01x09 - Jesus: The Early Years

[bunniefuu]

[SIMCHA] The New Testament's story of Jesus' birth...

...has been told thousands of times.

Long ago in Nazareth there lived a young woman named Mary.

One day an angel appeared...

...and told her she had been chosen to have God's son.

Soon after, Mary and her husband, Joseph,

set off on a difficult journey to Bethlehem.

Then, in a stable, Mary gave birth to a bouncing baby boy,

and put him in a manger full of hay.

They were visited by some shepherds,

some animals, three wise men, and a couple of angels, too.

Every year billions of people...

...around the world celebrate Jesus' birth.

The Bible gives details of the nativity story,

but barely mentions anything...

...about the next years of Jesus' life.

These are the lost years,

and what he did in his youth...

...is open to a variety of interpretations,

which have evolved for over two thousand years.

With archaeology as my guide,

I'm going to retrace the footsteps of the young Jesus.

I'll go where he went and see what he saw,

trying to unravel the truth from tradition.

My search begins where it all began,

the little town of Bethlehem.

This is the traditional place of the birth of Jesus,

this is where the manger is supposed to be.

And this is where the Magi are supposed to have come.

The star led them to this very place...

...according to Christian lore.

This is the traditional Bethlehem,

but is it the Bethlehem of archaeology?

This is exciting this is the church of the nativity.

We're talking about a -year-old church.

Now, we could stand in line here...

...or we could say we're television...

...we don't have to stay in line.

[SIMCHA] This church,

believed to be built on top of the manger...

...where Jesus was born,

is one of the oldest in Christendom.

From Crusader Kings to kindergarten classes,

millions of people have been coming here...

...for the better part of two millennia.

You really got to grab what you can over here,

because the faithful are stampeding.

Right now tourism is down.

Imagine what it was like when tourism was up?

[people singing in unison]

That's the traditional place...

...of Jesus' birth right over there.

X marks the spot where the virgin birth...

...is supposed to have taken place...

...according to tradition.

And where the gospel story...

...is kind of a match to the archeology.

And a tradition that's now some years old.

We'll get out of their way.

Over there is the manger.

This is where, supposedly,

baby Jesus was put into a little crib or a trough.

Right over here.

Now you notice that there is archeology here...

...you could see the stones, the original stone.

Traditionally it's interpreted as being some kind of barn,

but you see it's not a barn.

It makes sense that...

...this would have been somebody's home.

It's like a basement really. It's a big grotto.

[SIMCHA] years of Christian tradition...

...points to this location as the birthplace of Jesus.

It's here that archaeology meets with the biblical account.

The story continues with Jesus...

...and his family moving to Nazareth.

So I think a trip to his old hometown is in order.

Maybe a walk around his old neighborhood...

...will reveal something about Jesus' early life.

The Nazareth Historical Village is a living museum...

...situated on the ruins of a first century farm...

...in present day Nazareth.

Here, a team of biblical scholars and archaeologists...

...are working together to re-create a village...

...that resembles in every way..

...what archeology tells us about where Jesus grew up.

Shalom, peace upon you all.

[SIMCHA] Here I meet up with Steve and Claire Pfann...

...New Testament scholars...

...and experts on first century life.

Tell me what this place is about.

Well what we have here...

...is the reconstruction of first century life.

As a location this is only meters...

...away from where Jesus lived.

We know it existed...

...during the time of Jesus and his family.

Is it based on Hollywood's version...

...of what things looked like,

or is this solid archeology?

We've built these buildings out of the same rock,

the same mortar,

the same roof beams that would have been used...

...back in the st Century.

This actually looks ancient, this hole in the ground.

What you find here is a drain...

...in which rainwater can come down.

You've got the water coming down here.

It's collecting the rainwater, right?

It's pouring down there.

this is a settling pool...

...so all the dirt can settle to the bottom...

...before it goes up and into the hole...

...down into the cistern, inside the wall there.

Take us in.

As you would in a normal house,

you'd be coming in to a courtyard like this.

This is really neat. You guys are good.

The story here is rebuilding st-Century life.

If you want to understand the Bible or the period,

you have to be like a detective going back to the scene.

Some of the major archeologists...

...have come through here, and they have really said:

"Now, I finally feel like I'm inside a st-Century town."

It comes alive.

Instead of looking at some rocks on the floor,

you're sitting here; you can just see that second level.

"Sweetie, come down for dinner." You know?

That's it.

Yeah. It's amazing.

I can still hear them arguing after all these years.

It's definitely a Jewish home

[SIMCHA] Steve shows me a replica...

...of the type of house Jesus grew up in,

the carpenter shop...

...where he would have helped his father,

and the synagogue where he would have prayed.

From this recreated village...

...we can actually envision the early home life of Jesus.

He probably lived like any other boy...

...in st century Galilee.

He would have gone to school,

helped around the house,

and played with the neighborhood kids.

After a whirlwind tour...

...the only thing I haven't seen is a manger.

Steve's wife, Claire,

takes over the tour to talk about the nativity scene.

So he said you're better with mangers.

Well, I think I'm better with childbirth.

I think that was the implication there.

You're a scholar, as well, right?

Yeah, I work in New Testament...

...and teach New Testament courses.

When we think of the whole nativity story...

...and being born in a manger,

you kind of almost think of a European...

...or an American farm...

...where they're being sent off to the barn.

Because of Christmas cards and film and media,

we have a picture of Mary on a donkey...

...in labor in the pouring rain,

and Joseph arriving in a strange city...

...and going from door to door,

knocking at every hotel and motel everyone saying,

"Sorry, we're full up, and your poor, pregnant wife...

...who's in labor can't come in and have a room"

But if we set all that aside,

and we just work with the text of the Bible first off,

it says there was this census,

and they were returning to Bethlehem...

...because it was the ancestral home of Joseph's family.

If it's their patriarchal home,

that means there is a network of relatives...

...already living there.

Everybody's saying:

"Hi, how are you? Long time"

Exactly. It's a patriarchal home.

"Long time no see"

It's a huge family occasion.

Also, though, the house is packed to overflowing,

because everyone who's part of the family...

...has to come for this particular census.

So my understanding of this story then...

...is that because the house was so full,

because there was no room in the guest room,

when Mary went into labor the question was...

...where can she have this baby in peace and quiet...

...with some privacy?

And the best suggestion they could come up with.

Especially with a room like that!

-was to empty out the storeroom,

and lay down some fresh hay...

...and give her a little bit of privacy.

So this is what it probably looked like,

didn't look like an American barn, right?

[SIMCHA] Claire takes me to a grotto...

...that looks very similar to the basement...

...of the Church of the Nativity.

Unlike an American barn,

this is actually a basement cave.

I think a basement...

...is much more like what we would call it.

I'm not a woman,

but it seems to me that I wouldn't mind giving birth-

Yeah. Cozy and private.

I'd like a little more light maybe.

And Mary offered her-

Here's a little oil lamp little area here.

Yeah, first century type oil lamp.

So that Mary, you know-

They would have lit it with oil lamps.

I like your Manger. It's a nice.

Thank you.

It's a nice manger.

[SIMCHA] Claire dispels some...

...commonly held notions of the nativity scene,

and it's a good reminder...

...of how a traditional story told over the ages...

...evolves into something very different...

...from the original.

So with that all straightened out,

I'm heading off to meet with an archaeologist...

...who says the story of the nativity maybe right,

but the location is all wrong.

[SIMCHA] My next stop...

...is a short drive from Nazareth...

...to the ruins of an ancient town,

called Bethlehem.

It's the little known Bethlehem of the Galilee,

km north of the Judean Bethlehem,

where most think Jesus was born.

Here I'm meeting archaeologist Arvriham Oshri.

Oshri thinks everyone's got the wrong Bethlehem.

And his proof begins....

...with a large wall surrounding this tiny village.

This is Bethlehem of Galilee.

This is the Galilean Bethlehe.

We're coming towards Galilean Bethlehem now.

Now what's this?

This is the wall.

These are big blocks. -Mmm Hmm.

If I would have just been wandering around here...

...I would have thought that these stones,

are just some kind of terracing system.

But in a minute,

I will show you why these...

...can't be part of just a simple terrace.

Why?

Because there is a rampart,

a big rampart leading into the city.

So it's a real fortification.

Yeah. Here we see the rampart,

which is connected to the wall on both sides.

It leads us upwards into the city.

[SIMCHA] Walls and ramparts...

...were the primary defenses of ancient cities.

These Byzantine fortifications suggest...

...that a large powerful city once stood here,

but Bethlehem of the Galilee was a tiny village,

what could these later Christians...

...have been protecting?

This is not a small village.

It's a small village by size.

A small village with a very big fortification.

Yeah.

Here you can see the continuation of the wall.

Usually you'll find that kind of walls...

...in big cities like Jerusalem.

It's quite unique for a village that small to be fortified.

So you're saying...

...the fact that there is such a significant wall...

...for what otherwise would be a small little village...

...must mean that the Christians care a lot...

...about this particular village.

-Yeah, exactly.

You think that trough excavations like this...

...you've actually found the place of the nativity.

I do believe that this is the site of the nativity.

[SIMCHA] If Oshri is right,

how did Matthew and Luke,

writing a few decades after Jesus' death,

confuse the Bethlehems?

How do you explain the fact...

....that there seems to be a very old tradition...

...in the other place and total silence on this place?

I would suggest Christianity wanted...

...to turn Jesus into a Messiah.

And according to the Old Testament...

...the Messiah should come from David's house.

And David came from Bethlehem near Jerusalem.

That is why Jesus...

...had to come from that Bethlehem.

[SIMCHA] The Biblical prophets predicted that...

...the Messiah will come from the family of King David...

...who hailed from Bethlehem of the south.

Saying that Jesus was born there fulfills the prophecy...

...and proves his Messiahship.

Was this all a bit of early religious spin?

To help answer this,

I'm meeting with Dr. John Kloppenberg,

professor of religion at the University of Toronto.

Let's start with Jesus and where he was born.

I mean of course the tradition is it says Bethlehem,

but there are two Bethlehems as it turns out.

Is it possible that Jesus' birthplace...

...was kind of moved for ideological reasons...

...because to be born in the Galilee,

would not be where a messiah should be born?

When we have so little data...

...almost anything is theoretically possible.

But I would say the prior question is...

...why would we think that he's born in Bethlehem at all?

The basis for connecting Jesus' birth with Bethlehem...

...is very slender.

It appears only in Matthew's Gospel and Luke's Gospel,

which are written at the latest stratum...

...of Christian tradition.

The earlier levels of the Gospel traditions...

...connect him with Nazareth,

I mean he's known as Jesus of Nazareth,

or Jesus the Nazareen.

The Gospel of John interestingly,

has someone say, he can't be the Messiah...

...because we all know that the Messiah...

...is the son of David...

...and the Messiah comes from Bethlehem,

the implication being that everybody knows...

...that Jesus doesn't come from Bethlehem.

And both Matthew and Luke,

when they talk about Bethlehem...

...as the birthplace of Jesus,

they're interested in connecting Jesus with David,

and Bethlehem is David's town.

So you're saying it could be that...

...he was given a birthplace in the right town after the fact?

That's right, once Christians say that he's the Messiah,

if he's a Davidic Messiah...

...then surely the Davidic Messiah...

...must have been born in Bethlehem.

Then you have to create stories...

...that explain the birth in Bethlehem.

[SIMCHA] According to Dr. Kloppenberg...

...not only is Bethlehem in question...

...but the entire nativity story as well.

The only thing that everyone seems to agree on...

...is that Jesus grew up in Nazareth,

but there's nothing left there to excavate.

However just four miles away...

...is the spectacular ancient city of Sephorus.

Here I hope to find some clues...

...about the lost years of Jesus.

[SIMCHA] Tradition portrays Jesus as...

...a humble country boy,

growing up in the sleepy town of Nazareth...

...but excavations in the nearby city...

...are forcing scholars to rethink this old quaint notion.

Once known as the Jewel of the Galilee,

this Roman City Sephorus continues...

...to dazzle visitors with the ruins of an opulent marketplace,

lavish theater and beautiful mosaics.

Wow! This is amazing.

She is beautiful, isn't she?

[SIMCHA] Since it was only miles...

...from his front door,

wouldn't the young Jesus...

...have been influenced by Sephprus?

To understand more...

...I met up with David Goren.

Historian and tour guide.

This is a huge site.

This is a huge site and it was amazing that...

...it mostly was unknown until .

So where are we going?

To the theatre of course. It's show time!

It's show time.

Wow this is impressive.

Let me try the acoustics. Okay you stay here.

[SIMCHA] Chiseled into bedrock...

...this theatre can seat .

On the stage, stage.

Can you hear me?

I can hear you fine.

The acoustics are pretty good.

This is the hallmark of Hellenistic culture:

theatre, acting.

Jesus lived very close to here.

How far is Nazareth from here?

Around four miles.

Four miles.

There's no way that a carpenter's son...

...could have lived four miles from here...

...and not come into touch with this place, right?

There's no way that if you lived in the Galilee,

you wouldn't meet Roman culture.

[SIMCHA] One piece of compelling evidence...

...that Jesus visited Sephorus isn't supplied by archeology...

...but by the bible itself.

Scholars have wondered where Jesus picked up...

...the word hypocrite a Greek word meaning actor,

and a word that Jesus used times in the Gospels.

There's a good chance that...

...Jesus learned this word from plays...

...performed in Greek here at Sephorus.

Now look at the Gospels.

Jesus is born in Bethlehem,

he grows up in Nazareth...

...and Sephorus is never, ever mentioned.

This was the center of Roman culture...

...and I bet you Jesus didn't have very many good things...

...to say about Roman culture.

So when the new religion,

Christianity, was being sold to the Romans suddenly,

every reference to Sephorus is edited out?

[SIMCHA] Was this the work..

...of ancient editors or was Sephorus...

...just not important enough...

...to make it into the good book?

I ask Dr. Kloppenberg for his opinion.

Why do you think Sephorus,

such a big city right in Jesus' backyard...

...is not mentioned?

You would sort of expect an important city...

...to be mentioned.

And the fact that it's not is a bit of a puzzle.

Perhaps even more puzzling...

...that Sephorus is so close to Nazareth...

...and I would suppose that it would have been a place...

...that Jesus visited and perhaps...

...a place that both Jesus and his father worked in.

That's where all the work was!

Yeah exactly!

So why do you think it's not mentioned?

I don't have an answer for why it's not mentioned.

It may not have been mentioned...

...because it was a pro-Roman site.

It's conceivable that I suppose...

...that Jesus made anti-Roman statements...

...and those have been edited out...

...but we don't really have any strong evidence of that.

So, explaining silences...

...is always a very difficult thing for historians.

[SIMCHA] With no written evidence,

all we can do is piece together a picture...

...based on the archaeology.

David takes me to the remains of an ancient home,

where the Roman and Greek influences...

...can be seen in the Mosaics left behind.

This section of Sephorus has never been seen by the public.

You have to pick up everything?

What?

It's there for a reason, no?

It's the archeologist in me.

I have to just peek. Oh look at that.

Unveiled for the first time.

Quite beautiful actually.

It looks like they're playing a game,

playing dice, gambling.

This place, religiously speaking,

it's den of sin.

They're playing dice games of chance,

we got two guys dancing there,

he's drinking and getting drunk.

Jesus wouldn't have wanted to eat here.

He wouldn't have trusted that the food was Kosher...

...and these pictures would have offended him.

[SIMCHA] This city of wealth and earthly delights...

...provides a stark contrast...

...to the farming village of Nazareth.

Sephorus with its pagan culture...

...and decadent lifestyle represents many of the things...

...that Jesus would later preach against.

It seems obvious to me...

...that Jesus was influenced by the city.

I'm heading back to Bethlehem of the Galilee...

...where Prof. Oshri claims he has one final clue...

...for his Alternative Nativity location.

[SIMCHA] I'm back with Prof. Oshri...

...at the other Bethlehem in Galilee.

It was here just years ago that he...

...uncovered the remains of a massive bizantine church.

We're on our way to check out...

...where the church once stood...

...and where Oshri believes that Jesus was really born.

It wasn't a church under the highway;

there was a church over the highway.

Yes, exactly.

Right over here.

Look these guys are upset with us.

Don't blame us you're in a church.

You're driving in the middle of a church. Really!

This is a very different kinda church than I've been in before.

So this side road over here...

...that's where it started and how far did it go?

Up to the oak tree.

That's a big church.

That's a big point in your favor.

Why would somebody build,

in the middle of a little village,

in the Galilee, a huge church...

...like that surrounded by a huge wall?

Exactly.

Now, you mentioned there was a natural cave somewhere?

Yeah, just behind the oak tree.

I've seen it in the early s.

And it disappeared afterwards.

Where? -Somewhere here.

What do you mean, it disappeared?

It was covered with dirt and soil.

u say that behind this oak tree, you saw a natural cave.

Yeah.

So the entire church...

...was built around this natural cave?

If you're right, this is in Byzantine times

They probably believed that the cave...

...was the place where Jesus was born.

Wouldn't it be quite easy to figure out...

...if there's a cave there by digging in the earth?

Yeah. There's no problem in doing it.

It just needs finance

But watch out, we are breaking the law now.

We're breaking the law, why?

Because, we are not allowed to excavate...

...without their permission.

But, look. Look what we found here.

You could see the top of the thing.

Where the dirt is.

I mean, you can see that this is filled in.

Are you going to give me a footnote...

...that I rediscovered the scene of the nativity?

Yeah.

Archeology in action.

[SIMCHA] Could it be that behind this muddy wall...

...is the actual birthplace of Jesus?

I wonder if the people living above here...

...know about any of this.

Now, is that house sitting on top of the cave...

...is a nativity according to your theory?

If I'm right.

I wanna meet these people.

I would like to meet these people.

He's embarrassed; he's too embarrassed to come.

Do you think they speak English?

Hello? It's open. Hello? Shalom.

I just wanna ask you some questions about-

There's the archeologist.

You should warn me first.

Yeah. I see your bags are packed over here.

Storgage.

When are you due? Any day?

Any day.

Really? Did you realize that...

...you have in your backyard...

...an archeological place, yeah?

Yeah. There was a Byzantic church here.

We might be raising the value of your property a lot,

do you know that? -No. How?

Why don't you tell her, your theory.

Why don't you tell her, seriously.

I'm suggesting that Jesus was born here,

rather than the Bethlehem near Jerusalem.

Are you going to do a home birth?

No.

No? Because if you do a home birth,

and if this is the place where Jesus was born,

your kid can be born when Jesus was born.

Wow.

Okay. This is good. This is archeology in action.

[SIMCHA] If I had doubts about Oshri's theory before,

finding a pregnant woman...

...above this possible nativity site...

...is definitely a sign in his favour.

Jesus' lost year's end around age ...

...when he is baptized by John and his ministry begins.

I've retraced the footsteps of Jesus...

...from Bethlehem to Nazareth.

I've touched the very spot...

...where Christian tradition says he was born.

I've walked around his hometown...

...and seen first hand what it was like where he grew up.

At Sephorus, I've seen the powerful influences...

...that helped shape Jesus' philosophy.

I've heard some new theories and made up some of my own.

Most of the early life of Jesus remains a mystery.

But now for the first time...

...archeology is providing a clearer picture...

...of the formative years of the man...