The Lost Producers of Jesus' Bones

Spirituality Column - # 19 – March 20, 2007
Current! In Carmel newspaper

The Lost Producers of Jesus’ Bones
By Bob Walters

Even “C&E” Christians, those who attend church at only Christmas and Easter, know something the producers of “The Lost Tomb of Jesus” TV show don’t: Christ Jesus the Son of God came to earth as God in the flesh; was fully God and fully human, and doesn’t have his bones buried in a box anywhere.

C&E’ers, nominally pious as they may be, nonetheless get the importance of these two Christian holidays because they understand Christ wasn’t a gag or a gimmick. The incarnation of Christ was a big deal, and the dual God-Man nature of Jesus is what makes Christianity unique among all religions.

Scholars chuckled and Christians sniffed at the “dead Messiah” idiocy of this TV show’s premise: Jesus existed because we found his bones!

Please. The bones are historically bogus (second century at the earliest) and – Hey congratulations! – you’ve come up with the wrong answer to a dumb question.

Historical documents prove the existence of the man Jesus, while the Bible, Christian doctrine, and 2,000 years of both church tradition and theological scholarship all describe the divine God-Man Jesus, born of the Virgin Mary (Christmas), who was crucified and buried (Good Friday) and rose from the dead on the third day (Easter) assuring us eternal life.

That’s a very big deal. It’s what puts the E in C&E’er.

It isn’t enough that Jesus taught in shrewd, brilliant parables and instructed a unique doctrine of faith, hope and love. What’s critical is this: Christ’s arrival as God in the flesh (John 1:14) unites God and mankind; and Christ’s resurrection puts us, forgiven of our sins, with Our Father God in Heaven.

God is “Our Father” specifically and only because Jesus the Son of man is eternally Christ the Son of God.

God is a Father because He has a Son.

Even a C&E’er understands that.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com), a Carmel resident, has two sons but figures his bones aren’t going anywhere.