A hard groundball is hit to the shortstop. He drops it, kicks it, tries to pick it up and drops it again. Somehow, on his third attempt, he grabs the ball successfully and fires it to first base. Even though the ball beats the runner by half a step, the umpire still screams out, “Safe!”
Or…a runner from second base tears through his coach’s “stop” sign at third base. The throw from the outfielder beats him home by ten feet. Miraculously, he somehow slides around the tag, dragging his outstretched hand across home plate while the catcher’s tag misses him altogether.
Even so, the umpire let’s fly with his decision: “OUT!!!”
In their most honest moments, baseball umpires (and the referees and officials of many other sports) would tell you that early assumptions can cause them to misjudge reality.
When the ump becomes convinced in his or her heart that “out,” or “safe,” is the right call, what they see in reality often ceases to matter.
We human beings can be that way about a lot of things.
In their training, sports officials are taught to work hard at not assuming what will happen next, but only at judging and reacting to what they observe in reality.
A fine lesson for us all.
Sunday night, I watched the much antipacted “Lost Tomb of Jesus” documentary on the Discovery Channel. I knew that many folks at SOTH and Christians throughout the world would have questions about what they saw there, and I had concerns (and assumptions, which do sometimes turn out to be right) about how the material would be presented.
They started with their “answer.”
Conspiracy, the show asserted as its opening premise, has covered up the truth about Jesus and his family for millennia. From that point on, they then seemed pretty determined to be undeterred by the “facts,” no matter what they were.
You could see their conclusions had been drawn, even before the archaeology was presented.
Every commercial break ended with a sensationalized question, and the strong implication that these “warriors for the truth” would soon bring to light some long-lost facts.
Certainly, they assume, an ancient tomb in Jerusalem containing ossuaries (bone boxes) inscribed with the named of “Jesus son of Joseph,” and “Maria,” must be the family tomb of Jesus.
Of course, a closer examination of the evidence and a hearing from any of the legion of archaeologists and biblical scholars who have commented on this film casts huge doubt upon their claims and the credibility of their presentation.
For any of you who saw the documentary and have become concerned as to whether the film’s claims were real, let me assure you that these “documentarians” have done much more than make simple “connections” between the “dots” held within that tomb.
They have stretched, pushed, pulled, and when necessary, fabricated stories to make the dots align to their preconceived conclusions. Rest easy and have no fear that their supposedly new findings in any way threaten the historical Christian faith handed on to us through scripture and tradition.
Only 6 of the 10 ossuaries in the tomb were inscribed. Only the Jesus (Yeshua) and Mary (Maria) inscriptions clearly match the New Testament records, although they attempt to make claims for Yose and Mattya by following theoretical strands of argument and possibility. While they do point out that Yeshua and Maria are among the most common names of that time, they attempt to mitigate that point by making some pretty incredible assertions about the two remaining inscriptions.
One box is marked “MarianmeMara,” and another, “Yehoda bar Yeshua” (Judah son of Jesus).
Surely, the film assumes, this MUST be evidence of Mary Magdalene, who was secretly married to Jesus, and of Judah, their secretly conceived son.
Nevermind that there is NO record of Mary Magdalene being called “Marianme.” They refer to the 4th century “Gospel of Phillip” as showing “Marianme” was used in reference to her. This is absolutely not something that can be proven, but even from that text is an assumption.
While “Marianme” is written in Greek on the ossuary, they assert that “Mara,” is from the Aramaic title for “master,” a term given to highly respected teachers. This MUST mean, they proclaim, that Marianme is really Mary Magdalene, who was highly respected as a teacher and apostle in the early church. After all, she was Jesus’ wife.
Nevermind that there is absolutely no evidence, whatsoever, in any early Christian writing, or in scripture that Jesus was married. Nevermind that they can’t produce any such evidence.
That, you see (they say) is because of the conspiracy to cover up that truth. Nevermind that our scripture itself names other apostles who were married, and that there was absolutely no shame whatsoever in a Rabbi being married. Nevermind that the early church had no reason to cover up that truth, and that many NT scriptures show that women played important and prominent roles in life of the church.
And on, and on. Nevermind the facts, if you’ve already decided the ending.
There are many more problems with their presentation of the facts, but that’s enough of that for now. Here is a link from Ben Witherington, professor at Asbury Theological Seminary with more information well worth your time if you’re interested in reading more. Go "googling," and you can find all you'd ever want to read and then some.
There’s a lesson here for us all to learn. We often see what we want to ---- and our world is conditioned many times by what we expect it to be.
If we’re convinced that a person in our lives, or some entire group of people, could never be positive, worthwhile or uplifting, then it’s likely that we’ll never experience them in those ways, even when the facts tell us otherwise.
If we’re sure that the world is conspiring against us, that our own political opinions are always infallible or that “some things just don’t change,” you can be sure that they won’t.
If we’re determined to force the peg of our world into some predetermined hole, no matter what the cost, you can be sure that yes, we’ll pretty much always be able to jam it home.
And you can also know that we’ll always be the ones who pay.
Does that mean that there are no assumptions on which we can build our lives? Where is the “rock” of firm foundation that Jesus mentioned as good for “house” building?
How about this?
“We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).
Or this?
“Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.” I John 4
Or even this?
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” Hebrews 11:1
God is with us, and the good news of the empty tomb can shape the reality of our lives.
Assume the best. It’s what you’ll see.
Grace and Peace,
Adam
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