14
Uncertain Paths
MARTHA WAS GROWING WEARY and peckish after another day of nonstop walking and talking. The Jordan was long sunk over the horizon, and Pella drew closer and closer. But where would the three of them stay when they arrived? They had no plan. Being a talkative person, Martha vocalized their worries as she walked. Finally, Joanna and Miryam had had enough of it.
“Let’s change the subject, shall we, sister? Maybe we will open an inn in Pella and call it ‘The Three Sisters,’” joked Miryam.
“Right,” said Martha, snorting, “I can see it now. Greeks and Romans lining up for Jewish food prepared according to Leviticus. We could also put up a sign out front—baths for the ritually unclean. That ought to attract customers.”
“Let’s really change the subject,” said Joanna. “Let me tell you about when I first saw the risen Jesus. Now that’s a subject worth dwelling on.”
“Oh, yes,” said Miryam eagerly, “Please tell us about that. We were in Bethany, in shock and mourning, and only heard about it much later.”
“It was very dark and chilly when I went with Miryam of Migdal and Salome to Jesus’ tomb to anoint his body and change the linen wrapping. We were in such shock, so numb, that none of us really considered how exactly we were going to manage to roll the stone back from the entranceway of the tomb. And there were the soldiers as well. But we were determined to try.
“When we came around the corner in the garden where the tomb was, we could see that the stone had already been rolled back. Immediately I thought it must be grave robbers.
Figure 14.1. First-century tomb with stone
“Miryam, however, had the notion that Jesus’ body had been moved by the gardener, though why he would have done so was beyond me. We approached the tomb and looked in. And there, inside, were what looked like two young men, only they seemed to glow, and they were sitting at either end of the stone slab where Jesus’ body had been laid.
“They said, ‘Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here. He is risen! Go tell the disciples.’”
Joanna took a deep breath. “Panic replaced our grief. We fled, leaving the linens and the oils we had brought, and ran to tell the Eleven, who were hiding in the upper room. It struck me later was that there were two of these heavenly messengers, as if to confirm the truth by the testimony of two witnesses.
A Look at Grave Robbers
A famous inscription from the time of Claudius or Nero was found in Nazareth in the late nineteenth century. It ended up in a French museum. Here is the inscription itself.
As for the translation, the following gives the literal rendering:
EDICT OF CAESAR
2. It is my decision [concerning] graves and tombs—whoever has made
3. them for the religious observances of parents, or children, or household
4. members—that these remain undisturbed forever. But if anyone legally
5. charges that another person has destroyed, or has in any manner extracted
6. those who have been buried, or has moved with wicked intent those who
7. have been buried to other places, committing a crime against them, or has
8. moved sepulcher-sealing stones, against such a person I order that a
9. judicial tribunal be created, just as [is done] concerning the gods in
10. human religious observances, even more so will it be obligatory to treat
11. with honor those who have been entombed. You are absolutely not to
12. allow anyone to move [those who have been entombed]. But if
13. [someone does], I wish that [violator] to suffer capital punishment under
14. the title of tomb-breaker.
The inscription itself assumes that there were problems with the moving of corpses and the disturbing of tombs, presumably not just in Nazareth, a small village, but elsewhere. Of course, there are famous stories and evidence of grave robbing on a spectacular scale in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt. What makes the modern finding of the Tomb of King Tutankhamen so spectacular is that most of the other tombs in that valley had long since been plundered and the objects sold. From a Roman point of view, grave robbing was a religious offense against the gods, but this is the only known evidence that grave robbing might in fact have warranted capital punishment.
Figure 14.2. Inscription found in Nazareth of an edict by Emperor Claudius prohibiting grave robbing
Some have suggested that this inscription is actually a warning to Christians, who were accused of stealing the body of Jesus in the first place. But there are problems with that notion: (1) The inscription does not date to the time of Tiberius, and (2) Christians were not especially singled out in the inscription nor noted during the first century for grave robbing (despite the claims of those who would see the Talpiot tomb as the place where Jesus’ body was re-interred after it was pilfered from Joseph of Arimathea’s tomb). But note, too, the reference to the sealing of tombs in Israel, also found in regard to Jesus’ tomb in Matthew 27:65-66.
“We arrived at the upper room, and after knocking in the right pattern, we were let in. The men were in no mind to receive our story and immediately dismissed it as women’s fantasies. Even those who knew us well did not trust our testimony. But Peter and the Beloved Disciple, your own brother, went and found things just as we had said. But they did not see the angels, and they left the tomb more confused than we were. When we got back to the tomb, Miryam broke down and started crying. She was absolutely inconsolable. Just then, a hooded figure appeared at some distance from the tomb. All of a sudden he said ‘Miryam,’ in just the tone of voice the Master always used with her. She fell at Jesus’ feet, bowing down. We followed her lead, stunned to see the Master alive again, and not just as a spirit, but in the flesh, well and healthy.
“Jesus told us to go and tell the disciples we had seen our risen Master. We were to tell them Jesus would soon be returning to the Father. Whether they believed us or not, we were determined to do as Jesus said. Words cannot describe our joy—that he was back from the grave!” Joanna felt a swell of hope arise in her even as she told the tale. “There were of course many other appearances of Jesus to his disciples. Sometimes he appeared to individuals, like Jesus’ brother Jacob, or Peter, or even Saul of Tarsus, and sometimes to whole groups of us, in Jerusalem, in Judea, and later even in Galilee.
“It was at one of those appearances in Jerusalem that I met my husband, Andronicus. As you know, my first husband, Chuza, cared more about his job and prestige as Herod’s estate manager than he cared about me. When I shamed him by becoming a regular traveling follower and supporter of the Master, he gave me a writ of divorce. Herod Antipas didn’t want any of his staff involved in that, so Chuza had to choose. I do not blame him. And in effect he set me free. But I was able to take my dowry with me, since it was not a case of being accused of adultery or anything of that sort. This made it possible for me to become a full-time follower of Jesus, even traveling to Jerusalem with him. Eventually Andronicus and I were both commissioned as proper missionaries, or apostles, and we ended up assisting Paul. Not all who saw the risen Jesus became such missionaries or apostles, but we did. I have no regrets about how I have spent the last forty years in service to our Savior. And even now, as I am old, I look forward to what is next—without anxiety and with hope.”
Martha had remained silent, though she understood that Joanna’s last remark was gently meant for her. And of course Joanna was right. Being right, however, didn’t settle how the three would begin a new life, let alone survive in a Roman city. But they knew there were other Christians in Pella who might help.