveiled, dating to the correct period, with an inscription "James son of Joseph brother of Jesus" in Aramaic. There is no physical evidence from Jesus himself. If the ossuary is genuine, it could be the first physical evidence connected to Jesus.

Who are Jesus' siblings? Catholics have one view. Protestants have a different view. This program seems to lean toward the latter. What about Jesus' infancy and childhood? There is the infancy gospel of Thomas, dated to about 100 years after Jesus' death. It portrays Jesus and James as children, together.

Details about ancient ossuaries and how they were used. How the James Ossuary was discovered. Process of authentication. The ossuary is authentic, but did it belong to James, the brother of Jesus? Statistics based on names suggest the combination of all three together is nearly improbable.

Program assumes Joseph dies early, leaving Jesus to be head of household. Unprecedented in this culture, Jesus leaves his household and his role as primary provider for the entire family. This would have created tensions within his family and social marginalization with the rest of the village. Jesus' ministry and behaviors were not honorable acts. It brought shame to the family. Jesus' actions go against the powers of civility and order. His gathering of crowds aroused the Romans. In response his family comes to perform an intervention. In response he seems to reject his biological family.

Palm Sunday. Arrest. Execution. Jesus' family has failed to save Jesus.

How did this affect James? The Gospel of the Hebrews (apocryphal) describes James' reaction: a period of grieving and fasting, something no other disciple or family member is recorded to have done. But this suddenly ends. Quoting 1 Corinthians 15:4-7, the appearance of Jesus to James. Perhaps this appearance is when James changes his view of Jesus. (Program 50%)

Back to the ossuary. Israelis demand the ossuary' return. Israeli authorities claimed there was evidence for forgery. Oded Golan is arrested and charged with fraud and forgery. The contention is that Oded added "brother of Jesus" to the inscription. GWU professor Rollston, based on the differences in inscriptions, believes the probability of forgery is 75%. Investigation of the patina to determine claim of forgery. March 2012, Oded Golan is found guilty of trade of relics, but found not guilty of forgeries.

But the court verdict says nothing about the authenticity of the ossuary in regard to James.

In Gospel of Thomas, Jesus' disciples are instructed to go to James for leadership. He becomes the leader of the Jerusalem church. But then Paul shows up. The question of what to do about gentiles and where they fit as followers of Christ. Was there a conflict of authority between James and Paul? The Jerusalem Council of Acts 15 gives evidence that there was a conflict and it came to a head. This is the start of the separation of Christianity from Judaism. James eventually sides with Paul, but he is now branded a foe of Judaism.

Jerusalem AD62. James given ultimatum to renounce Jesus or face death. He refuses and is pushed off the Temple wall, but he does not die. He is stoned to death. A year later his bones are placed into an ossuary.

 

James is still venerated in Jerusalem by the Armenian church. Believers believe his remains are still under the St. James Cathedral.

 

We will probably never know if the James of the ossuary is the brother of Jesus.

 

What this controversy has done is raise the profile of James the Just, his role in early Christianity, and the fact that Jesus had siblings most likely by Mary. James is an important transition figure between Judaism and Christianity.

 

Once more in this series, the relic is the conversation starter. The program is more about the historical aspects of James than it is about the ossuary. In a way, this is a bit click-baitish, using Web terminology. It uses the hype around the relic to bring a more informed discussion to the public who may not otherwise tune in to or read about less prominent, but nonetheless important figures such as James.

Thoughts on James 1:2-19a

Is the book of James simply a collection of disparate wisdom topics, exhortations, warnings, and instruction? Can we find a unifying theme in the opening verses of the book?

The past several Wednesday evenings I’ve been going to a study in the book of James, held at the Baptist Church. It has given me an opportunity to study a book that I probably wouldn’t have seriously considered otherwise. The point here is not to agree or disagree with what I hear there, but rather provide my own interpretations and conclusions as I follow the verses and think about it for myself.

It appears that one common view of James is that it is a collection of wisdom sayings, much like Proverbs. Verses may cluster around a related topic but, according to the common view, there is not necessarily a unifying theme from the beginning to the end of the book. Even in a passage as short as the first eighteen verses, a reader could find half-a-dozen different topics that may or may not be related to one another.

People who know me well know that I like to look for the big picture and how the various elements fit together to establish and sustain the whole. I don’t like it when pieces seem to be thrown haphazardly together. After taking several weeks to go through these verses, I thought I saw some patterns in words, phrases, and concepts repeatedly coming up in verses 2 through 18.

My first step in seeing if I could find some kind of unifying thought in these seventeen verses was to go through and color code key words and phrases. I assigned identical colors to identical concepts; similar colors to related concepts. (See graphic)

I could now see more clearly that my hunch was correct about related and opposing concepts appearing throughout these seventeen verses. The next step was to organize the above through a table containing key ideas, related terms, and opposing concepts.

Concept	Related Terms	Opposing Concepts
Steadfastness	Faith, stood, no variation, no change	Unstable, doubting
Unstable	Doubts, doubting, tossed, pass away, withers, perishes, fade away, lured, enticed, deceived, double-minded	Steadfastness, faith
Lacking	Lacks	Complete
Complete	Perfect	Lacking
Trials	Testing, test	Temptations
Temptations	Tempted, deceived, lured, enticed	Trials, gift
Desire (human)	Temptations	Own will (God's)
Own will (God's)		Desire (human)
Gift	Wisdom, crown of life, birth (from God), receive... from the Lord, gives generously, perfect, complete	Temptations, desire (human), lacking
Birth	Conceived, grown, brings forth, brought us forth, firstfruits	Death
Death	Sin	Birth

It began to become quite clear that in these verses James was contrasting two opposing concepts: God vs. human, faith vs. doubt, steadfast vs. unstable, life vs. death. My next step was to figure out how James developed this comparison through this passage.

Motifs	Corresponding Scripture
Faith ↔ Testing → Steadfastness → Perfect and complete   “Lacking” → (transition to next set)	[2] Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, [3] for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. [4] And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
(The faithful person) God gives gifts to fill any lack that the faithful may perceive Faith → God Doubt → Human   “Unstable” → (transition to next set)	[5] If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. [6] But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. [7] For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; [8] he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways
(The faithful person) Human effort is “unstable” and temporary   “Scorching heat [trial]” → (transition to next set)	[9] Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, [10] and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. [11] For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.
(The faithful person) God gives gifts to the faithful → (life) God does not cause evil Human desire → death Humans are unstable   [Human birthed life cycle] Human desire ↔ temptation → sin (doubt) → death	[12] Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. [13] Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. [14] But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. [15] Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
(The faithful person) God gives gifts to the faithful God is steadfast [God birthed life (is not a cycle)] God's will → births faith → growth process of v.2-4 → perfect and complete fruits of God	[16] Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. [17] Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. [18] Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

What strikes me most is that this passage begins with a description of a growth process and ends with one-and-a-half. The beginning describes the growth process of a Christian. The end of this passage starts off with a description of the birth-to-growth-to-death process of someone relying strictly on human effort. The passage ends with the “half” life process of a Christian. I believe James intends his audience to take what he wrote at the very beginning and insert it into the ending to complete the birth and growth process of a Christian.

After this passage, verse 19 begins, “Know this, my beloved brothers...”

In all translations I've seen, this begins what seems to be a brand new section. An alternative translation is to make the first phrase in verse 19 a transition: “Knowing this, my beloved brothers...,” or “In light of what you have just heard...” In other words, through verse 18 James had been discussing in broad terms the right and wrong ways for Christians to live and grow in Christ. Now beginning with verse 19 he moves on to specific examples of right and wrong.