Skeleton 03 - The Constantine Codex (33 page)

Quietly he replied, “You’ve got it, Heinz.”

A wild potpourri of surprise and awe filled the room, supposedly staid scholars ripping off their glasses or putting them on—depending on their ocular needs—as they tried to scan the text more closely.

Several minutes later, Jon announced, “I’m passing out my rough translation of the lost ending, although I’m sure one of the committees to come out of this group will do a better job.”

Silence reigned as each read the words Mark had actually written at the close of his Gospel. Scholars joined other scholars sitting nearby in a sudden buzz of discussion that picked up tempo and intensity.

Brendan Rutledge spoke up first. “Tends to support the Synoptic hypothesis, doesn’t it?”

Jon smiled at this and winked at Shannon.

Daniel Wallace, from the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts, raised his hand. “Thanks, Jon, for inviting our group to this
historic
occasion. And I don’t use that adjective lightly, since there’s no question but that this codex, if authentic, is the greatest find in centuries of textual scholarship. Our group has dreamed of coming across a text like this, yet we dismissed it as wishful thinking. We were wrong! Now, what do you propose as a modus operandi for this discovery?”

“Thanks, Dan! I was coming to that.” Jon distributed another handout. “I propose that we establish a ‘Mark 16 Blue Ribbon Task Force’ and charge it with items listed on what I’ve just distributed.”

The conferees read:

• Compare the uncial lettering of the new material in this manuscript with the Markan text immediately preceding it. This will determine if another ancient hand tried to supply the ending, as happened subsequently in later texts.

• Do a complete linguistic analysis of these verses, again comparing them with the grammar and syntax in the rest of the Markan text.

• Provide an authoritative translation of these final verses into English. (Other translations can follow later.)

• Write an official commentary on these verses, explaining how Mark’s ending had originally been lost—if true—and the significance of these verses for Synoptic scholarship and especially in the reportage of the resurrection of Jesus.

The silence was quickly broken. “Hear, hear!” “Good plan!” “Let’s do it” and other affirmatives welled up from both tables. Just before lunch, the ICO and CSNTM had even appointed twenty of their finest New Testament scholars to the task force. To these, Jon handed out enhanced digital images of all pages of Mark’s Gospel in the codex.

“Just remember, good colleagues,” Jon cautioned, “every last page of the codex is now copyrighted—my Harvard colleague Alan Dershowitz prepared an airtight instrument for us—so don’t run off to publishers and try to get rich on Mark!”

Jon was smiling and the rest chuckled, but amid the mirth the message was quite loud and quite clear.

Not one person in the group recalled, a year later, what they had eaten for their catered lunch. They were less diners and more a buzzing beehive of excitement over the codex.

Sitting adjacent from Jon and Shannon, von Schwendener asked, “Anything important for this afternoon, Jon? Or can we wrap it up early? I’d like to catch the four o’clock train for New Haven.”

Sure, take off, Yalie yahoo,
Jon thought,
and miss more of the biggest story of your life!
But all he said, charitably, was “Try to stick around, Heinz.”

Jon began the afternoon session by flashing two pages from the codex on the screen side by side: the last page of Acts and the first of Second Acts, though with the title hidden. The two pages simply hung on the screen for endless moments, but this time no one got the message. Kevin Sullivan knew, of course, but he held his tongue.

“All right,” Jon said. “I suppose I’d best drop a hint. The left-hand page is the close of
Praxeis Apostolon
. . . .”

“Okay,” Rutledge offered. “Acts of the Apostles . . .”

“Right, Brandon.” Jon flipped a switch. “And what’s the title of the next book on the opposite side—Romans?”

Rutledge stared. “It’s . . .
Praxeis Apostolon Beta
 . . .
Beta
? What in the world?”

Sally Humiston screamed something unintelligible, followed by a more coherent “Not Acts 2? I mean, Second Acts? That reference in Hegesippus that Shannon found?”

Jon caught Shannon’s eyes and grinned and nodded.

“It’s
really
in that codex?” Sally asked, almost shouting.

“Yes it is, Sal.”

Silence in the room was deafening. The conclave of world-class scholars sat around the conference tables collectively stunned, many with open mouths and wide eyes.

Finally Edwin Yamauchi collected himself enough to ask, “Well, what does it say? Have you been able to read it?”

“Yes, we have, Ed,” Jon replied. “It’s shorter than our lengthy book of Acts. Luke beautifully ties down all the threads he left hanging in Acts. It turns out that he faithfully stayed with Paul for the rest of his days, so it has all the eyewitness appeal of his previous writings. It begins with a précis of Paul’s trial before Nero—and the
fascinating
reason he had appealed to Nero in the first place—and then goes on to his acquittal—yes, his acquittal! Their voyage to Spain followed. They landed there at Valencia—Valentia in those days—where they spent fourteen months establishing a mission that not only survived but flourished.”

Heads shook in bewilderment. Looks were exchanged around the tables, until finally everyone turned toward Jon to hear if there was any more.

Jon resumed. “From there we have something of a fourth missionary journey, when Paul and Luke sailed first to Sicily and then on to Crete, where Paul ordained Titus to carry on the work there. Then it was back to Miletus and Ephesus, where Timothy rejoined them, Paul all the while confirming early Christians in the faith.

“Again he faced opposition in Ephesus—why in the world couldn’t he have stayed out of that trouble spot?—but this time a human glob of scum named Alexander the Coppersmith got all the metalworkers in Ephesus to riot against Paul once again, as they had in Acts 19. But this turned out to be a dangerous embarrassment to the Roman governor of Asia because Nero was just across the Aegean at the time, giving his infamous concert tour of Greece in the year 65. So Paul was quickly arrested and shipped off to Rome again, where he was imprisoned for the second time.

“This time, though, Paul was in mortal danger because the Great Fire of Rome had broken out the year before, for which Nero blamed the Christians to save his own hide. Now they were outlawed. And now Paul stood trial again, not before Nero—who was still singing his recitals in Greece, if you can believe it—but before Nero’s man Helius, who condemned Paul to death. And yes, he was indeed taken out on the Ostian Way and executed about a mile outside the Ostian Gate—where the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls stands today. Constantine was right on target when he built the original basilica where he did.

“Well, that was a long speech, but I wanted to hit the high points of what’s in Second Acts.”

Dead silence continued until Katrina Vandersteen put her head down on the conference table and broke out sobbing. Others also had tears either in their eyes or coursing down their cheeks, so strong were the emotional currents swirling through the room on that memorable day. Jon, however, knew there were
two
reasons for Vandersteen’s tears; she had just completed a commentary on the Book of Acts and sent it off to her publisher, but now it had become virtually obsolete.

A pall of shock continued to shroud the conference. It was like breaking the news to Bartholomew II all over again, this time multiplied by the fifty-eight people present in that crowded room. Jon knew he was seeing church history made that day, as, very slowly, each one present came to terms with the implications not only of the rediscovered ending to Mark, but of Second Acts as well. Both of them could conceivably be added to the canon of Holy Scripture, provided the texts warranted it.

Predictably von Schwendener broke the silence. “I think I’ll take the four o’clock back to New Haven, Jon—next Tuesday.”

Jon chuckled. “No, Heinz, we just can’t have you on our hands that long! Now, patient colleagues, I’m passing out my preliminary translation of Second Acts. I finally completed that task—and it
was
a task!—yesterday. Please know that it’s
not
an authoritative translation, just a possible first draft. Now, if you’ll permit, I think we should take a break so you can all read it. I think you’ll . . . well, I think you’ll be entranced.”

When they had finished the reading and refilled their coffee cups, all wanted to know: “Where’s the final scene? Or did Luke break off just before Paul’s execution—and leave us hanging
again
?”

“No, he provided it all,” Jon replied. “I merely wanted the opportunity to read it aloud to you first. It’s very, very . . . moving.” He picked up his script and read:

When word came that Paul was to be executed, Timothy, Mark, and I, as well as elders of the church at Rome, accompanied Paul on his final journey from the Castra Praetoria, where he had been imprisoned, to the Ostian Gate at the south of Rome. He wore a purple cloak that Lydia had made for him. We passed through the gate and walked a Sabbath day’s journey down the Ostian Way to avoid the curious. Finally we came to a green, open spot called the Waters of Sage, which the centurion approved.

Paul now took leave of us all and commended the church to God. He said, “This is only the beginning of a cause that will one day become far greater than the Roman Empire. The Caesars will perish, but Christ will triumph, my beloved, and you will all be his ambassadors in building the greatest structure this world has ever seen: the holy Christian church. And we will all see each other again in the paradise that he has prepared for us. So do not weep for me, but comfort one another with these words.”

When the centurion said that all was ready, Paul said, “The time of my departure has come, my beloved friends. As I once wrote you, Timothy, I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. And now the prize is waiting for me—the crown of righteousness that the Lord, the perfect Judge, will award to me on that great day. And not to me only, but to you as well—and all who await his coming. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”

Then he fell to his knees, bared his neck, and bowed his head in prayer, saying, “Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.”

The centurion raised his sword with both hands and brought it down in one strong sweep. In our anguish, we buried this greatest apostle in a sepulchre nearby that was provided by one of the elders of the church. On his breast we placed a small cross of wood, the emblem of what has become the center of everything he preached and taught.

Then we returned to Rome, grieving and yet thanking and praising God for having given us so great a representative of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Thanks be to God.

Jon’s voice broke toward the end, and he found it difficult to regain his composure. Finally he cleared his throat and said, “That’s it, my colleagues. Now I’ll pass out these final two pages of my translation. Please add it to the others.”

A sacred silence hovered over the conference tables, not one voice daring to break the mood of profound awe. All had returned to Cambridge at Jon’s request, expecting that they would, no doubt, be privy to some fascinating discovery, but Jon knew that the codex and its surprises were vastly more than they could ever have anticipated. It was almost as if their minds were now out of breath, so to speak, and needed some downtime.