Just in time for our departure for Israel, reports from that imminent news source, the Discovery Channel, that "Titanic" director James Cameron is pitching a new documentary that sheds fascinating, statistical light on a nearly 30-year-old discovery of a tomb from the era of Jesus. Back in the late 70s, while putting up an apartment complex in Jerusalem, construction workers unearthed an ancient cave used as a tomb that contained 10 ossuaries (small caskets that contained human bones) holding the remains of what looks like a family group, with the names Jesua son of Joseph, Mary, Matthew, Jofa and Juda son of Jesua, among others, etched on the stone containers. You may recall the recent brouhaha about an ancient ossuary that had carved upon it the words "James, brother of Jesus." Yep, that apparently was one of the same 10 caskets. At a press conference on Monday (Feb. 26), Cameron and a crew of experts explained the findings that will air on the Discovery Channel March 4: It will say, in essence, here lies Jesus, his wife Mary Magdelene and their son, Judah; his father Joseph and his mother, Mary, and other family members. Bypassing earlier archeological dismissal of the tomb as just another burial identifying names that were common in that day, Cameron and his entourage appear to rely heavily on statisticians to back up his opinion that this could indeed be Jesus Christ. Odds are 100-1 against it, though, according to the numbers boys. DNA evidence supposedly will clarify the relationships between family members interred in the cave, although I still can't see how a statistician can use math to create "good" odds that this is Our Lord. I'll wager 10-1 that this story has some legs, and it will overtake the Anna Nicole Smith tragedy lickety-split. And I'll be in Jerusalem March 4-7 measuring the reactions to the Discovery Channel program.
Meanwhile, I just read in the Jerusalem Post that a public servant's strike is scheduled for Wednesday, the day we land in Tel Aviv. Thank God for democracy!
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