Dolly Parton may have made the song famous, but every Christian should be singing the tune when they hear the story of Jesus' family tomb. In case you haven't heard it, James Cameron (who brought us movies like The Terminator and his most famous, Titanic) has found some supposed scholars that agree with him. Together they claim to have found the family tomb of Jesus and that some bones they found were the bones of Jesus in a box next to his supposed wife Mary Magdalene. I could spend my time here refuting this story, but it has been amply retorted by scholars much smarter than I am (for example, check out what Al Mohler, President of the Southern Baptist Seminary, has to say about this whole mess). Instead, I want to give some thoughts as to the ramifications of these type of claims.
It all began back in the ancient world. At the end of Matthew's Gospel, (Matt 28:11-15) we read, Now while they were on their way, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all that had happened.And when they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, and said, "You are to say, 'His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep.' "And if this should come to the governor's ears, we will win him over and keep you out of trouble." And they took the money and did as they had been instructed; and this story was widely spread among the Jews, and is to this day.
Even right after Christ rose from the dead, they were making up stories to prove it was false. If you study history you will find that these claims of so-called archeology have been brought up again and again. They are not new and they are not even really surprising. Is it at all surprising that a man who raised his arms above his head and declared, "I'm the king of the world!" would want to undermine the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords? No, not at all. And the timing is so significant. As we are in the period of Lent and as we are approaching the day of Easter when we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus, surely the enemy of God would want to squelch any talk of the life-changing message of the Gospel.
That message is simply: Jesus came to Earth by virgin birth. He lived a perfect, sinless life. He died a criminal's death to pay our penalty for sin, and He rose on the third day to sit at the right hand of God and intercede on our behalf.
If the Resurrection is not true, then the whole story falls apart and man can then re-create God in man's own image. That would be much safer than acknowledging that we are the created ones and our maker expects us to obey Him. So, once again, the world tries to kill the Gospel. Are you ready to stand and proclaim it in the face of opposition? That is what we must be ready to do. Jesus is not dead, He is alive! And because He is alive, He is active in our lives today. Let's shout it from the rooftops over the top of Hollywood and any other would-be detractors.
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