Melbourne scholar says Jesus tomb claims "bizarre"

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Melbourne New Testament expert, Fr Brendan Byrne, has described as "bizarre" claims in a new documentary that an ancient tomb unearthed in Jerusalem 27 years ago was the burial tomb of Jesus and his family.The James Cameron-produced documentary, The Burial Cave of Jesus, by the US Discovery Channel, says the crypt contains coffins with residue of the remains of Jesus and Mary Magdalene and their son, Judah, the Age reports.But Fr Byrne says the claims are "pretty bizarre", noting that the Bible said Jesus was buried in Joseph of Arimathea's tomb."If they found bones, it would be problematic, because it would suggest Jesus didn't rise physically from the dead," he added."But Jesus and Joseph and Miriam and Judah are four of the most common names of the time. To assert that this group of names is the family of Jesus is a very remote possibility."The tomb in question was discovered in 1980 when construction workers accidentally uncovered the crypt, with 10 stone coffins, six of which had inscriptions.Archaeologists have reportedly deciphered the names on the tombs, including Yeshua (Hebrew for Jesus) son of Joseph, Mary, Mary and Judah, son of Yeshua.Unveiling two of the coffins he claims belonged to Jesus and Mary Magdalene, the Titanic movie director Cameron said. "I think this is the biggest archaeological story of the century"."It is absolutely not a publicity stunt."