With all the clamor recently about finding Jesus' family tomb and all that ruckus, I figured I'd do a little research on what I would call my knee jerk reaction to this misinformation. First, my reaction was that these names (Jesus, Jude/Judas, Mary, and Joseph) were all very common at the time and to find them all in one collected tomb is really no big deal. In fact, this tomb and this information was originally found decades ago and that is just what those archaeologists thought as well. It is only with the noise sprung up after the DiVinci Code and the dollar signs that follow the public interest over the controversy.
Well, I was right that such names are very common in that time period. Josephus (the famous Jewish historian of that time whose name is actually a Greek variant of Joseph) actually recorded 19 different people named Jesus between his Antiquities and his Jewish Wars. Four of those were even high priests.
Some scholars have speculated that it was Jesus Bar Pandira who founded the Essenes. (Incidentally he was a "wonderworker" who made a career out of end time prophesy, upset the Maccabean king of his time and was hung on a tree on the eve of the Passover.)
Then there is Jesus Bar Gamala who led the peace party inside the besieged city of Jerusalem in 68-69 AD. He was actually carrying on negotiations with the leaders of the Idumeans who had the city under siege (the leaders happened to be James and John the sons of Susa). Unfortunately the negotiations led nowhere and he was killed when the city fell.
There was also Jesus Bar Thebuth. He also was in the city when it fell, but he didn't die. He actually bought his life. You see he had the fortune of being a priest and he stole some of the goodies from the temple in order to trade them and save his own neck.
Jesus Bar Ananias also bears some similarities to the Jesus we know. In 62 AD he gets up and starts saying some very disturbing things in and about the Temple. This upsets the Temple authorities enough that they hand him over to the Romans. The Romans whip him, declare him a madman, and then let him go. He could still be seen inside Jerusalem 7 years later during the city shouting out, "Woe to the city and the temple and the people!" It is said that the last time he shouted this he added, "and woe to me also." Immediately a stone flung from a ballista scored a direct hit on this unfortunate prophet.
There was even another Jesus who was crucified by the Romans in the town of Lydda about 75 years after the Messiah. There's also the Jesus that Paul refers to in his letter to the Colossians. The book Ecclesiasticus was written by a Jesus. Even the guy who led the Israelites into the Promised Land shares the same Hebrew name as Jesus.
But there are really two Jesus' that I want to look at here. First there is Jesus of Nazareth Bar Abbas (son of the father) or perhaps Bar Rabbis (son of the Rabbi). He is frustrated with the cruel oppression of Roman tyranny and desperately wants to do something about it. So this Jesus joins a group of freedom fighters known as the sicarii. The sicarii is actually a type of knife that these violent heroes would use. One of their most common tactics would be to hide the knife inside a loose cloak and pull it out in a crowd when assassinating a prominent Roman or one of their Jewish collaborators. Even a high priest inside the Temple was killed in this way.
Barabbas quickly rose in rank and popularity among the Sicarii. Unfortunately his fame (or notoriety) made it more difficult for him to hide and also his pursuers were more diligent and motivated in capturing him. He finally was and, along with two of his compatriots, was scheduled to be crucified shortly before the Passover.
There was also Jesus of Nazareth Bar Joseph who grew up in the same town around the same time. The two very likely even knew each other as kids. Both were stirred to action by the evil they saw in the world and both also were gifted in getting others to follow their way of life. But Jesus Christ was offering a different way of living. He fought injustice through generosity and love. His message wasn't just one of "roll over and take it" as some misinterpret it, but rather a creative, loving form of civil nonresistance.
In it's own way, Jesus the Christ was just as dangerous (if not far more) to both Jewish and Roman authority. He also was captured and handed over to the Roman authorities. Pilate, while not really knowing what to make of him wants to release him. The problem is, the Jewish people are very contentious (especially during their festivals) and he fears that he might have no choice but to sacrifice this innocent man in order to avoid a riot.
Knowing that the sicarii are hated and feared by the same Jewish authorities who have handed over Jesus the Christ he hatches a plan that he feels will force them to back down from such an indignant attitude. He throws before them an option. "I'm going to release to you a Jesus. (Jesus literally means savior, or deliverer) Which 'deliverer' do you want? Jesus Bar Abbas, or Jesus Bar Joseph?"
There are two things Pilate did reckon with in offering up this choice. First, the leader's jealousy and hatred of the Christ was far stronger than their fear of a potential threat to their safety and possessions. The second, although the authorities might fear the sicarii, the common man adored them. They were not terrorists to most of the people celebrating the Passover (a feast remembering the Israelites deliverance from another oppressor at another time), they were heroes. The crowd chose deliverance from tyranny and oppression through violence, and war, and power. And in making that choice, deliverance through love and generosity and forgiveness was hung out to dry.
The same choice still confronts us today. Which Jesus will we chose? How do we want our Savior? Do we, like Jesus Bar Thebuth, try to buy our deliverance by the accumulation and use of wealth? Do we, like Jesus Bar Ananias, shout out curses on the oppressor or perhaps go around crying out "woe is me"? Do we, like Jesus Bar Abbas, take up a sword and fight and oppress all those who oppose our values or impinge our freedoms? Or do we, like Jesus Bar Joseph, the Christ, the Son of the Living God, take up our cross, lay down our lives, and fight injustice by loving our oppressor?
10 Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.
11 I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour.
12 I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, that I am God.
When they found the first ossuary of Jesus's brother I was taking the course, "archaeology in the ancient near east" and my professor was sent to authenticate it. (woo hoo, 2 weeks without class!). My professor determined that the ossuary was indeed old enough, but that the name carved on it was done at a later time, probably by pilgrims. I'm assuming that these additional ossuaries are the same deal, and like you said, all the names are very common.
I think it's funny when people geek out about some new 'revelation' on the news about Christianity. They'll be like, "wow, the Gospel of Mary was discovered, this changes everything!" and I'm thinking, "yeah... if you're a gnostic.."
The funny thing is, the ossuaries that have spurred the new best seller were actually dug up some 20 years ago. It's just that recently someone realized that the timing and public interest was right for them to sacrifice their academic credibility to make a buck.
where did you get all this info? i think im gonna show this to my youth pastor ;o pretty interesting stuff. ive always loved hearing the other side of things. you never knew from the bible that "bar abbas" or barabbas was named jesus, and also part of a resistance movement, even though it was kinda the opposite way of going about it :P
And about this Lost Tomb of Jesus stuff, even if not entirely accurate, this journalistic amateuristic dive into archeology is actually educating the masses about the time in which Jesus lived.
The average Christian did not likely know what an ossuary is before this program, and these kind of ossuaries were only extant between 30 B.C. and 70 A.D., so are incredibly important to knowing how people viewed life and death at that time period. If there is a lawsuit in Italy trying to say Jesus never existed, but this show reveals the Ossuary of Caiaphus, isn't this not a total waste of effort?
In the end Truth and Jesus will win, and I don't see it as much as misinformation as advertising for further education. This Lost Tomb of Jesus had a Professor at Harvard Divinity saying that a vast majority of Christians are "biblically illiterate" in reaction to the program. If that is so, then we have the elitest Harvard Divinity folks to blame for not doing their job in the first place.
As Lao Tzu said Failure is an opportunity. And can we say that those who feel threatened by such programs, how much faith, how much faith? Is real faith attachment to our personal version of faith, with constructs, and to be defended at all costs?
Isn't it great that the truest Son of God, Jesus Christ is always and forever the same, today, yesterday and forever?! I must, cannot do anything but, follow Him, knowing Him as I do now, finding out that what I believed as a child is forever true and good. A part of me wants to follow the Bar Abbas, take up the sword and fight the oppressors by oppression, but I know that would be my end, my undoing. What have I to lose by loving? Nothing that I ever earned by my own merit. What do I gain from the small sacrifice I make with my life in exchange for His promises? Everything!
May God grace and bless your every move until checkmate!
