the casket that may have held the bones of james, the forgotten brother of jesus, starts with one of the world s greatest collectors. he is one of the great experts on artifacts. i have actually the biggest private collection in israel probably in the world. most of his collection tells the story of the development of the civilizations here and that includes the biblical era. his collection must be worth millions and millions of dollars. in the early 1970s he bought an empty first century from a dealer in jerusalem. i could see some o the names
but today in jerusalem, james is still venerated. the 12th century armenian cathedral is dedicated to him. st. james is our first patriarch. we feel privileged that our brotherhood here in st. james are in direct succession and in direct line to st. james the first bishop of jerusalem. in our daily prayers, james is our lord. james is sitting next to christ. it s claimed the cathedral is built on the site of james home. worshipers also believe his remains are buried here. according to armenian tradition, the bones of st. james were brought from the valley of kidron where they were originally buried, and they were reburied under the main altar of
but pushing james from the walls doesn t kill him. ancient texts record that the final blows come when he s stoned to death and his body is buried on the spot where he falls. in accordance with jewish custom of the time, one year after his death, james bones would have been collected and interned in an ossuary. i think it is likely that james body was claimed by his followers and buried. there was considerable support from within the city of jerusalem right across the board for james to be honored against the demeaning death that was inflicted on him. after james murder, the crucial role he played in the development of the early church will fade from view.
james was the face of early jewish christianity in jerusalem. he represented all of that. so, of course, the authorities are going to take out on him whatever they had heard about the revolutionary beliefs about the followers of jesus. at that point, the jewish authorities knew that they couldn t control this. in spite of james good behavior, they still associated him with that troublemaker jesus that had been crucified back in the early 30s. james is arrested on the orders of the same jewish priesthood who only three decades earlier had condemned his brother jesus to death. this thing is a beast. steel or aluminum? steel. why? science. it s gonna hold up over aluminum, big time. you can get special holiday pricing and when you find your red tag,
can you imagine if your brother said, you know, i m the son of god. what would you say? obviously we would think they re crazy. a few weeks later jesus enters jerusalem. hundreds of thousands line the streets. according to the gospels he is later arrested in the garden and the following day his torture and execution. jesus s family have failed to save him.