1 00:00:08,475 --> 00:00:16,246 2000 years ago the Romans crucified a young Jew from Galilee named Jesus, 2 00:00:16,416 --> 00:00:20,682 but who exactly was Jesus? 3 00:00:25,792 --> 00:00:29,023 Remarkable discoveries in science and history... 4 00:00:29,195 --> 00:00:35,134 are today shedding new light on his birth, his life, his death. 5 00:00:36,970 --> 00:00:41,339 And the world of 2000 years ago into which he was born. 6 00:00:45,111 --> 00:00:50,139 New evidence is filling in the missing years in Jesus' life, 7 00:00:50,650 --> 00:00:55,212 and telling us about the turbulent times in which he grew up. 8 00:01:08,268 --> 00:01:11,999 A historian called Josephus is just 1 of 80... 9 00:01:12,172 --> 00:01:16,541 first and second century sources confirming that Jesus existed. 10 00:01:18,211 --> 00:01:23,012 Josephus described Jesus as a wise man who worked surprising deeds, 11 00:01:23,817 --> 00:01:28,880 he also mentioned that Jesus was sentenced to death by crucifixion. 12 00:01:30,190 --> 00:01:33,887 It was Pontius Pilate who sentenced Jesus to the cross and... 13 00:01:34,060 --> 00:01:38,360 archeology has miraculously revealed where he governed from. 14 00:01:45,738 --> 00:01:47,433 Just 60 miles northwest of... 15 00:01:47,607 --> 00:01:52,306 Jerusalem lay one of the most powerful roman enclaves in the world. 16 00:01:54,214 --> 00:01:56,842 In the Time of Jesus they called it Caeseria and... 17 00:01:57,016 --> 00:02:00,782 it was the headquarters of the roman occupation of Judea. 18 00:02:04,290 --> 00:02:07,225 Proof of their awesome presence remains. 19 00:02:10,730 --> 00:02:15,190 2000 years ago this aquaduct brought fresh water from the north, 20 00:02:16,503 --> 00:02:19,529 evidence of the street plan and the remains of buildings has allowed... 21 00:02:19,706 --> 00:02:23,836 archeologists to recreate what Caeseria looked like. 22 00:02:24,544 --> 00:02:29,311 The city was originally built by King Herod and completed in 10 BC, 23 00:02:31,551 --> 00:02:36,352 it then became the headquarters of the Roman Governors, including Pilate. 24 00:02:40,960 --> 00:02:44,657 In the heart of the city was the temple to the Emperor Augustus. 25 00:02:46,733 --> 00:02:50,032 The only other major structure to have survived is the theater, 26 00:02:50,203 --> 00:02:52,899 now restored and used for performances. 27 00:02:55,041 --> 00:02:58,841 But from the air it is still possible to see the foundations of... 28 00:02:59,012 --> 00:03:02,880 a lost harbor that is now covered by the sea. 29 00:03:07,921 --> 00:03:11,516 From his strategic point Pilate ruled first century Judea, 30 00:03:11,691 --> 00:03:14,888 now part of Israel, with an iron rod. 31 00:03:15,995 --> 00:03:18,987 Pilate executed dozens of Jewish rebels, 32 00:03:19,532 --> 00:03:21,432 he wouldn't have thought twice about... 33 00:03:21,601 --> 00:03:24,502 getting rid of a young troublemaker from Galilee. 34 00:03:39,819 --> 00:03:42,447 The crucifixion of Jesus is well-documented by... 35 00:03:42,622 --> 00:03:47,958 several historical sources - crucifixion was very common. 36 00:03:48,494 --> 00:03:50,519 At this biblical museum in Jerusalem, 37 00:03:50,697 --> 00:03:53,393 they have erected a series of what historians think where... 38 00:03:53,566 --> 00:03:55,659 typical roman crosses. 39 00:03:56,502 --> 00:03:58,231 The Romans were inventive people, 40 00:03:58,671 --> 00:04:01,401 they adapted olive trees to crucify their victims and... 41 00:04:01,574 --> 00:04:04,008 they killed hundreds of thousands of people. 42 00:04:06,246 --> 00:04:10,683 According to Joe Zias, an archeologist at the Hebrew University, 43 00:04:10,984 --> 00:04:14,715 the idea that crosses were built from scratch is a myth. 44 00:04:14,921 --> 00:04:18,049 Now this thing would have been in the place of crucifixion permanently, 45 00:04:18,224 --> 00:04:19,919 the individual would have carried the cross bar. 46 00:04:20,093 --> 00:04:23,620 Now this device here, which is called a setekual... 47 00:04:23,796 --> 00:04:29,234 this could or could not be there depending upon how longyou wanted... 48 00:04:29,402 --> 00:04:32,462 that person on the cross, by putting this up on the cross the individual... 49 00:04:32,639 --> 00:04:36,439 can sit on the cross, okay, he is tied to the cross or nailed to the cross, 50 00:04:36,609 --> 00:04:38,804 but what happens is he is sitting up here and... 51 00:04:38,978 --> 00:04:41,412 what this does is simply it prolongs the agony. 52 00:04:53,826 --> 00:04:56,351 The Jewish Historian Josephus confirms that... 53 00:04:56,529 --> 00:05:01,592 Jesus was a real man who lived and died, but he tells us little else. 54 00:05:03,236 --> 00:05:08,503 The full story of Jesus' life comes from the gospels, his mysterious birth, 55 00:05:08,675 --> 00:05:12,111 his remarkable mission, and the events that lead to his death; 56 00:05:12,912 --> 00:05:18,475 but the gospels were written by early Christians at least 40 years after... 57 00:05:18,651 --> 00:05:20,414 Jesus died. 58 00:05:20,920 --> 00:05:22,945 So it is often argued that they are the work of... 59 00:05:23,122 --> 00:05:26,182 converts based only on oral records and... 60 00:05:26,359 --> 00:05:30,819 therefore can't be trusted as reliable historical documents. 61 00:05:37,303 --> 00:05:40,966 But today, breakthroughs in science and archeology are... 62 00:05:41,140 --> 00:05:44,974 making it easier to establish what actually happened. 63 00:05:48,314 --> 00:05:52,478 The biggest break came in 1947 with the discovery of... 64 00:05:52,652 --> 00:05:57,021 ancient Jewish scrolls in caves overlooking the Dead Sea. 65 00:05:57,690 --> 00:06:00,625 Written in the years leading up to the time of Jesus, 66 00:06:00,793 --> 00:06:05,492 the Dead Sea scrolls reveal the tense world that Jesus lived in. 67 00:06:06,165 --> 00:06:09,464 James Charlesworth from Princeton Theological Seminary has... 68 00:06:09,635 --> 00:06:12,399 spent a lifetime deciphering them. 69 00:06:12,705 --> 00:06:16,937 It is a vibrant world in which so many arguments are going on, 70 00:06:17,110 --> 00:06:21,046 we are finding evidence of purity laws, stone vessels, 71 00:06:21,214 --> 00:06:25,844 we are finding arrowheads, spears there are some people living here... 72 00:06:26,018 --> 00:06:30,318 that believe that they were really in a war and that is where Jesus fits in, 73 00:06:30,490 --> 00:06:34,688 it is a life that makes sense because we are understanding the context. 74 00:06:40,800 --> 00:06:46,261 The daily market in Bethlehem, a town 5 miles south of Jerusalem. 75 00:06:47,140 --> 00:06:50,541 Today it has a population of 30,000 Palestinians. 76 00:06:51,344 --> 00:06:54,609 The story that Jesus was born here is mentioned in the Gospels of... 77 00:06:54,781 --> 00:07:00,378 both Matthew and Luke, but they don't always agree on some of the details. 78 00:07:01,521 --> 00:07:06,083 Luke gives us the famous story that when Mary and Joseph arrived in Bethlehem, 79 00:07:06,259 --> 00:07:10,889 exhausted by their long journey from Nazareth, there was no room at the inn. 80 00:07:11,931 --> 00:07:17,028 But in Matthew's gospel the journey isn't even mentioned - maybe there... 81 00:07:17,203 --> 00:07:23,108 was no journey and they were already living in Bethlehem. 82 00:07:25,011 --> 00:07:27,036 Whatever the facts surrounding the journey, 83 00:07:27,213 --> 00:07:29,511 by the 2nd century it was widely believed that... 84 00:07:29,682 --> 00:07:33,209 Jesus was indeed born here in Bethlehem. 85 00:07:34,687 --> 00:07:36,712 This church, the Church of the Nativity, 86 00:07:36,889 --> 00:07:39,824 was built over the spot to mark it forever, 87 00:07:40,693 --> 00:07:45,858 so what evidence is there that this really was Jesus' birthplace? 88 00:07:46,799 --> 00:07:51,668 Extensive excavations have revealed a 1 st century network of caves or grottoes, 89 00:07:51,838 --> 00:07:54,363 directly under the Church of the Nativity. 90 00:07:55,074 --> 00:07:58,510 Right under the main altar there is a grotto that is lavishly decorated and... 91 00:07:58,678 --> 00:08:00,407 is specially revered. 92 00:08:01,080 --> 00:08:05,642 This is the grotto under the church, the tradition is that Jesus was born here, 93 00:08:05,818 --> 00:08:08,514 at the place marked by the star, 94 00:08:09,255 --> 00:08:12,850 and if you reach inside you can feel the rock underneath. 95 00:08:15,161 --> 00:08:19,393 But the most commonly held believe is the Jesus was born in a stable, 96 00:08:19,565 --> 00:08:21,692 however this Christmas card image may be inaccurate... 97 00:08:21,868 --> 00:08:25,133 as near by ancient ruins suggest. 98 00:08:34,313 --> 00:08:40,343 This is Yata a small Palestinian town just 30 miles from Bethlehem, 99 00:08:40,520 --> 00:08:44,479 in the center is an old abandoned village. 100 00:08:48,294 --> 00:08:53,231 Archeologist Joe Zias has established that the houses here... 101 00:08:53,399 --> 00:08:56,562 have much in common with their ancient ancestors. 102 00:08:58,337 --> 00:09:03,673 They maintain the styles of houses going back to 1 st century AD, 103 00:09:03,843 --> 00:09:05,674 and what is remarkable is that many of these houses... 104 00:09:05,845 --> 00:09:08,905 have stones going back to the first century and what we see down here... 105 00:09:09,081 --> 00:09:14,678 is a typical courtyard, typical of the 1 st century, with rooms radiating out, 106 00:09:14,854 --> 00:09:18,085 courtyard shared by one family or sometimes by several families, 107 00:09:18,257 --> 00:09:20,851 again these things functionally make a lot of sense and... 108 00:09:21,027 --> 00:09:22,460 that's the reason that these styles haven't changed for... 109 00:09:22,628 --> 00:09:24,619 hundreds if not thousands of years 110 00:09:26,432 --> 00:09:28,832 The slow pace of change in the Middle East also... 111 00:09:29,001 --> 00:09:32,903 sheds light on the look of ancient Bethlehem itself. 112 00:09:34,307 --> 00:09:38,835 This is Bethlehem as it looked 200 years ago, 113 00:09:39,011 --> 00:09:41,844 because it was painted before the town was modernized. 114 00:09:42,014 --> 00:09:45,541 Archeologists believe it is a useful pointer to the towns size and... 115 00:09:45,718 --> 00:09:48,414 layout in the 1 st century. 116 00:09:54,327 --> 00:09:57,455 Together with the archeological data from Yata it is possible to... 117 00:09:57,630 --> 00:10:02,431 recreate what Bethlehem would have looked like at the time of Jesus. 118 00:10:05,271 --> 00:10:08,672 Villages were built on hilltops to give a sense of security. 119 00:10:12,311 --> 00:10:15,439 Rooftops were used as living spaces during the mild weather. 120 00:10:17,416 --> 00:10:20,283 Most villages only had a few hundred people, 121 00:10:20,453 --> 00:10:24,583 but a town like Bethlehem would have been home to about a thousand. 122 00:10:39,405 --> 00:10:42,306 The houses in Yata also reveal that caves and... 123 00:10:42,475 --> 00:10:46,707 mangers were very much a part of 1 st century domestic life. 124 00:10:47,246 --> 00:10:50,977 We have a room here, which was used during the winter for the animals, 125 00:10:51,150 --> 00:10:54,517 this first of all did 2 things, it kept the house very, 126 00:10:54,687 --> 00:10:58,316 very warm and again in terms of safety it was very good for the animals 127 00:10:59,125 --> 00:11:02,925 Although under 1 roof, people lived apart from the animals, 128 00:11:03,095 --> 00:11:06,553 this manger is located on the 1 st level of the house 129 00:11:06,732 --> 00:11:10,998 Upstairs is this facility here, which was used for people, 130 00:11:11,170 --> 00:11:13,570 during the winter it would have been very comfortable here, 131 00:11:13,739 --> 00:11:15,536 the animals giving heat below. 132 00:11:23,949 --> 00:11:28,750 So, would babies born 2000 years ago have shared house space with the animals? 133 00:11:29,655 --> 00:11:33,022 Remarkably, the evidence can still be found in Palestine, 134 00:11:34,093 --> 00:11:36,323 only 15 miles from Bethlehem. 135 00:11:36,495 --> 00:11:38,929 In a secluded valley is this settlement; 136 00:11:40,266 --> 00:11:42,734 here a small and isolated community of Palestinians and... 137 00:11:42,902 --> 00:11:45,393 their animals eke out a living. 138 00:11:47,740 --> 00:11:50,436 The hills around are dotted with caves, 139 00:11:54,480 --> 00:11:57,847 but the caves aren't just used as stables, 140 00:11:58,350 --> 00:12:02,411 their goats and sheep feed from the manger at one end of the cave, 141 00:12:03,122 --> 00:12:07,718 at the other end are the living quarters, the kitchen and the sleeping area. 142 00:12:08,728 --> 00:12:12,960 It is quite normal for animals and people to share the same living space. 143 00:12:14,266 --> 00:12:20,569 The mystery is why Mary had to lay Jesus in a stone manger down with the animals. 144 00:12:20,740 --> 00:12:26,144 There is a clue in Luke's gospel when he writes that there was no room at the inn, 145 00:12:26,679 --> 00:12:32,242 the original Greek word for 'inn', 'Catalooma' can also mean upper room, 146 00:12:33,119 --> 00:12:35,849 so Jesus may simply have been placed in a manger because... 147 00:12:36,021 --> 00:12:39,286 there was no space in the upper room. 148 00:12:39,725 --> 00:12:43,786 And would Mary and Joseph really have been surrounded by strangers? 149 00:12:45,898 --> 00:12:47,229 Claire Pfann thinks not. 150 00:12:47,399 --> 00:12:49,890 Hello How is it going? Very good, very nice. 151 00:12:50,069 --> 00:12:52,003 Good, ya, that is very beautiful. 152 00:12:52,471 --> 00:12:55,372 She helps run a workshop reviving ancient craft skills, 153 00:12:55,541 --> 00:12:59,705 she is also an expert on the way of life of 1 st century women. 154 00:12:59,879 --> 00:13:02,404 Bringing a baby into the world in the 1 st century was the... 155 00:13:02,581 --> 00:13:07,883 single most dangerous thing that a woman ever faced in her whole life. 156 00:13:11,157 --> 00:13:15,890 Although we often picture them riding on the donkey in the pouring rain on... 157 00:13:16,061 --> 00:13:19,189 December 24th in the darkest night of winter; 158 00:13:19,365 --> 00:13:23,529 and Mary is in labour huddled over and they arrive in Bethlehem and... 159 00:13:23,702 --> 00:13:26,933 Joseph goes from motel to hotel to hospice knocking on every door and... 160 00:13:27,106 --> 00:13:29,370 being turned away. 161 00:13:29,542 --> 00:13:34,104 In fact if we really read the text of Luke chapter 2 we would see that... 162 00:13:34,280 --> 00:13:38,944 that isn't what the story tells us; instead it says that they went to Bethlehem, 163 00:13:39,118 --> 00:13:40,949 which was his ancestral home and that means that... 164 00:13:41,120 --> 00:13:44,351 they probably had relatives there - aunts, 165 00:13:44,657 --> 00:13:48,559 cousins and perhaps mothers and mothers in law - to bring this baby... 166 00:13:48,727 --> 00:13:50,319 into the world. 167 00:13:55,301 --> 00:13:57,531 It is said that the birth of Jesus was heralded by... 168 00:13:57,703 --> 00:14:00,866 a bright star that shone over Bethlehem, 169 00:14:01,841 --> 00:14:05,402 it would guide 3 wise men traveling from the east to the spot... 170 00:14:05,578 --> 00:14:09,344 where the baby they believed was their savior had been born. 171 00:14:12,284 --> 00:14:15,151 The story has often been dismissed as a fairytale, 172 00:14:15,321 --> 00:14:18,848 but now that view is being challenged. 173 00:14:28,801 --> 00:14:33,295 Scientists today can take us back to the skies of 2000 years ago, 174 00:14:33,472 --> 00:14:36,339 and they have discovered something very unusual. 175 00:14:36,508 --> 00:14:39,204 It has not been seen before because people where... 176 00:14:39,378 --> 00:14:44,441 Iooking for astronomical events like comets or exploding stars. 177 00:14:45,084 --> 00:14:48,076 Amazingly a new theory indicates that the star of... 178 00:14:48,254 --> 00:14:53,191 Bethlehem may have been an astrological phenomenon instead. 179 00:14:54,526 --> 00:14:59,657 Now, many people for decades and hundreds of years indeed have said... 180 00:14:59,765 --> 00:15:03,531 that this is not possible - no Jew was interested in astrology... 181 00:15:03,702 --> 00:15:08,264 until the middle ages; low and behold among the Dead Sea Scrolls... 182 00:15:08,440 --> 00:15:16,438 we find 2 horoscopes with astrological signs, with astrological ideas, 183 00:15:16,615 --> 00:15:20,381 so astrology is certainly there in the time of Jesus. 184 00:15:24,990 --> 00:15:29,484 Astrologers would have been hired to foretell the birth and death of kings, 185 00:15:32,464 --> 00:15:35,592 to do this they tracked the movement of the largest planet, 186 00:15:35,768 --> 00:15:38,862 Jupiter, known as the king of planets. 187 00:15:41,907 --> 00:15:46,606 Michael Molnar an astronomer argues that the key place to look, 188 00:15:46,779 --> 00:15:48,110 not just for Jupiter, 189 00:15:48,280 --> 00:15:53,479 but for other signs of special stellar activity was in the sign of Aries. 190 00:15:54,286 --> 00:15:57,346 During the reign of King Herod astrologers believed that... 191 00:15:57,523 --> 00:15:59,548 Aries the Ram symbolized his kingdom, 192 00:15:59,725 --> 00:16:03,491 that is Judea, Sumeria, the lands that he controlled. 193 00:16:05,030 --> 00:16:09,126 The stargazers also knew that there was a prophecy that the Messiah was... 194 00:16:09,301 --> 00:16:13,465 about to come and conquer the world and rid the world of tyranny. 195 00:16:13,639 --> 00:16:18,508 So they were watching very carefully Aries the ram for the advent of the Messiah 196 00:16:20,379 --> 00:16:23,678 In certain rare alignments Jupiter could actually appear as... 197 00:16:23,849 --> 00:16:27,478 an extraordinary star instead of a planet. 198 00:16:29,188 --> 00:16:32,089 Charts for Aries in 1 AD the traditional year that... 199 00:16:32,257 --> 00:16:35,784 Jesus was born reveal nothing unusual, 200 00:16:36,729 --> 00:16:40,961 but Jesus wasn't born in 1 AD. 201 00:16:43,068 --> 00:16:46,629 Our modern calendar was worked out in the 6th century by... 202 00:16:46,805 --> 00:16:49,273 a scholastic monk called Dennis the Little 203 00:16:49,441 --> 00:16:52,069 who simply added the reigns of the kings together, 204 00:16:52,244 --> 00:16:58,774 but historians have since discovered that he miss calculated by half a dozen years, 205 00:16:58,951 --> 00:17:04,685 so Jesus was actually born 6 years earlier than the history books tell us. 206 00:17:04,990 --> 00:17:06,423 And guess what, 207 00:17:06,592 --> 00:17:11,029 when Michael Molnar looked at his charts for the year 6 BC he discovered that... 208 00:17:11,196 --> 00:17:15,462 on April 17 th Jupiter was in Aries. 209 00:17:16,268 --> 00:17:19,567 It would have been a sign that a big royal event was looming. 210 00:17:19,738 --> 00:17:23,469 But there were even more regal portents on that day. 211 00:17:28,514 --> 00:17:34,475 Saturn came into Aries, so did the sun, 212 00:17:36,422 --> 00:17:39,516 then the moon eclipsed and revealed Jupiter, 213 00:17:39,691 --> 00:17:41,716 yet another favorable sign. 214 00:17:44,463 --> 00:17:47,023 The ancients also found meaning in the Dawn, 215 00:17:47,199 --> 00:17:49,963 which they saw as a symbol of birth. 216 00:17:50,702 --> 00:17:54,502 On that day Jupiter emerged as a morning star, 217 00:17:55,207 --> 00:17:59,268 this was the most powerful time to bring about the birth of a king, 218 00:17:59,445 --> 00:18:05,850 these collectively indicated the birth of a super king if you will, the Messiah. 219 00:18:09,621 --> 00:18:12,681 This set of alignments may have escaped modern astronomers, 220 00:18:12,858 --> 00:18:17,318 but it would have most certainly impressed 1 st century astrologers. 221 00:18:28,340 --> 00:18:33,710 Especially if those astrologers were wise men traveling from the east. 222 00:18:47,493 --> 00:18:52,988 East of Judea lay Babylon, the birthplace of astrology and Persia, 223 00:18:53,165 --> 00:18:55,030 where it also flourished. 224 00:18:58,770 --> 00:19:02,934 The wise men who, according to Matthew's gospel carried gifts of gold, 225 00:19:03,108 --> 00:19:06,134 frankincense and myrrh from the east may well... 226 00:19:06,311 --> 00:19:09,838 have been astrologers keen to greet the new king, 227 00:19:11,416 --> 00:19:12,974 with the help of local guides. 228 00:19:13,152 --> 00:19:18,021 Perhaps some of them did set off across the desert to Judea. 229 00:19:34,406 --> 00:19:36,772 There are even clues to the route they may have taken... 230 00:19:36,942 --> 00:19:39,911 if you examine the origin of there gifts. 231 00:19:40,245 --> 00:19:45,842 Today gold, frankincense and Myrrh can all be found in a Jerusalem bazaar. 232 00:19:47,553 --> 00:19:52,820 This is Myrrh, a type of scented oil used in antiquity for anointing kings. 233 00:19:53,192 --> 00:19:58,425 And this is frankincense a bitter tasting gum collected from Arabian trees, 234 00:19:58,964 --> 00:20:01,626 when burnt it gives off an exotic smell. 235 00:20:02,034 --> 00:20:07,062 It was used to purify temples, it is still used in most churches. 236 00:20:07,873 --> 00:20:12,037 But frankincense and Myrrh weren't freely available in the 1 st century, 237 00:20:12,211 --> 00:20:14,736 they would have been extremely hard to find. 238 00:20:18,917 --> 00:20:22,910 Frankincense and Myrrh were not actually grown in the east but... 239 00:20:23,088 --> 00:20:25,648 in the very south of Arabia, 240 00:20:26,525 --> 00:20:30,825 so it would have been a detour for anyone traveling from the east to Judea, 241 00:20:31,930 --> 00:20:36,731 but historical research shows that they could have been bought on route. 242 00:20:47,212 --> 00:20:50,670 Hidden in the southern canyons of modern Jordan are the remains of... 243 00:20:50,849 --> 00:20:52,714 the capital of the old kingdom of the Navatians... 244 00:20:52,884 --> 00:20:56,911 the ancient trading city of Petra, 245 00:20:57,789 --> 00:21:03,125 the Navatian civilization was flourishing 2000 years ago and... 246 00:21:03,295 --> 00:21:08,358 it the one place we know frankincense and Myrrh were traded, 247 00:21:09,968 --> 00:21:12,300 by the time Jesus was born Petra had become... 248 00:21:12,471 --> 00:21:15,838 the major caravan city in the ancient world, 249 00:21:16,241 --> 00:21:19,267 all trade from Arabia had to pass through Petra, 250 00:21:19,444 --> 00:21:24,006 this gave the Navatians a pretty total monopoly on frankincense and Myrrh. 251 00:21:24,182 --> 00:21:26,946 It makes Petra not only the most likely route from... 252 00:21:27,119 --> 00:21:31,180 the east but also a great place for the wise men to do their shopping. 253 00:21:44,336 --> 00:21:49,035 If the birth of Jesus was heralded, even if only by 3 astrologers, 254 00:21:49,207 --> 00:21:54,167 there is no evidence in the gospels that Jesus grew up knowing he was special. 255 00:21:54,980 --> 00:21:57,210 Today babies born in Bethlehem usually... 256 00:21:57,382 --> 00:22:00,215 start live in these modern maternity hospitals, 257 00:22:01,687 --> 00:22:06,920 but the circumstances of Jesus' birth were humble and contentious. 258 00:22:08,560 --> 00:22:12,963 His mother Mary was said to be unmarried at the time of his conception a fact that... 259 00:22:13,131 --> 00:22:16,328 would have attracted as much scorn 2000 years ago as... 260 00:22:16,501 --> 00:22:19,766 it still does in 21 st century Palestine. 261 00:22:24,476 --> 00:22:29,641 Even today traditional Palestinians believe that all babies like this one must be... 262 00:22:29,815 --> 00:22:34,684 conceived in wedlock if their mothers want to avoid severe reprisals. 263 00:22:35,320 --> 00:22:40,724 Nadera Shalhous-Kevorkian is an expert of the status of women in Palestine 264 00:22:41,526 --> 00:22:45,018 A young woman that is pregnant and she is not married; 265 00:22:45,197 --> 00:22:49,896 that means that the family failed to protect her -that means that the man 266 00:22:50,068 --> 00:22:55,301 the male honor has been, actually somebody has hurt his honor and... 267 00:22:55,474 --> 00:22:58,807 it is very shameful for, it brings lots of shame 268 00:23:02,614 --> 00:23:06,744 A woman pregnant before marriage could find herself thrown down a well 269 00:23:07,486 --> 00:23:09,784 The last case of a 17-year-old; 270 00:23:09,955 --> 00:23:12,389 the father knowing that she lost her virginity... 271 00:23:12,557 --> 00:23:16,357 and they took her to 2 doctors and... 272 00:23:16,528 --> 00:23:21,363 both gynecologists told him that she lost her virginity so... 273 00:23:21,533 --> 00:23:24,559 he ended up taking her at night cutting her head, 274 00:23:24,736 --> 00:23:28,570 throwing her head, totally separating the head from the body 275 00:23:32,244 --> 00:23:36,340 In Mary's day honor killings were backed by the law, 276 00:23:36,515 --> 00:23:38,915 which prescribed death by stoning. 277 00:23:41,787 --> 00:23:43,982 She would have been killed, she would have been, 278 00:23:44,156 --> 00:23:45,919 it might have caused a scandal, 279 00:23:46,091 --> 00:23:48,116 the social reaction would have been extremely problematic and... 280 00:23:48,293 --> 00:23:52,753 she would have been accused of bringing shame and dishonor to the family 281 00:23:53,865 --> 00:23:58,893 Perhaps the fact that Mary lived to tell the tale was thanks to Joseph. 282 00:23:59,871 --> 00:24:03,398 The gospels say he kept the news of Mary's pregnancy secret and... 283 00:24:03,575 --> 00:24:06,510 he married her before she gave birth. 284 00:24:10,215 --> 00:24:14,549 And yet when the gospels of Matthew and Luke were written 40 years after... 285 00:24:14,719 --> 00:24:21,454 Jesus' death they claimed that Jesus was born of a virgin and conceived by god. 286 00:24:23,395 --> 00:24:28,662 We do know that there is no scientific evidence to support a virgin birth and... 287 00:24:28,834 --> 00:24:33,828 skeptics claim that the story was made up simply to promote the divinity of... 288 00:24:34,005 --> 00:24:38,408 Jesus with hindsight but even to suggest at the time that... 289 00:24:38,577 --> 00:24:43,105 Mary's conception occurred out of wedlock would have been madness for... 290 00:24:43,281 --> 00:24:45,613 it would have left the fledgling new religion of... 291 00:24:45,784 --> 00:24:49,242 Christianity wide open to ridicule. 292 00:24:50,388 --> 00:24:51,753 Doctor Mark Goodacre, 293 00:24:51,923 --> 00:24:54,721 a biblical scholar from Birmingham University in England has... 294 00:24:54,893 --> 00:24:59,353 found evidence in John's gospel and in Jewish and roman authors from... 295 00:24:59,531 --> 00:25:04,332 the 1 st and 2nd centuries of wide spread anti-Christian slander 296 00:25:05,837 --> 00:25:10,433 Jesus' opponents in John's gospel were basically saying you are born... 297 00:25:10,609 --> 00:25:14,272 not of ordinary human parents but of fornication. 298 00:25:15,680 --> 00:25:18,843 Celsius says that it is all to do with Mary having had... 299 00:25:19,017 --> 00:25:21,076 an illicit union with a roman soldier, 300 00:25:21,820 --> 00:25:24,721 Tatalion says this is your son of a harlot. 301 00:25:26,091 --> 00:25:30,494 In other words virginal conception is not the kind of thing you make up lightly, 302 00:25:30,662 --> 00:25:36,191 it is not the kind of thing that you want to sort of trumpet from the rooftops. 303 00:25:36,601 --> 00:25:40,002 That friend and foe actually agree is strong evidence that... 304 00:25:40,171 --> 00:25:44,267 the gospel writers didn't make up Jesus' conception out of wedlock but... 305 00:25:44,442 --> 00:25:48,503 how that conception happened the historian cannot say. 306 00:25:49,180 --> 00:25:51,705 We didn't have, you know, cameras there, 307 00:25:51,883 --> 00:25:53,350 we didn't have the tape recordings, 308 00:25:53,518 --> 00:25:55,509 we didn't have interviews with the parents, 309 00:25:55,687 --> 00:25:59,851 so the historian can only go so far but I suppose it is the moment... 310 00:26:00,025 --> 00:26:05,554 if you like where faith begins to play a role in history. 311 00:26:08,967 --> 00:26:10,730 One thing is certain though, 312 00:26:10,902 --> 00:26:15,805 it wasn't long before Joseph and Mary took their new baby 100 miles... 313 00:26:15,974 --> 00:26:23,380 away to a new town and a new life and archeology can tell us much about... 314 00:26:23,548 --> 00:26:25,140 the place where he grew up. 315 00:26:25,984 --> 00:26:29,613 To the north of Bethlehem lies Nazareth in Galilee. 316 00:26:30,522 --> 00:26:34,856 All of the gospels agree that Nazareth was the place where Jesus grew up. 317 00:26:38,163 --> 00:26:42,691 Modern Nazareth is now a thriving town of 60,000 people. 318 00:26:46,037 --> 00:26:51,031 It is hard to get a sense of what it was like during the time of Jesus - it has... 319 00:26:51,209 --> 00:26:55,669 few ancient remains so unlike Bethlehem it has never quite managed... 320 00:26:55,847 --> 00:26:58,941 to attract as many pilgrims or tourists. 321 00:26:59,951 --> 00:27:02,283 In the first project of its kind in Israel, 322 00:27:02,454 --> 00:27:05,821 a group of archeologists and local people have got together... 323 00:27:05,991 --> 00:27:07,652 to do something about it 324 00:27:08,560 --> 00:27:11,529 they found a piece of abandoned land in the town and... 325 00:27:11,696 --> 00:27:16,395 began to meticulously recreate a Galilean village as it would have been when... 326 00:27:16,568 --> 00:27:18,536 Jesus was alive. 327 00:27:29,381 --> 00:27:32,316 The village is being reconstructed by studying the remains of... 328 00:27:32,484 --> 00:27:35,715 1 st century villages found across Galilee. 329 00:27:38,390 --> 00:27:41,518 The smallest details have been identified, 330 00:27:41,693 --> 00:27:44,890 the plastered walls, the size of the windows. 331 00:27:49,868 --> 00:27:52,769 The team has also begun working with local people to... 332 00:27:52,937 --> 00:27:55,735 turn the village into a living museum. 333 00:27:58,843 --> 00:28:03,246 Ancient implements and customs described in religious texts provide clues to... 334 00:28:03,415 --> 00:28:05,975 the farming life at the time of Jesus. 335 00:28:07,786 --> 00:28:11,882 By all accounts it was an ordinary rural family life, 336 00:28:13,391 --> 00:28:18,385 it is a little known fact but according to the gospels Jesus had 2 sisters... 337 00:28:18,563 --> 00:28:25,469 whos names are not recorded and 4 brothers named James, Jude, Joseph and Simeon. 338 00:28:26,404 --> 00:28:30,738 Whether the siblings were Mary's children or Joseph's from a previous marriage... 339 00:28:30,909 --> 00:28:32,171 we will never know. 340 00:28:33,478 --> 00:28:37,539 But historians now believe it is possible to tell what kinds of games Jesus and... 341 00:28:37,716 --> 00:28:40,207 his friends or siblings would have played. 342 00:28:42,454 --> 00:28:45,116 Looking through ancient Jewish and Roman sources, 343 00:28:45,290 --> 00:28:47,190 Joshua Schwartz has found that they played with... 344 00:28:47,358 --> 00:28:53,991 wooden toys, with dolls, with pets and with balls. 345 00:28:54,299 --> 00:28:55,994 When I grew up you would throw the ball... 346 00:28:56,167 --> 00:28:57,862 and I would throw the ball back to you and... 347 00:28:58,036 --> 00:29:00,527 you are supposed to catch it and throw the ball back to me, 348 00:29:00,705 --> 00:29:03,299 however in the old days the idea was to keep the ball in motion, 349 00:29:03,475 --> 00:29:06,967 in other words you don't hold it but simply back and forth, back and forth, 350 00:29:07,145 --> 00:29:10,080 back and forth until I drop it and then I lose, right? 351 00:29:10,248 --> 00:29:12,614 And that is one type of game and children would play this, 352 00:29:12,784 --> 00:29:14,376 sometimes even with 2 balls together back... 353 00:29:14,552 --> 00:29:20,286 and forth back and forth back and forth and I drop it at some point and I lose. 354 00:29:35,940 --> 00:29:39,535 In time, this ordinary boy from a rural backwater... 355 00:29:39,711 --> 00:29:41,338 would become a public figure who... 356 00:29:41,513 --> 00:29:43,708 drew huge crowds, 357 00:29:44,649 --> 00:29:48,141 so something must have stirred his determination to right the wrongs... 358 00:29:48,319 --> 00:29:50,583 he saw in his society. 359 00:29:54,392 --> 00:29:56,292 Luke's gospel tells us of an experience that... 360 00:29:56,461 --> 00:30:00,329 might just have started the boy on his fateful journey. 361 00:30:17,081 --> 00:30:19,914 When Jesus was only 12 his parents took him to Jerusalem... 362 00:30:20,084 --> 00:30:22,552 to the annual festival of Passover, 363 00:30:23,488 --> 00:30:26,821 inside the walls of the old city the atmosphere of... 364 00:30:26,991 --> 00:30:32,054 ancient Judea survives but the beating heart of 1 st century Jerusalem, 365 00:30:32,230 --> 00:30:35,563 the Jewish temple, was destroyed long ago. 366 00:30:36,167 --> 00:30:40,399 It was built on a mount where the Dome of The Rock now stands, 367 00:30:41,005 --> 00:30:46,910 all that is left of that Temple Mount are the walls where Jews still gather to pray. 368 00:30:49,781 --> 00:30:53,012 We don't know what Jesus thought of Jerusalem, 369 00:30:53,384 --> 00:30:54,908 little is left of what was said to be... 370 00:30:55,086 --> 00:30:57,884 one of the most beautiful cities in the ancient world. 371 00:30:59,858 --> 00:31:02,725 Hanan Eshel is one of a long line of archeologists... 372 00:31:02,894 --> 00:31:07,092 who have been excavating old Jerusalem since early in the 19th century. 373 00:31:07,732 --> 00:31:09,290 Archeologists have found remains of... 374 00:31:09,467 --> 00:31:13,733 arches, columns, pillars, stairs, cisterns and more. 375 00:31:16,241 --> 00:31:20,041 The works of Josephus and old 1 st century Jewish texts have... 376 00:31:20,211 --> 00:31:23,908 left detailed accounts of the architecture and appearance of the temple, 377 00:31:24,382 --> 00:31:27,909 so archeologists are now confident they can accurately recreate... 378 00:31:28,086 --> 00:31:30,452 what the young Jesus would have seen. 379 00:31:32,457 --> 00:31:36,154 We can see that in the wall just behind me that... 380 00:31:36,327 --> 00:31:37,851 there are some stones that are sticking out. 381 00:31:38,029 --> 00:31:43,365 This is the beginning of an arch that a staircase was built on top of... 382 00:31:43,534 --> 00:31:47,095 this arch in order to lead to the southern part of the Temple Mount. 383 00:31:50,241 --> 00:31:54,678 This is Robinson's Arch, named after the archeologist that... 384 00:31:54,846 --> 00:31:57,576 first identified it in 1839 385 00:31:59,584 --> 00:32:03,111 he matched the Archeological remains with Josephus's descriptions... 386 00:32:03,288 --> 00:32:06,849 to produce the blueprints of a monumental staircase. 387 00:32:16,167 --> 00:32:19,102 Subsequent generations of archeologists have since produced... 388 00:32:19,270 --> 00:32:22,068 blueprints of the whole Temple Mount. 389 00:32:26,144 --> 00:32:30,945 Begun in 20 BC, this was the brainchild of Herod the Great, 390 00:32:31,115 --> 00:32:34,744 a tyrant who ruled Judea on behalf of the Romans. 391 00:32:39,824 --> 00:32:43,760 The brand new temple was the headquarters of the Jewish faith, 392 00:32:44,562 --> 00:32:47,258 it must have been awesome to a young boy. 393 00:32:50,234 --> 00:32:53,203 Little did Jesus know then that one day he would return here... 394 00:32:53,371 --> 00:32:58,502 to challenge everything that both the temple and the Jewish Priests stood for. 395 00:32:59,444 --> 00:33:02,641 Hanan Eshel suspects that Jesus' interest in religion and... 396 00:33:02,814 --> 00:33:06,750 politics may well have been sparked off during this visit. 397 00:33:07,518 --> 00:33:10,510 Somebody like Jesus who grew up in a peasant society... 398 00:33:10,688 --> 00:33:14,818 will come for the first time to the temple and he will see how rich the temple is, 399 00:33:14,993 --> 00:33:17,791 how much work was used here, he will be shocked, 400 00:33:17,962 --> 00:33:20,294 that is something that he assumed would exist... 401 00:33:20,465 --> 00:33:23,059 only in Rome know he sees it in Jerusalem. 402 00:33:28,606 --> 00:33:32,064 But his fascination gave Mary and Joseph a shock too, 403 00:33:32,243 --> 00:33:33,801 according to Luke's gospel. 404 00:33:35,246 --> 00:33:36,838 An incident occurred that may well have been... 405 00:33:37,015 --> 00:33:40,610 his first political experience - Luke's gospel says that when... 406 00:33:40,785 --> 00:33:43,447 they began their journey back to Nazareth Mary and... 407 00:33:43,621 --> 00:33:46,647 Joseph realized that they'd lost Jesus. 408 00:33:49,060 --> 00:33:51,858 Apparently they found him in the temple discussing religion... 409 00:33:52,030 --> 00:33:53,998 with the learned priests. 410 00:33:54,766 --> 00:33:58,634 It is an engaging story but could it really have happened. 411 00:34:01,506 --> 00:34:05,499 These are some of the original steps that lead up to the temple, 412 00:34:05,676 --> 00:34:10,136 evidence from Jewish writing suggests the Rabbis used to gather on these steps... 413 00:34:10,314 --> 00:34:12,475 to help pilgrims enter the temple. 414 00:34:14,118 --> 00:34:17,645 Hanan Eshel believes that Jesus may well have sat down here... 415 00:34:17,822 --> 00:34:20,120 to listen to one of the Rabbis preaching. 416 00:34:20,291 --> 00:34:22,953 There was always conflict between pilgrims who wanted to enter... 417 00:34:23,127 --> 00:34:25,755 and priests and the pabbis would have been here... 418 00:34:25,930 --> 00:34:29,161 in order to make sure that as much people as possible are allowed to... 419 00:34:29,333 --> 00:34:30,960 enter the Temple Mount, 420 00:34:31,135 --> 00:34:37,404 so the story in Luke about Jesus talking with some religious leader... 421 00:34:37,575 --> 00:34:39,065 might have happened here 422 00:34:39,243 --> 00:34:44,180 It is one of the few clues that the gospels give about the education of Jesus 423 00:34:44,715 --> 00:34:47,411 To know as much as he knows you have only 2 options, 424 00:34:47,585 --> 00:34:50,076 god zapped him and told him everything he needed to know... 425 00:34:50,254 --> 00:34:53,314 or he spent a lot of time reading and studying and debating, 426 00:34:53,491 --> 00:34:55,721 the new testament supports only the second one, 427 00:34:55,893 --> 00:34:57,793 where did this man get such knowledge? 428 00:34:57,962 --> 00:35:01,193 He is not spending the whole day out there farming or fishing, 429 00:35:01,365 --> 00:35:05,301 he is studying and thinking and he is discussing with the great minds. 430 00:35:20,685 --> 00:35:24,280 Safely back in Galilee the education of Jesus... 431 00:35:24,455 --> 00:35:27,583 would have continued to include lessons in carpentry so... 432 00:35:27,758 --> 00:35:30,352 he could follow in the footsteps of his father. 433 00:35:33,598 --> 00:35:37,125 Nazareth is never mentioned in ancient histories of the Jews giving... 434 00:35:37,301 --> 00:35:39,929 the impression that Jesus grew up in a small and... 435 00:35:40,104 --> 00:35:43,699 isolated place far removed from the political turmoil... 436 00:35:43,875 --> 00:35:45,740 that was ravaging the country. 437 00:35:48,179 --> 00:35:54,345 But just 4 miles away on a hill was another center of Jewish opulence, 438 00:35:54,519 --> 00:35:57,647 Sepphoris the capital of Galilee. 439 00:35:58,556 --> 00:36:03,323 It is here that Jesus would have come face to face with the ruling class, 440 00:36:03,494 --> 00:36:06,019 it was the northern home of Herod Antipas, 441 00:36:06,197 --> 00:36:09,428 ruler of Galilee and son of Herod the Great. 442 00:36:12,336 --> 00:36:17,273 The historian Josephus described it as the ornament of Galilee. 443 00:36:21,212 --> 00:36:24,511 Today it is a ruin but for the last 20 years teams of... 444 00:36:24,682 --> 00:36:27,310 archeologists have been excavating the site. 445 00:36:30,288 --> 00:36:32,415 With the help of Josephus's descriptions, 446 00:36:32,590 --> 00:36:36,287 archeological information and wonders of modern technology... 447 00:36:36,460 --> 00:36:40,988 we can paint a remarkable picture of Sepphoris at the time of Jesus. 448 00:36:46,904 --> 00:36:50,601 Rising some 400 feet about the plane Sepphoris was... 449 00:36:50,775 --> 00:36:54,541 a large city of about 10,000 people. 450 00:37:00,218 --> 00:37:02,345 There was a culminated main street with shops... 451 00:37:02,520 --> 00:37:05,614 where farmers from neighboring villages came to trade. 452 00:37:10,161 --> 00:37:13,688 When Herod Antipas inherited the kingdom of Galilee from his father... 453 00:37:13,864 --> 00:37:18,164 it is thought that he converted the old arsenal into a fortified palace. 454 00:37:22,073 --> 00:37:25,133 Sepphoris is only about an hour's walk from Nazareth but... 455 00:37:25,309 --> 00:37:30,474 more significantly it was built during the time that Jesus was growing up, 456 00:37:31,215 --> 00:37:35,311 it is almost impossible to believe that Jesus didn't come here with his father, 457 00:37:35,486 --> 00:37:38,853 either to look, to trade or work. 458 00:37:40,324 --> 00:37:45,125 As carpenters they would have been well placed to find work in Sepphoris. 459 00:37:50,401 --> 00:37:53,700 Eric Meyers leads one of the teams digging in Sepphoris, 460 00:37:53,871 --> 00:37:56,465 it has been his passion for over a decade, 461 00:37:57,141 --> 00:38:01,237 he believes that the spectacle of the town would have effected Jesus deeply 462 00:38:02,179 --> 00:38:05,046 Coming and meeting the royal family processing down one of... 463 00:38:05,216 --> 00:38:10,051 these streets must have had an enormous impact on a young man such as... 464 00:38:10,221 --> 00:38:12,553 Jesus would have been when he visited and... 465 00:38:12,723 --> 00:38:15,817 you can imagine what this might mean in England or... 466 00:38:15,993 --> 00:38:18,325 in any other country where royalty exists. 467 00:38:19,697 --> 00:38:26,034 Eric Meyers has also found these baths used by priests for habitual purification, 468 00:38:26,737 --> 00:38:30,002 the priests controlled the access to the temple in Jerusalem and... 469 00:38:30,174 --> 00:38:33,610 one day Jesus would take issue with them 470 00:38:34,078 --> 00:38:38,515 Some of the priestly families who settled here had excessive wealth and... 471 00:38:38,683 --> 00:38:45,418 I think seeing such well to do established families unlike the people... 472 00:38:45,589 --> 00:38:49,685 who were living in the hamlets around and eking out a living... 473 00:38:49,860 --> 00:38:52,920 such as his family would have done and... 474 00:38:53,097 --> 00:38:56,931 this might have left a bad feeling in Jesus' mind 475 00:38:57,702 --> 00:39:00,967 In fact Josephus writes that when Jesus was a child... 476 00:39:01,138 --> 00:39:04,073 there was an uprising against the palace, 477 00:39:04,809 --> 00:39:08,609 the Romans retaliated by burning the city to the ground. 478 00:39:26,764 --> 00:39:30,393 The whole of Galilee was at different times a hotbed of... 479 00:39:30,568 --> 00:39:32,661 religious and political discontent. 480 00:39:37,942 --> 00:39:42,072 The cliffs around the Sea of Galilee are dotted with hundreds of caves... 481 00:39:43,080 --> 00:39:46,675 they were the hideaways of Jewish rebels against the Romans. 482 00:39:50,955 --> 00:39:54,482 They were suitably inaccessible and were often only reacted... 483 00:39:54,658 --> 00:39:58,219 by means of a rope being lowered down from a cliff top. 484 00:40:03,334 --> 00:40:07,293 Rebellion was not new but had not been successful the Jews 485 00:40:07,471 --> 00:40:11,066 had been fighting invading armies for centuries, 486 00:40:11,242 --> 00:40:14,336 all their hopes were pinned on a savior. 487 00:40:15,413 --> 00:40:18,974 They had a special name for the one they longed for, 488 00:40:19,717 --> 00:40:22,982 they called him the anointed one, 489 00:40:24,889 --> 00:40:27,653 in Hebrew - the Messiah 490 00:40:29,460 --> 00:40:32,861 in Greek - the Christ 491 00:40:36,767 --> 00:40:39,565 The Jews are looking more and more for the coming of the great redeemer, 492 00:40:39,737 --> 00:40:42,706 maybe it is God, maybe it will be one of his messengers, 493 00:40:42,873 --> 00:40:45,603 maybe it will be an angel, maybe it will be the Messiah. 494 00:40:46,243 --> 00:40:53,843 Rebellion, power is in the air, Jesus fits into a time that is really a powder keg. 495 00:41:01,959 --> 00:41:06,521 Frustratingly, the gospels tell us little else about Jesus' life until... 496 00:41:06,697 --> 00:41:09,530 he reaches the age of around 30, 497 00:41:16,440 --> 00:41:20,570 and when they do, it is to tell use about the baptism of Jesus... 498 00:41:20,744 --> 00:41:24,441 that could have formed the real turning point in his life; 499 00:41:26,350 --> 00:41:28,750 the gospels say that a man called John... 500 00:41:28,919 --> 00:41:31,547 started baptizing crowds in the river Jordan. 501 00:41:33,591 --> 00:41:36,788 John was offering to cleanse people's sins in readiness... 502 00:41:36,961 --> 00:41:40,522 for the arrival of the long-awaited Messiah. 503 00:41:41,665 --> 00:41:47,262 The gospels say that one day Jesus too was plunged underwater by John. 504 00:41:49,907 --> 00:41:53,968 Proving the existence of the baptismal site has been difficult, 505 00:41:54,144 --> 00:41:57,272 one of the most promising sites was the holy place... 506 00:41:57,448 --> 00:42:01,908 where according to ancient tradition the Hebrews crossed into the Promised Land, 507 00:42:02,820 --> 00:42:07,621 it is between Mt. Nebo where Moses died and Jericho. 508 00:42:08,526 --> 00:42:12,428 6th century church books mention pilgrimages to the baptismal site, 509 00:42:12,596 --> 00:42:16,965 and archeologists hope to find the remains of churches and monasteries, 510 00:42:19,703 --> 00:42:23,764 but excavation on either side of the Jordan has been a problem, 511 00:42:24,842 --> 00:42:29,176 for 50 years the Jordan was a front line on the Arab-lsraeli conflict and... 512 00:42:29,346 --> 00:42:32,804 so it was a no-go area for archeologists, 513 00:42:33,684 --> 00:42:38,553 but after peace was declared in 1994 the Jordanians cleared the landmines... 514 00:42:38,722 --> 00:42:41,816 on their side and started to dig. 515 00:42:47,097 --> 00:42:50,965 After 7 years they found what they where looking for, 516 00:42:53,404 --> 00:42:57,204 the tell tale remains of a pilgrimage site dated to between the... 517 00:42:57,374 --> 00:43:00,241 3rd and 6th centuries AD. 518 00:43:00,778 --> 00:43:04,009 At the last count these included 7 churches, 519 00:43:04,181 --> 00:43:07,514 a monastery and facilities of pilgrims. 520 00:43:08,319 --> 00:43:10,412 And there was one more surprise. 521 00:43:11,855 --> 00:43:14,653 Rami Khouri is a Jordanian historian and... 522 00:43:14,825 --> 00:43:17,919 he has been monitoring the excavations since they began, 523 00:43:20,164 --> 00:43:24,362 he believes that the evidence that clinched it was the discovery of this pool, 524 00:43:24,535 --> 00:43:29,029 for pilgrims to reenact the baptism of Jesus 525 00:43:30,507 --> 00:43:35,069 There are other pools in the monastery that where used clearly... 526 00:43:35,245 --> 00:43:40,706 for storage of water or as wells or as cisterns so you have big pools like this... 527 00:43:40,884 --> 00:43:43,250 that were clearly used for baptism, 528 00:43:43,420 --> 00:43:46,878 mainly the evidence is the long internal staircases... 529 00:43:47,057 --> 00:43:50,925 for people to walk into it for a full immersion baptism. 530 00:44:12,916 --> 00:44:16,283 I would say it was probably the biggest turning point in his life, 531 00:44:17,021 --> 00:44:19,251 Jesus must have had a moving experience when... 532 00:44:19,423 --> 00:44:23,382 he realized 'okay, I've got a task to do' and obviously he thought... 533 00:44:23,560 --> 00:44:25,425 it was a task God wanted him to do 534 00:44:35,706 --> 00:44:39,665 Mysteriously, instead of going public the gospels say that... 535 00:44:39,843 --> 00:44:45,679 Jesus withdraws into the desert where he fasted for 40 days and 40 nights, 536 00:44:47,551 --> 00:44:50,577 in the wilderness it is said that Jesus was tempted by... 537 00:44:50,754 --> 00:44:57,250 the devil with abundant food, immortality and all the riches and glory in the world. 538 00:45:00,564 --> 00:45:05,524 Biblical scholars believe that the temptations symbolize Jesus' dilemma, 539 00:45:06,070 --> 00:45:08,061 he was wrestling with a big decision, 540 00:45:08,439 --> 00:45:13,741 the biggest decision of his life, what kind of Messiah to be, 541 00:45:14,344 --> 00:45:19,304 the temptations, food, wealth, glory, hint that... 542 00:45:19,483 --> 00:45:22,179 Jesus was tempted by the trappings of power 543 00:45:22,352 --> 00:45:23,876 I think that there was a temptation there... 544 00:45:24,054 --> 00:45:27,751 to lead a military or a very powerful political move, 545 00:45:27,925 --> 00:45:30,519 but then he realized what he had seen as a young boy, 546 00:45:30,694 --> 00:45:31,752 the burning of Sepphoris, 547 00:45:31,929 --> 00:45:36,127 he realized that those who live by the sword are going to die by the sword. 548 00:45:36,300 --> 00:45:38,860 Luke says that he would often spend all night in prayer, 549 00:45:40,137 --> 00:45:43,766 Mark says he would get up very early, long, long before dawn... 550 00:45:43,941 --> 00:45:46,341 and go out and meditate in prayer and think, 551 00:45:46,510 --> 00:45:50,241 so we have a human, lets not forget the humanness of Jesus, 552 00:45:50,414 --> 00:45:54,407 I think he is trying to find out 'what am I to do? ' 553 00:45:55,219 --> 00:45:58,586 His decision would have fateful consequences, 554 00:45:58,989 --> 00:46:02,550 his words and actions galvanized large crowds... 555 00:46:02,726 --> 00:46:05,889 who saw him as their long awaited savior, 556 00:46:06,063 --> 00:46:11,262 but they would also put Jesus on a collision course with death.