some people think the turin shroud was produced by radiation at the resurrection in which case that would be material evidence of the resurrection of jesus. there could be nothing more important than that. for millions, the shroud is not only proof of the death and resurrection of jesus but the only record of what he looked like. there are no physical descriptions of jesus in the gospel, none. we don t know what he looked like. we don t know how tall he was. we don t know what the set of his eyes was, but he had a face. he was a real person. it fulfills almost a temptation, a temptation to fixate on the face of christ, to fulfill that idea of the true likeness. what did the son of god look like?
we see jesus the same way, even unto death. mobilizing this is followers to repent and turn toward god, john the baptist dared to speak truth to power. for this he pays the ultimate price. i think he understood hes with a martyr. a martyr in the cause of something greater, a martyr in the cause of the beautiful kingdom of god on earth, which is what he preached all his life. i see jesus and john as being very similar in terms of their conception of god, in terms of what they wanted people to do, in terms of their call for repentance, in this idea the world would be transformed. they re calling people really to start it in the here and now. in this wake of john s death, many of his followers turned to jesus as john s movement slowly declines, eclipsed by the new
increasingly difficult. most victims of crucifixion finally die of asphyxiation. it is finished. imagine your mother or your father or your best friend nailed to wood, hung out in the open sun and die a terrible death of asphyxiation. it s hard to find words to to explain what it would have been like to see that. this had to be the darkest moment of their life.
from the cross. and you think that this is acceptable. he goes to see the roman procurator of judea, pontius pilate, to ask for the body. get out! pontius pilate is a central figure in the story of the passion because only he, as the roman procurator in judea, had the power to pronounce a death sentence, and so it was he who ultimately is responsible for jesus crucifixion and death. you ve come for me, rabbi? pilate is famously anti-semitic. he doesn t like jews. he doesn t being in judea. jesus of nazareth, i ve come to ask for his body. we have to wonder what joseph is thinking. he s taking quite a risk. he s going to pilate, and he s asking for the body of a convicted criminal, a criminal who s guilty of political sedition. i have a tomb somewhere
and then, according to the gospels, after he was laid to rest jesus is resurrected. the only thing left behind in his tomb the linen used to cover his body. the crucifixion is among the most powerful parts of the gospel simply because it s the death of jesus, the son of god, but it s also his entree into new life. it is extraordinary to find an archaeological piece that is proof of his existence, of his death and of his resurrection. based on the research that i ve been involved in, i think that we are looking at the historic burial cloth of jesus 2,000 years ago. but there was one part of the