no one even thought to record his death. the story of jesus has transcended generations and cultures. the tale of a routine execution that gave birth to a new religion. yet from that unlikely beginning a great faith was born. today some 2 billion people believe jesus was the son of god. but even as billions of people pledge themselves to follow jesus's teachings we know nothing about the man. no other great figure from moses to mohamed is shrouded in mystery. >> it's very difficult to classify jesus in a single category. the most accurate response to the question of who was jesus at the time is a mixture of all of these different identifications. the startling discovery of what some claim to be the burial box of jesus's brother james reopened the biggest detectivive story of all time. the mystery of jesus the man. the plain limestone container is inscribed with a clue in aramaic, the language jesus spoke. james, son of joseph, brother of jesus. the public was enthralled. could this be the first physical evidence that jesus walked the earth? so when the israeli authorities said that the inscription was forged centuries old quest for the historical jesus became ever more urgent. did he have a real brother? was mary really a virgin? how did jesus live? and why did he have to die? who was jesus the man? why is the greatest story ever told also the greatest mystery never solved? almost all we know about jesus' life comes to us from the four books of the gospels called mark, matthew, luke and john. yet the gospels were written anywhere between 40 and 70 years after jesus died and with an eye to converting people. >> gospels weren't meant to be historically accurate accounts in the way we would think of. they weren't written according to our standards of accuracy. they were meant to proclaim the good news of jesus's life, death and resurrection. >> one of the stories that historians debating is the christmas card scene of his humble birth in a manger. it's only mentioned by matthew and luke and they don't always agree. is any of it true. scholars say yes, to a degree. >> when we look at the gospel of matthew and gospel of luke, we can see that there are about 12 pieces of information, 12 facts that they share in common that they both know about jesus' early years. they both know that his mother is mary. that the father or stepfather is joseph. that they are from the family of david. that the birth took place in bethlehem. so they have this string, a skeleton of information about the very formative years of jesus and his conception but they don't have much beyond that. ♪ >> sadly, the birthplace of the man christians call the prince of peace is often a war zone, as it has been for centuries. ♪ >> the generation of pilgrims have sought out is a shock. a stone grotto that doesn't look like a cozy stable. case like this one pot mark the region with bethlehem lies. but one scholar suggests we have the wrong address. there's another bethlehem, one that borders joseph and mary's home territory of nazareth. >> that suggests to me that this is the bethlehem that we ought to be looking at instead of bethlehem of judea. >> it is unlikely that this argument is going to trump centuries of tradition that point to the bethlehem of faith. >> it is a historical place, revered for centuries by the faithful. it is the place where it is celebrated jesus was born. that's enough for me in my devotion. it's not enough for me as a scientist. >> and what of the other great tradition of the first christmas, the star in the east? was it a myth? or did it really exist? astronomer michael mulnar may have found the answer on a 2,000-year-old coin he bought a few years ago for $50. on one side, mulnar noticed the astrological sign for aries, which stood for judea in ancient astrology. on the other side was the god jupiter. >> when i came across the coin that showed me that aries the ram was the sign of the jews, and i asked myself, well, what event would have happened in aries the ram? >> so, armed with the computer and charts of the ancient heavens, mulnar started plotting the course of jupiter in the constellation of aries around the time of jesus' birth. and he suddenly hit the mother of all celestial alignments. >> according to the beliefs of 2,000 years ago, if you have the sun, jupiter and moon, accompanied by saturn in the sign of aries the ram, this created the conditions for the birth of a divine and immortal person. >> if there was a star in the east, that would have been it. just when, exactly, did this star appear? mulnar did some more calculations. >> the computer came back with only one answer. it said it happened only once in aries the ram. that was april 17th, 6 b.c. >> christmas in april? jesus born six years before we thought? it's likely true, since king herod, who went on a murderous rampage when he heard of jesus' birth, died in 4 b.c. but after his birth, jesus largely disappears from view, and the mysteries of his early life deepen. who were jesus' parents, his brothers and sisters? just how did jesus grow up? >> jesus was probably doing what most other teenagers were doing -- honing their job skills, meeting other people, helping to support the family, learning what he could about his community and his tradition. >> his tradition was jewish, and his community was the village of nazareth in rural galilee. just as the ancient prophets had said, the messiah would be a nazarene. nazareth in the first century was just a small town in [ female announcer ] the healing power of touch can be even more powerful, with precise pain relieving heat patch. it blocks pain signals for deep relief precisely where you need it most. precise. only from the makers of tylenol. nazareth in the first century was just a small town in rural galilee, a world away from cosmopolitan jerusalem 100 miles down the road. yet it was here, the gospel of st. luke tells us, that an angel of the lord appeared to mary and told her something extraordinary. she was going to be the mother of god's son. but what do we know about this woman who would change the course of history? >> we don't know very much about mary. we get little tantalizing snapshots. and from those tantalizing snapshots, she appears to be a lively, intelligent, but basically down-to-earth woman. >> and maybe not a woman at all when she bore jesus, but a girl with a remarkable life ahead of her. >> mary was very young when she became pregnant with jesus. she was probably just in her mid-teens. which meant that by the time jesus was doing his public ministry, maybe she was 45. >> joseph, jesus' earthly father, is perhaps the most mysterious figure of all. by the time jesus has begun his public ministry, joseph has vanished from the story. that has led to speculation that joseph, a carpenter by trade, was many years older than mary. life in the nazareth of jesus' day was hard. today, a group of biblical scholars and archaeologists have built nazareth village to give a better sense of just what daily life in the nazareth of jesus' time was like. >> there were no paved streets. there were no luxuries of any kind. the houses were all made of fieldstones that are insulated with mud and straw. it was a very basic kind of hand-to-mouth existence. ♪ >> it was also an existence that closely followed the rituals of jewish life. in fact, the only time the gospels mentioned jesus as a boy is during a visit to the temple in jerusalem. this visit would have made an enormous impression on a devout 12-year-old from the hinterland. >> jerusalem was the place where particularly at festival times, people always hoped that maybe now god was going to do something dramatic. that sort of sense is in the air that you get there, and it's going to happen, the new thing is going to be born. >> jesus sat with the teachers of the law, the great rabbis, the ones who ran the academies in jerusalem, and had deep, detailed discussions about the hebrew bible, the old testament with them. and these teachers and rabbis looked at this kid and said, this kid has a real gift. we should sign him up. let's get him to enroll. he's wasted up there in nazareth. >> it was a mission, the gospels say, that jesus thought more important than his earthly family. for when they had departed for nazareth, jesus was still in the temple. >> and on the way home, mary and joseph suddenly realized after a few days that jesus is missing. this always struck me as somewhat like "home alone." and they come back and they discover him in the temple. and mary is very upset and says, how could you do this? >> jesus, in his 12-year-old, know-it-all state says, "well, didn't you know, i needed to be about my father's business?" and he understands that his destiny is somehow here. the temple is where he belongs, discussing these religious issues is what he's supposed to do. >> how could mary and joseph fail to notice jesus was missing? did this mean that the family was so large, a child like jesus could just disappear? the gospels speak of jesus' four brothers, james, joseph, judas and simon and at least two sisters. but many believe that mary remained a virgin all her life, and that these siblings were either stepchildren from joseph's earlier marriage or cousins. scholars who have read the text closely say that doesn't seem to be the case, and they don't need the controversial ossuary to make their point. >> the word that's used of james and jesus' other siblings, the greek word for "brother," is the word for "brother." some people thought, well, maybe they're cousins, for example. well, there is a greek word for cousin and that's not the word that's used here. >> the theological questions are profound. and the debate is a difficult one. especially if you're a jesuit and a scientist like tom fitzpatrick. >> i don't know if we're ever going to get to a definitive answer that satisfies every question or every person on this. it's been a very important doctrine mystery for the church over 2,000 years. it's not the most important doctrine. >> just as fascinating as jesus' family tree is the debate over just what jesus looked like. this certainly isn't a matter of doctrine, but it has always been a source of intense speculation. the centuries-old guessing game that science tells us is way off the mark. >> i could never reconcile myself to him having long blond hair and blue eyes, because he comes from a part of the world where people are basically rather swarthy, with dark hair and dark eyes. >> so, what then does science say is the true face of the son of god? multi-policy discount. paperless discount. paid-in-full discount. [yawning] homeowner's discount. safe driver discount. chipmunk family reunion. someone stole the nuts. squirrel jail. justice! countless discounts. now that's progressive. call or click today. nyqui tylenol: me, too. and cougnasal congestion.ers? nyquil:what? tissue box (whispering): he said nasal congestion... nyquil: i heard him. anncr vo: tylenol cold multi-symptom nighttime relieves nasal congestion... nyquil cold & flu doesn't. ♪ ♪ ♪ hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ trying to figure out what jesus really looked like has preoccupied christians for centuries. and legions of artists have stayed busy trying to supply the answer. ♪ for the lord god omnipotent reigneth ♪ >> but the difficulty in trying to flesh out the image of jesus is that his contemporaries considered his message, not his looks, all important. also, judaism forbids the worship of images and idols, especially of someone claiming to be god. of course, that did not stop christians from imagining how jesus looked. ♪ for the lord god omnipotent reigneth ♪ >> he was first depicted as a triumphant sun god, like apollo. since then, jesus has been re-imagined by every generation and movies have never tired of portraying him, from "jesus christ superstar" to the brooding artist in "jesus of montreal" to the smiling buddy christ of the film "dogma." ♪ hallelujah >> jesus is not, as far as i can tell historically, the blonde, blue-eyed max von sydow version or even jeffrey hunter who we get from the movies. >> i think he would have looked very much like what we know by the term "hippies." >> now, we may be able to literally put some flesh on the bones of centuries of guessing. that's what the noted medical and forensic artist richard neave did when biblical scholars gave him a copy of a skull from the first century, found in the present-day israel. they wanted to get an idea of what a man from jesus' time and place might have looked like. >> it is a strong skull. and to live satisfactorily, especially the kind of life jesus led, you're going to have to be a fairly tough, rugged kind of fellow. you know, he walked miles. he carried his staph. he could be flogged. he could carry his cross. i mean, you know, that takes a lot of physical strength and determination. and so, he's not a wimp. >> neave has spent nearly 30 years reconstructing the heads of mystery people -- anonymous murder victims, ancient archeological finds and suicides. but how would he approach a re-creation of a face from 2,000 years ago? >> it's done in exactly the same way as you would handle a forensic case. there's absolutely no difference, except that in this case, a nice clean, prepared cast, rather than the original skull. then you make a copy of that, and that's mounted onto a metal stand. pegs are inserted into the skull at specific anatomical points, and these indicate the average thickness of tissue that you are going to get, say, there or there or there. >> neave's skull was rendered into an image by the bbc, and further developed by the artist donato giancola, with the help of neave and biblical scholars. the result is a startling image -- nothing like the jesus that history has imagined. >> the nose is quite prominent, and a full mouth, a youngish face, between 30 and 40, i suppose. >> neave stresses that his jesus' head is not "the" jesus' head. at best, it represents a face that jesus himself might have seen or had. and still it attracts debate. >> i've had one or two comments from people suggesting that it doesn't look anything like jesus which, of course, doesn't surprise me. they actually, some of them, do go on to say that they know exactly what jesus does look like, because they took a photograph of him only three weeks ago. >> even though science has given us a better idea of what jesus might have really looked like, jesus' face wouldn't matter were it not for what he said and what he did. and the gospels tell us, in a surprisingly short time, just three years. what was the message of this carpenter's son from galilee? and why did it get him killed? h can be even more powerful, with precise pain relieving heat patch. it blocks pain signals for deep relief precisely where you need it most. precise. only from the makers of tylenol. okay... uhh. the bad news, it's probably totaled. the good news is, you don't have to pay your deductible. with vanishing deductible from nationwide insurance, you got $100 off for every year of safe driving, so now your deductible is zero. the other good news ? i held on to your coffee. wow. ♪ nationwide is on your side ( laughing ) it's actually a pretty good day when you consider. that's great. ♪ sing polly wolly doodle all the day ♪ ♪ hah hello and merry christmas everyone. here's a look at your top stories. when jesus suddenly re-emerged into the public eye, so the gospels tell us, he was about 30 years old. and he had a powerful mission -- to rock the ancient world with his teachings. his public ministry would last just three years. but in that brief span, this obscure galilean carpenter would rouse such passion that his followers would call him not just the son of man, but the son of god. so who was jesus? a faith healer? a rebel? the messiah? >> some scholars think that he was principally to be understood as a jewish rabbi. some think he was better understood as a social revolutionary, or even a political revolutionary. some people think that he was an ancient philosopher, jewish philosopher. and probably the majority of scholars continue to think he was best understood as a kind of jewish apocalyptic prophet. >> but jesus the prophet was not alone in his search for souls to save. scholars tell us the landscape was teeming with jewish groups, each with their own take on god's word. one such sect, the essings, were apocalyptic jews who lived in the desert by the dead sea. >> when their writings were discovered in the caves of kumron in 1948, we suddenly gained startling new clues about jesus' own spiritual roots. >> we have from kumron just a small bit of a manuscript that shows us that there were other jews, just before the time of jesus, who were waiting for a messiah who would exert miraculous and healing power, and who would also have the power to raise the dead. jesus embraces that messianic expectation. >> and it began with a baptism, as the gospels tell us, performed by the man who tradition and scholarship say was jesus' cousin and boyhood friend. john the baptist lived in the wilderness wearing camel skins, eating locusts and wild honey, and baptizing people in the jordan river to cleanse them of their sins. this was a radical new spin on the jewish purification bath. john was turning an ancient ritual into a new sacrament. >> john the baptist. he recognized jesus at the baptism. and he said, this is the man i've been waiting for, this is the person i'm preparing the way for. and he expected jesus to be the messiah of israel. >> and that's the message jesus took to the jewish people. as the gospels tell us, he returned home, found his first disciples among galilean fishermen. and soon he called attention to himself, by casting out demons, and healing the sick. >> those healings would have attracted greater and greater crowds, and those crowds then would have provided the base for jesus' other teachings. was jesus a healer and an exorcist? oh, i think so. quite a good one, in fact. >> a healer, an exorcist and soon, a miracle worker. according to the gospel of john, jesus' first big public miracle was at the wedding at kana, turning the water to wine, and saving his friend's party. science can never say whether a miracle really happened, but scholars say there would be no mistaking the message that jesus was sending. >> in turning water to wine at the wedding in kana, he's saying, i'm the bridegroom of the great messianic banquet that god is going to have one day, and the bridegroom has arrived on the scene. >> the miracles kept coming -- the loaves and fishes, raising lazarus from the dead, walking on water, and repelling satan. but magicians and healers and exorcists were everywhere in the middle east in those days. >> we have various accounts of miracle workers, both pagan as well as jewish in the first century. the book of acts presents other exorcists who were not part of jesus' contingent, but they do seem to be successful exorcists. >> we can put jesus on a continuum of other healers. he still breaks the mold. he does more than they do and more frequently. >> and more than miracles, jesus reached beyond social boundaries to include women prominently among his disciples. one woman who has followed jesus has become second only to his mother in the story of his life. yet mary magdalene has not exactly been regarded as a virgin. >> christian tradition depicts her as a prostitute, but she's never called a prostitute in the new testament, or indeed in the first couple centuries of christianity. the most we know about her is that she's independent. luke tells us that she was possessed by seven demons and had been exorcised by jesus. so perhaps she's followed him because he performed a healing for her. other than that, mary is an independent woman. prostitute? no reason to think so. >>