Testing john the baptists relics to discover a link to the man the bible says was johns cousin. Jesus, himself. To help us answer who really was john the baptist . The Judean Desert in the 1st century. A place at the fringes of the roman empire. This outpost on the banks of the river jordan is home to a revolutionary fire brand who prolyses the coming of a new savior. His name . John the baptist. John the baptist is the first chapter to the long and amazing story of jesus. He tees it up for jesus to come in, and to really be the true messiah. He comes with the fire, and he wants people to to feel it here. Who are you . Are you saved . Why do you come here . He even questions their motives. This is an very intense figure, out in the wilderness. And the wilderness is where t g things really happen, spiritually. Hes a mysterious figure. Hes strange. Hes out there. He is dressed in this very, very odd way. And slightly, dangerous and scary. Yet, today, the unique appeal of this charismatic prophet has been lost to history. Who was this fiery preacher who would herald the coming of the messiah . And what was it that drew jesus to him . Now, science joins history in a new quest. In the future, it may be possible to establish a blood link between john and jesus. Today, their mission is to test fragments of bone believed to be johns. For the first time in history, were able to place these relics in their proper proper time and proper date. Understand more about their history and how they come down to us. Palestine, in the 1st century, is buzzing with prophets. They follow in the tradition of oldtestament preachers. Men, like isaiah and elijah. I am here to warn you. But, from the fringes of this civilization, one voice is louder and reaches further than any other. Even though john the baptist bases himself at the edge of the wilderness, people come from far and wide to hear his uncompromising message. Geographically speaking, hes actually from the margins. He goes out, away from the center of power, to the wilderness. And draws people to himself. It might seem, to us, today, obvious that jesus is more important. But at the time, if wed been alive in 1st century palestine, we would know the name of john the baptist. But we might not know the name of jesus. The son of a jewish cleric, john now condemns the religious establishment. My god. John was angry with the aristocracy because they have been a very exploitive class. In the echo of oldtestament prophecies, the gospels recount his passionate belief that the end is close. And with it, the coming of a new messiah. To prepare themselves, john urges people to repent and cleanse their sins. And to do that, they must be baptized. To encounter john in the wilderness is to encounter a person who is bringing, to your eyes, the fact that you have sinned and fallen short of gods best for you. And you had, by golly, better repent. John is like an apocalyptic preacher. He is a firebrand preacher. In johns case, literally about fire. His firebrands telling them the whole of israel is going to be burned up unless you repent. Talks about judgment, talks about anger. So, he really is the sort of preacher of coming judgment. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repent. In the centuries after his death, bone relics of john the baptist begin spreading out from the holy land, as early christians seek a physical connection with the man who played such a decisive role in the life of jesus. His relics become extremely important all over the world. So, there are lots of narratives of discovering parts of his body. Whether its his head or other relics. His hands and arms seem to be incredibly important because he points to jesus during the baptism. By the 15th century, there are over 200 relics of john the baptist across europe. Far more than could possibly be genuine. Whether authentic or not, each piece is a clue to the growth of the early church. Using carbon dating and dna techniques, scientists hope to build a map showing the crucial role played by relics in the spread of christs message. Obviously, aware of the fact that the vast majority of the material of the relics that well be testing are probably not going to fall into the period which, historically, we would expect. But this is just the first step in a big project, in which were looking at other, similar relics. Getting dates for them. Getting reliable, Scientific Data from them to find out more about who these people were, where they came from. The ambitious project to draw that historical map across europe begins in bulgaria, in 2010, with an excavation that makes headlines around the world. Buried, beat tneath the ruins o monastery dedicated to john the baptist. A box the church believed contains relics of his bones. Bulgaria was the first time that wed really formally investigated using modernscientific techniques. A relic, that was found in a place which had a very reliable context. And when the results of the carbon dating finally come in, they discover something truly remarkable. My jaw was a little bit down on the floor. Right there. 30 a. D. Thats when john the baptist is supposed to have died. We can see the date fits right within that margin. 30 a. D. A date consistent with the death of john the baptist. The dna results go even further, indicating the bones came from a middle eastern man. Could these actually be the bones of john the baptist . And a connection to what the bible points to, a possible blood link between john and jesus. If you have postmenopausal osteoporosis and a high risk for fracture, now might not be the best time to ask yourself, are my bones strong . life is full of make or break moments. Thats why its so important to help reduce your risk of fracture with prolia®. Only prolia® is proven to help strengthen and protect bones from fracture with 1 shot every 6 months. Do not take prolia® if you have low blood calcium, are pregnant, are allergic to it, or take xgeva®. Serious allergic reactions like low blood pressure, trouble breathing, throat tightness, face, lip or tongue swelling, rash, itching or hives have happened. Tell your doctor about dental problems, as severe jaw bone problems may happen. Or new or unusual pain in your hip, groin, or thigh, as unusual thigh bone fractures have occurred. Speak to your doctor before stopping, skipping or delaying prolia®, as spine and other bone fractures have occurred. Prolia® can cause serious side effects, like low blood calcium, serious infections, which could need hospitalization, skin problems, and severe bone, joint, or muscle pain. Dont wait for a break, call your doctor today, and ask about prolia®. The story of john the baptists relationship to jesus derives from lukes gospel. The gospel of luke describes mary, the mother of jesus, and elizabeth, the mother of john the baptist, as being relatives. It uses kinswomen and our best guess is that means Something Like cousins. Not all the gospels mention the episode. But, in luke, the story begins when, one night, jesuss mother mary is visited by an angel. Do not be afraid, mary, for you have found with god. You will conceive, in your womb, and bear a son, and you will name him jesus. But, mary cannot believe the angels message, since she is still a virgin. The child to be born will be holy. He will be called son of god. When mary is told by the angel that shes carrying the messiah, shes shocked and surprised. And she feels very humble. She says shes unworthy of this kind of great honor. But shes willing to accept it. Luke describes how the angel, gabriel, then reveals to mary that her kcousin elizabeth is, also, pregnant. Mary then sets out on a 70mile journey to find her cousin in the judaean hill country. She comes to visit her cousin, elizabeth. The one person she could really talk to about this unusual turn of events in her life. So, by tradition, she would have come here. Perhaps, she rhurries along a street like this, looking forward to being with her cousin, with whom she can share this amazing secret. Elizabeth tells mary how, despite being too old to conceive, she really is now six months pregnant. As soon as i heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. When mary goes to elizabeth and theyre both pregnant, john the baptist leaps for joy in elizabeths womb. We can imagine that theres a rapport between these women. There is an attempt, throughout the gospels, to portray john as the forerunner who prepares the way for the coming of the lord. The lord, being jesus, himself. 2,000 years on, the possibility that john and jesus are related has triggered fresh investigation into the study of john the baptists relics. With their ongoing quest to trace how his relics were scattered, british researchers, tom and george, have come to the Nelson Atkins museum in kansas city, missouri. They want to analyze an ancient treasure reputed to be the finger of john the baptist. Could it come from the same individual as the bulgaria find . Containing the relic. Its based in about the year 1400. Whats really exciting about the kansas baptist relic is that, for the first time, we are going to be able to compare the carbon date of this particular relic with the one we already obtained from bulgaria. The bone has been identified as a human bone coming from a hand. Whats interesting about the finger is its part of medieval treasure, that has connections with the german lord, henry the lion. We know that he visited const t constantinople but its possible much older than that. Look at it now. Sitting in an elaborate housing dating back to the 14th century, for researchers, the challenge will be how to remove the bone from its precious casing. And when they try to extract the bone from its mount, there is a problem. The mount does not come off of the bone. Oh, you mean, i cant actually take the bone out . No. And that means tom will struggle to reach the central part of the finger containing collagen. The most reliable material for carbon dating. Its very tricky in order to get a decentsized sample. So, were constantly battling against curators wishes not to take too much and our own scientific requirements in order to get enough. And its often a very interesting play over the course of the hour or two that it takes us to take a sample. 2,000 years earlier on the banks of the river jordan, john the baptists magnetic preaching continues to pull in the crowds. One of those drawn here is a man who will change, not just the course of johns own life but, the course of history. 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Call today or go online to understandheartfailure. Com for a free Heart Failure handbook. Call today or go online to understandheartfailure. Com xfiniwith the new hbo max app on xfinity. Watch the greatest collection of shows, movies and new max originals. Enjoy hbo favorites you know and love like game of thrones and the undoing. With exclusive max originals like the flight attendant. And blockbuster movies like dolittle. Just say hbo max into your voice remote to sign into your hbo account or sign up. Tv made simple, easy, awesome. The earliest gospel, that of mark, records how jesus arrives on the banks of the jordan to find john the baptist. Lukes gospel tells us jesus is 30 years old. I think one of the few indisputable facts about the ministry of jesus that we, as historians, can be clear about is that jesus was, indeed, baptized by john the baptist. And began his career, within the ministry of john the baptist. The new testament doesnt reveal whether this was their first meeting, or if theyd met before. We knew that jesus respects john the baptist enough and is drawn in by his charisma, his persona, and his teaching enough to go and get baptized, himself. So, hes certainly drawn to john. Until now, john the baptist is the undisputed leader of his movement. But today, meeting jesus, something unexpected happens. I need to be baptized by you. But jesus dismisses johns plea. It is he, who has come to be baptized by john. His baptism will be like no other. I think the baptism of jesus, by john, is a crucial part of the story. It tells us, if nothing else, that jesus absolutely endorsed what john was doing. I, myself, baptize for this reason and he might be revealed to israel. And it means that he endorsed johns message, that gods people did need to repent. They did need to receive forgiveness for their sins. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart. And the spirit descending, like a dove, on him. And a voice came from heaven. You are my son, the beloved. With you, i am well pleased. Its at that moment that something profound changes for jesus. And now, he feels this vocation, this call, to go spread his own message. This is the beginning of jesuss ministry. When they met, when john the baptists charisma, when his preaching ability, when his apocalyptic fervor, when his criticisms of the power of the day, when all of that hit jesuss ears, i imagine it sparked all of that latent ability to preach that that that jesus had and launched him into his ministry. But for biblical historians, theres a dilemma. Theres something thats not being said here. All the gospels really emphasize that john the baptist was subordinate to jesus. And yet, hes the one thats doing the baptizing. In the gospels, you see this trying to tackle this problem of jesus being baptized by john indicating jesus was in a subordinate position, which was a problem for the for the early church. For all the attempts by the gospel writers, what is certain is that it is ultimately jesuss movement that survives and prospers. Initially, it seems that john is a mentor figure to jesus. After all, he is baptizing jesus in the river jordan. But after they is, they go thei separate ways. One of the lines of john that i really, really love is as jesus is growing in popularity, while john still has a ministry. His disciples say to him, look, everyones going over to jesuss baptism. And john says i must decrease, and he must increase. That amazing humility of john, to know that he is about jesus and not about himself, to me, is such a witness of humility and of discipleship. Jesus will never meet john, again. But following his baptism, he takes a page from johns book and heads into the wilderness on his own journey of selfdiscovery. In the book of the prophet isaiah, it says, in the wilderness, prepare the way of the lord. So, they thought of that desert as wilderness. And went out there to prepare for the coming of the lord. For 40 days and nights, he goes without food. He has been touched by god. Now, he must face the devil. According to the gospel of luke, the devil takes jesus aside and tempts him three different ways. First, he tempts him to turn rocks into bread. Because he knows that jesus hasnt eaten and hes hungry. Jesus casts him away with the words, it is written one does not live by bread alone. The next one , he offers him power. He offers him control over all the kingdoms of the world. Worship the lord, your god, and serve only him. And the third temptation, he takes him to the pinnacle, the highest point, and he tells jesus to fling himself off so that he can be rescued by angels. It is said do not put the lord, your god, to the test. We know that jesus doesnt fold. If it had been me, youd have lost me at turning stones into bread. Just imagine, if you could get past the temptation of hunger, when you havent eaten for days. If he could make it through that trial, all the other ones were probably a piece of cake. John, too, is changed forever by his encounter with jesus. He, now, propels his ministry towards his greatest confrontation, yet. Financial p. So are we. Prudential helps 1 in 7 americans with their financial needs. Thats over 25 million people. With over 90 years of investment experience, our thousands of Financial Professionals can help with secure video chat or on the phone. We make it easy for you with online tools, esignatures, and nomedicalexam life insurance. Plan for better days. 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Fired up by his meeting with the coming messiah, jesus, john the baptist walks with a new sense of conviction. His appearance as the wild man of the desert, john knows what he is doing by speaking out against sin. Fearless of the consequences, he vents his anger on the moral corruption of the pulpit ruler installed by palestines overlords. I am here to warn you in the 1st century, in the roman world, you werent allowed to criticize a ruler. So, someone like herrod had his own private army. He was watching everything very carefully. He was absolutely the worst kind of leader that you could hope for. He really needed to prove himself to rome, and because of that, he was a little bit overzealous, lets say. With the protection of rome, herrod antipus rules but herrod has made his first miscalculation. He is turned his back on jewish law by marrying his brothers wife. This was in violation of the law in leviticus, which says the man must not uncover the nakedness of his brothers wife. The wife of your brother. John the baptist was very critical of the political regime. In particular, he was critical of herrod for having married his brothers wife. And he was critical of their immorality and their treatment of the people. Jews feel, themselves, oppressed by a foreign power that they cant do anything about. John gives them a vision of someone who can