November, 2002

This morning as I opened the Newsletter, I found an interesting article at the bottom of the front page in the Mercury News. Later that day, I heard the same news on the radio station. I’m sure, by now, many of you have already read or heard about the “Artifact’s link to Jesus.” It was a limestone ossuary box used by Jews during Jesus’ time to hold bones of the deceased. What was so special about this box is the Aramaic inscription on it: “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.” The immediate question of interest that sprung up from this burial box is “Could it be James the brother of Jesus in the Bible?” If it is true, it would make the mentioning of Jesus and his family on extra-biblical finding.

Since the box was made known to the archaeological world, a handful of scholars and scientists have examined and analyzed the box to either authenticate it or expose it a fake. Was the box in fact held the bones of James, the founder of the Christian church in Jerusalem and the author of one of the books in the Bible? As far as I can understand, though the ossuary has withstood scrutiny from those who examined it, yet the verdict is still non-conclusive. As one expert pointed out, “It will always be controversial,” for there is no way to determine, without any doubt that the names involved were in fact the same people in the New Testament. The most controversy is that this artifact was “looted,” and later on sold to the current owner as a private collection. Therefore, many questions about its origin remain unanswered.

Many Christians are excited about this news. Understandably, it is because this gives us another piece of evidence to “prove” that Jesus was a historical man; that He wasn’t a fabricated figure of the past. But let us not be “locked-in” by this controversial ossuary, like many people did with the “Holy shroud” that supposedly has the impression of Jesus a few years ago. Many people went to pay tribute and prayed in front of that piece of linen. We should never get ourselves into such a predicament of “worshipping” these artifacts, even if they were authentic, let alone if we can’t even be sure.

Before I sign off, let me remind all of us that Christianity takes more than believing Jesus as a historical man. It takes believing Jesus is the God-man who came to live as a man and die as a ransom for the penalty of our sins. Any faith that falls short of this fundamental belief fall short of God’s mandate to be saved. On the one hand, we welcome any archaeological findings that substantiate the authenticity of the Bible. However, let’s not forget that it takes a genuine and simple faith to believe God is who God describes in the Bible alone, for there is no other document equals to or has a higher authority than His inspired words.

Pastor Larry

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