Of the brothers, the next oldest after Jesus was James (Matt. 13:55-56; Mark 6:3). Other verses which indicate the existence of Mary and Joseph's other children: Matthew 1:25; 12:47; Luke 2:7; John 2:12; Acts 1:14. The Bible reveals that there was some initial skepticism in Christ's family about his ministry (Matthew 12:46-50; Mark 3:31-35; Luke 8:19-21; John 7:5). He doesn't appear to hvae been a follower of Jesus while he was alive, but the apostle Paul (in 1 Corinthians 15:7) mentions that Jesus appeared to and spoke with James after His resurrection; James then became a believer, a follower and the leader of the first century Jerusalem church (1 Corinthians 9:5; Galatians 2:9). In Galatians 1:19, Paul referred to James as an apostle, like himself. James also endorsed Paul's ministry (Galatians 2:1-10). James presided over the council held to decide whether the Gentile Christians should follow the rules of the Jews (Acts 12:17; 15:13-29: 21:18-24).
Jesus' other brothers apparently became missionaries (1 Corinthians 9:5).
The discovery of an inscription which seems to mention James, the brother of Jesus Christ, was announced at a news conference in Washington, D.C. on the morning of October 21, 2002.
After nearly 2,000 years, historical evidence for the existence of Jesus has come to light literally written in stone. An inscription has been found on an ancient bone box, called an ossuary, that reads "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus." The ossuary was found in Israel, near the Mount of Olives.
The Aramaic words etched on the box's side show a cursive form of writing used only from about 10 to 70 A.D., according to noted paleographer Andre Lemaire of the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (popularly known as the Sorbonne University) in Paris, who verified the inscription's authenticity. The ossuary has been dated to approximately 63 A.D., the traditional date of James' death. The details of Lemaire's investigation appeared in the November/December 2002 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review, the leading publication in this field.
Ancient inscriptions are typically found on royal monuments or on lavish tombs, commemorating rulers and other official figures. But Jesus, who was raised by a carpenter, was a man of the people, so finding documentation of his family is doubly unexpected.
In the first century A.D., Jews followed the custom of transferring the bones of their deceased from burial caves to ossuaries. The practice was largely abandoned after the destruction of the Jewish Temple in 70 A.D. No one knows for certain why the practice started or stopped, but it provides a rare period of self-documentation in which commoners as well as leaders left their names carved in stone. The dating of this find would be within four decades after the crucifixion of Jesus.
The new find is also significant in that it corroborates the existence of Joseph, Jesus father, and James, Jesus brother and a leader of the early Christian church in Jerusalem. The family relationships contained on the new find helped experts ascertain that the inscription does indeed refer to the Biblical James, brother of Jesus (see, for example, Matthew 13:55-56 and Galatians 1:18-19). Although all three names were common in ancient times, the statistical probability of their appearing in that combination is extremely slim. In addition, the mention of a brother is unusual--indicating that this Jesus must have been a well-known figure.
"I have no question it is an ancient artifact from the first century," says Eric Meyers, the Bernice and Morton Lerner Professor of Judaic Studies and Director of the Graduate Program in Religion at Duke University. "It appears to be the oldest extra-biblical, non-literary mention of Jesus in the context of the nascent Christian church, and that's pretty significant."
"The three names mentioned are equivalent to Tom, Dick and Harry," Meyers said. "They're everyday sort of names in the first century. What is most compelling to me is the use of 'brother of.' We don't have the designation of siblings common in the epigraphy of the Second Temple or early Roman period. That's kind of a clincher for me."
Laboratory tests performed by the Geological Survey of Israel confirm that the box's limestone comes from the Jerusalem area. The patina--a thin sheen or covering that forms on stone and other materials over time--has the cauliflower-type shape known to develop in a cave environment; more importantly, it shows no trace of modern elements. This patina was also found within the letters of the inscription, indicating that the inscription was not added later.
The 10-inch-by-20-inch-by-12-inch, 45-pound box resides in a private collection in Israel. Like many ossuaries obtained on the antiquities market, it is empty. However, the soil at the bottom is littered with bone chips, the largest being a half-inch wide and three inches long, raising the issue of whose DNA would be found within it. The owner (whose name has not been released, at his own request) bought it for a few hundred dollars in the 1970s.
The container is one of very few ancient artifacts mentioning New Testament figures. One such object is the ossuary of Caiaphas, the high priest who turned Jesus over to the Romans. Caiaphas's tomb was uncovered in 1990. Also, some 40 years ago, archaeologists discovered an inscription on a monument that mentions Pontius Pilate.
"The James ossuary may be the most important find in the history of New Testament archaeology," says Hershel Shanks, editor of Biblical Archaeology Review. "It has implications not just for scholarship, but for the world's understanding of the Bible."
The first century Jewish historian Josephus says that around A.D. 62 the high priest Ananus arranged for the death of "one James, the brother of Jesus who was called the Christ/Messiah." It is historically believed that James achieved martyrdom when his critics threw him from the temple's pinnacle, and then finished by clubbing him to death. It is ironic that 1,900 years later, the James ossuary is found in Silwan, directly beneath today's Temple Mount.
The bone-box left Israel for the first time to go on display at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. But the bone fragments did not go with it. Nor will the owner allow them to be displayed or analyzed. They will stay in Israel. The ossuary has delivered enough mystery into the world for now.
Arrangements are now being made to have the ossuary exhibited in North America.
