It is clear from the reading of The Acts of the Apostles that James is the leading figure in the Jerusalem Church. Paul appeals to James and the Council in Jerusalem for answering controversial issues. The discovery of the Ossuary (bone box) of James is a monumental discovery. Apparently it was too monumental for some and for some unknown reason the owner of the James Ossuary was charged with forgery. The authenticity of the James Ossuary was immediately disregarded by almost all of the media. However, after years of on going controversy and prosecution, the antiques dealer, Robert Deutsch, was acquitted of all six charges in 2011. He is now suing the Israeli government for $3 million!
So what does the James Ossuary have to do with the new Church Year? With the coming of the new Church Year we have moved from the C series in the lectionary to the A series. This means that the vast majority of our Gospel Lessons come from The Gospel According to Matthew.
In preparation for the coming Church Year and Christmas, I have gone through the entire Gospel of Matthew several times in the last few weeks. As a result, I am becoming more and more convinced that much of the information contained in Matthew (especially the genealogy and the birth of Jesus from Joseph's view point) comes from James, the brother of Jesus.
It is incredibly amazing to learn that we may have the actual ossuary of James especially this year as we read the account of the life of Jesus from the Gospel that seems likely to be directly connected to him.
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