The Sacred Bones (36 page)

Now both Santelli and Donovan looked perplexed.

Santelli tilted his head to one side. "So, Dr. Hennesey, are you telling us that you
don't
believe that these are actually Jesus's remains?"

Their eyes met in a silent standoff.

For an instant, she thought back to her conversation with Bersei-- how he'd said that people might have been killed for these relics. Unlike Donovan, the cardinal's shifty gaze was starting to convince her that Giovanni's suspicions might just have been right. "From what I've seen here, claiming these to be the actual remains of Jesus Christ would be a long shot. The scientific methods available today pose too many questions. There remains a very real possibility that this is some kind of first-century forgery."

"That's a relief," said Donovan.

Taken aback, Charlotte looked at him sharply. "Why's that?"

Opening his satchel he produced the
Ephemeris Conlusio
. "Let me explain."

Carefully resting the ancient, weathered manuscript on the glossy mahogany tabletop, Father Donovan turned to her. "You know, of course, that the Vatican has been extremely concerned about the ossuary's provenance?"

Cardinal Santelli sat back in the chair, hands folded across his chest.

Charlotte eyed the book curiously.

"And there was a very good reason why," he explained. "No one outside a small circle within the upper reaches of the Church has heard what I'm about to tell you."

Judging from the cardinal's body language, she highly doubted that. "Okay."

"First, I need to give you some background," Donovan began. "Many Jews, particularly those living in ancient Judea, maintained that Jesus-- the self-proclaimed son of God-- hadn't fulfilled the messianic criteria outlined in the Old Testament. And they were right."

That's an odd admission, she thought.

"The Messiah foretold by the prophets was supposed to be a warrior directly descended from King David, empowered by God to militarily reunite the tribes of Israel, thus freeing the Promised Land from tyranny and oppression." Donovan was speaking quickly, his face animated, hands gesticulating. "The Messiah was supposed to rebuild the Holy Temple. The Messiah was supposed to conquer Rome. The Jews had been vanquished for centuries and subjugated by all the major empires-- Persians, Greeks, and Romans. For the first thousand years of its existence, Jerusalem had known only bloodshed." Images of dead Israeli soldiers reminded him how little had changed. "Yet in reading the scriptures, you find Jesus advocating peace. Here was a man telling the Jews to pay their taxes and accept their lot in life. In return he promised them eternity with God. He believed using evil to conquer evil only prolonged a perpetual cycle."

Charlotte realized that Donovan needed to tell this story and that she needed to encourage it. "Live by the sword, die by the sword?"

"Exactly. Jesus knew Rome couldn't be defeated. He was trying to prevent a massive Jewish rebellion that would have ended in a massacre by the Romans. But many chose not to listen." Donovan's voice was solemn. "Less than thirty years after Christ's death, the Jews finally revolted. The Roman response was swift and it was brutal. They besieged Jerusalem and after they'd taken the city, they slaughtered every man, woman, and child. Thousands were crucified, burned, or simply hacked to pieces. Jerusalem and the second temple were razed to the ground. Just as Jesus had predicted." He paused. "Dr. Hennesey, are you aware that most theologians estimate that Jesus's ministry spanned only one year?"

She knew that Christ had been in his early thirties when he died. "I never realized that."

Donovan leaned in closer. "I hope you'd agree that regardless of one's faith, or even the degree of one's faith, Jesus was a remarkable human being-- a philosopher and teacher-- someone who emerged from relative obscurity to bring a lasting message of hope, kindness, and faith that still resonates two thousand years later. No other figure in history has had such an impact." His eyes on her, Donovan's hands migrated to the
Ephemeris Conlusio
and rested flatly on its cover, as if protecting it.

"That book has something to do with all this?" Charlotte noticed that Donovan had yet to look at Santelli, making it clear that this part of the discussion had been choreographed by the two men.

Donovan answered her with a question. "You're familiar with Christ's resurrection story, the empty tomb?"

"Of course." Having attended catechism classes throughout elementary school and having gone to an all-girls Catholic high school, she knew plenty about scripture-- more than she wanted to. She gave Donovan the straightforward answer that he'd expect-- the one that smoothed out the inconsistencies within all the Gospels: "Jesus was crucified and buried. Three days later he rose from the dead and reappeared to his disciples,"--
In what form is anybody's guess
-- "before ascending to Heaven." That summed it up nicely, she thought.

"Absolutely." Donovan was pleased. "Which brings us to this most remarkable story." He gently patted the book's cover. "This is a journal written by Joseph of Arimathea-- a biblical figure intimately linked to Jesus's death and resurrection."

Charlotte was amazed by the Vatican's secret treasure trove. Had this book been stolen too? "
The
Joseph of Arimathea?"

"Yes. The man who buried Christ." Father Donovan opened the volume revealing pages in ancient Greek, and looked up. "For centuries the Vatican has feared rebuttal of Christ's role as the Messiah. And this book provides many reasons why." Stealing a quick glance at Santelli, Donovan braced himself not to falter or let his voice waver. So far, it seemed that the cardinal was satisfied with his performance. "Though portrayed as Christ's advocate in the New Testament, in fact Joseph of Arimathea was secretly working to undermine Jesus's ministry. You see, Jesus posed a substantial risk to the Jewish elite. Though he smartly avoided confronting the issues of Roman occupation, he had harshly criticized Jewish authority, particularly those priests who had turned God's house into a travesty. In exchange for donations, the Jewish priests were allowing pagans to make sacrifices on the temple's holy altars. They had turned the temple's sacred courtyards into a marketplace. The temple embodied Jewish faith. Therefore, to faithful Jews like Jesus, its steady decline marked the slow death of religious tradition."

Charlotte recalled Matthew's portrayal of Jesus entering the Jewish temple, ransacking merchants' and money changers' tables. Understandably, Jesus hadn't been keen on the holy place being used as a mall.

"Jesus had certainly found fault with the Jewish ruling class," Donovan went on, "and he wasn't afraid to let them know it. It was no surprise that it was the Jewish priests who'd sent their own guards to apprehend him. After Jesus was executed, Joseph of Arimathea was chosen by the Sanhedrin to approach Pontius Pilate to negotiate the release of the body. Convinced by Joseph that it would prevent Jesus's fanatical followers from removing the body from the cross, Pilate granted his request."

Charlotte knew body language. Though Donovan was telling his story confidently, his eyes were shifting. She recalled Giovanni remarking that removing a criminal from a cross would have been unprecedented. No crucified body had ever been recovered. But given the threat Jesus posed to the Jewish aristocracy-- who seemingly had everything to lose should the system be challenged-- Donovan's explanation seemed plausible. "But why would Jesus's followers even want to steal his body?"

"In order to declare a resurrection and portray Jesus as divine."

"So Joseph of Arimathea procured the body to protect it?"

"That's right." Donovan forced himself to look at her.

Now she was put in a divisive position. There was an obvious question that needed to be presented at this juncture. Her eyes shifted to the laptop screen where the reconstructed image of the crucified man seemed to be watching vigil over the proceedings. "And the resurrection?" She swallowed hard. "Did it really happen?"

Donovan grinned. "Of course," he replied. "The body was secretly placed in Joseph's tomb-- a location unbeknownst to Jesus's followers. But three days later it had disappeared."

"Was it stolen?"

Donovan felt Santelli's judicious gaze digging into him. "That's where the Bible is correct, Dr. Hennesey. Four separate New Testament accounts tell us that three days later Jesus rose up from the tomb. Then he reappeared to his followers and ascended to heaven."

Charlotte didn't know what to think. She certainly wasn't one to believe everything in the Bible, and her early-morning brush-up reading had reminded her why. One passage in particular that described Jesus's physical death on the cross had driven that point home. It began with Matthew 27:50:

Reflecting on it, she saw something disturbingly contradictory to the Easter story. It was this passage that first mentioned "His resurrection"-- with no three-day gap or burial having taken place. It made her wonder: if it was Jesus's spirit that had already risen during the moment of death on the cross, then what part of him could possibly have emerged from the tomb three days later? A lifeless, spiritless shell? If bones were actually left behind, should that have surprised anyone? And what about all those other reanimated saintly corpses? Why had no other historical account made reference to so many resurrected
bodies
? She thought she knew the answer.
Because it wasn't a physical resurrection
. The words laid out in the gospels were being misconstrued. Looking over at the Vatican's second-in-command, she saw a seasoned bureaucrat who would hear nothing of interpretation. Though she needed to continue cautiously, she still had to address the obvious: "But what about this ossuary, the crucified corpse...and this symbol of Christ? Does this book say what it all really means?"

Composed now, Donovan leafed through the
Ephemeris Conlusio
almost to the end, carefully setting it back in front of her.

Studying the pages, Charlotte took in detailed drawings of the ossuary and its contents.

"After Joseph's secret deal with Pilate," Donovan explained levelly, "the disciples caused quite a stir in Jerusalem when they discovered that Jesus's body had gone. The body's disappearance allowed them to claim a resurrection had occurred. Naturally, Pilate came down hard on Joseph of Arimathea, insisting that he fix the problem." Donovan pointed to the ossuary. "And that's when Joseph concocted this idea."

Charlotte tried to compute what it actually meant. "If these bones aren't Jesus's..."

Smiling, Donovan spun his hands, encouraging her to think it through.

"...That means Joseph of Arimathea must have
replaced
the body?"

"Absolutely."

She thought she heard Santelli sigh in relief.

"According to Joseph's account, he acquired
another
crucified corpse-- one of two bodies that still remained on a cross atop Golgotha,...a criminal who had been killed the same day as Jesus. The body was subjected to standard Jewish burial rituals and allowed to decay for a year."

"Thus wiping out the second man's identity." If Donovan was making this all up, he was doing a hell of a good job.

"Yes. A brilliant fabrication intended to prove Christ never left the tomb. A desperate attempt to discredit early Christianity in order to preserve the Jewish aristocracy."

She let that sink in. Father Donovan's argument was pretty good, plus he possessed what he stated to be a real document to back up his story. And it did agree with the inconsistencies she'd cited earlier, particularly the odd genetic profile and the clubbed knees. The skeleton could have belonged to some convicted criminal from a backwater Roman province. But the fact still remained that the writings in this ancient book were, quite literally, all Greek to her. The priest's interpretation was all that she had to go by. Maybe that was how he had planned it. But why? She looked at him sharply. "It's obvious Joseph's plan failed. So why is it that no one previously discovered all this?" As soon as she'd asked the question, she felt herself tighten up. Was she pushing too hard?

Donovan shrugged. "I believe Joseph of Arimathea died or was killed during those first twelve months, before the body was finally prepared. Perhaps the Sanhedrin or the Romans murdered him. We'll never really know. Let's just be thankful that his scheme was never carried out. Because unlike today, where skilled scientists like yourself can detect foul play, in ancient times, a physical body could have been extremely problematic."

"And the ossuary was found only recently?" She braced herself for the answer.

"The
Ephemeris Conlusio
was obtained by the Vatican in the early fourteenth century. But it wasn't taken seriously until a lone archaeologist unearthed a tomb just north of Jerusalem a few weeks ago. Luckily he was smart enough to know that if he approached us discreetly we'd pay him very handsomely for it."

Momentarily perplexed, Charlotte let the explanation roll over in her mind a couple times. If Donovan was telling the truth, that would mean that this anonymous
archaeologist
might have killed people to get the ossuary and the Vatican may have been none-the-wiser about its procurement. Possibly Bersei had jumped to the wrong conclusion. But he was a smart man-- a
very
smart man. She'd personally witnessed that he wasn't the type who'd make hasty assumptions about anything. What had he discovered that made him so sure of his claims? "A first-century relic of a crucified man bearing the symbol of Christ," she murmured. "A priceless artifact...for all the wrong reasons."