The Testimonium (57 page)

“So,” the priest concluded, “we never were quite able to extinguish the phosphorus—it had burned through the lab table, through the floor tiles, and was eating through the building’s foundation! We quickly spackled over the hole, once the fires in the lab were put out. But if a volcano ever erupts under the site of St. Matthew’s Parochial School in Edinburgh, well—I did that!”

That story led Josh to share an account of a prank he had pulled on a high school classmate, and for the next half hour the team swapped stories around the table, chuckling and giggling together. For the first time since the horrible blast had shattered their world the previous Friday, the three survivors felt like a complete team again. Dr. Martens and Alicia fit in naturally, each bringing their own personalities and talents to the table. It was a pleasant interlude after the grim note the board meeting had ended on, and when the original team members left the lab, their hearts were light once more. The memory of sorrow still lingered among them, but it was losing its power.

They took a cab to the ferry station and caught the noon boat for Capri, watching over the sides as the beautiful waters of the Bay of Naples slid by them. Seagulls dove into the boat’s wake, searching for fish, while dolphins jumped across the bow waves. They didn’t say much; it was simply too beautiful a sight for words. When they arrived at the dock, they found Chief Rosario waiting for them in his police car.

“Greetings, friends!” he said. “It is good to see you on a better occasion than the last! But I want to thank each of you for giving my friend Giuseppe such a wonderful memorial. You said everything that I felt about him, far better than I could have! From now on, anytime you are here, you are my guests and my family. Anyone gives you trouble, you tell me!”

They thanked him for his courtesy and chatted as he drove them up to the base of the Via Tiberio, but his talk about Rossini threw a bit of a damper on the good cheer they had enjoyed that morning. Once the chief dropped them off, they walked up the ancient trail with a sense of relief. It wasn’t that they wanted to forget Giuseppe, Josh thought as they neared the old ruins. They just were tired of hurting all the time over his loss.

The film crew was already waiting for them at the top of the bluff, and Josh saw the familiar face of Drew Eastwood talking with a cameraman.

“Dr. Parker and company!” he exclaimed. “So glad you could join us!”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” said Josh. “So where is Ginovese?”

“He is interviewing the monks from the old church above the Villa Jovis,” said the American. “I tried to follow along, but the old fellows don’t speak a word of English, so I gave up on it. He’s been pretty cool so far, though, considering I am a total rookie at this TV stuff.”

“Well, do you want us to start talking you through what we found here?” Josh asked. “Or do you want to wait for him?”

“I promised to include him and his crew on every shot, and we will take turns asking the questions,” said Eastwood.

“All right, then,” said Josh. “While you are waiting, I want to walk over and take a look at the chamber.” It was his first time to set foot on the island since they had left it ten days ago—how much longer it seemed! The Capri Historical Society had been busy at work. A bronze plaque stood on an upright wooden beam outside the chamber door, describing in Italian and English what had been found there. The bricks that had once concealed the chamber’s entrance were all removed and neatly stacked to one side, exposing the original doorway in its entirety. A plexiglass barrier had been carefully placed over the entrance and a single floodlight inside illuminated the inside of the chamber. A replica of the writing desk and curule chair had been placed where the originals had sat for twenty centuries.

In a way, it was interesting to be able to look inside and see what the chamber had looked like when it was in use so long ago, but on the other hand, Josh felt as if much of the mystery had been sucked out of it. It looked like any number of other historical sites he had been to in his life—it gave the impression of a movie set rather than one of genuine antiquity. Eastwood joined him and stared into the ancient writing room.

“I bet it’s nothing like it was when you saw it the first time,” he said.

“Not at all,” said Josh. “For one thing, you have to imagine a layer of stone dust about two inches thick over everything in there! You couldn’t move without stirring the stuff up—I had black boogers for a week afterward!”

“Too much information there, Dr. Parker!” laughed the young reporter.

“Sorry—I thought you wanted it up close and personal!” Josh replied. Isabella shot him a glare, and moments later, the tall, impressive figure of Signore Antonio Ginovese swept into view. He greeted Isabella profusely in Italian, and then turned to Joshua and Eastwood.

“We meet again, Dr. Parker,” he said. “You have earned a great deal of respect from the Italian archeological community in your short time here, and I am looking forward to our interview. Mr. Eastwood, I normally do not enjoy sharing camera time with a novice, but since it is your relationship with these scholars that has allowed me to be included, I must give you my thanks as well.” He shook both their hands, and then turned to the camera crews.

The interview was awkward at times, with Josh answering questions from Eastwood in English and Isabella giving answers to Ginovese in Italian. Sometimes the tall European journalist would ask Joshua pointed questions in English as well, and Eastwood tried to give Isabella equal attention from the cameras. Father MacDonald was not questioned quite as much, but when matters relating to his expertise were brought up, both journalists asked him questions and listened to his answers respectfully. After they got used to the round-robin format, the team members warmed to the narrative and gave a colorful, blow-by-blow account of the discovery. All told, they spoke for almost two hours, from the moment of the chamber’s discovery until the final removal of the artifacts from the island, and their going away dinner down at Rossini’s house.

Once they were finished filming on Capri, Ginovese offered to fly the three archeologists back to Naples aboard the Italian network helicopter. However, it was a bit cramped when all three of them tried to join him, so Josh agreed to fly back with Andrew Eastwood in the American network’s chopper. The afternoon was fading, and the westering sun over the Bay of Naples turned the sky’s light clouds to streaks of stationary flame.

“Great sky!” commented the journalist.

“Sure is,” Josh said. “I have never understood how people can look at the senseless beauty of the world and not acknowledge the genius of our creator. Water molecules refracting light should not move our hearts—but they do!”

“I never thought about it that way,” said Eastwood. “But I sure see your point. When I turned my back on God in college, I thought science and Darwin could explain absolutely everything. But since I became a believer, just a few days ago, I am continually amazed at how many things I was blind to before! Nature should evolve to be efficient. But why should it evolve to be beautiful? I look at the world around me, and I suddenly see God’s signature everywhere.”

“Skeptics say that faith enslaves us,” said Josh. “But I believe it is the only thing that truly makes us free.”

With that they fell silent and watched as the city of Naples unfolded below them. There was a helo pad behind the museum, but it was still partly covered by debris from the blast, so the chopper landed a few blocks away, at a police station’s helo deck. The network vans were waiting to transfer them to the museum. They got out in front and posed on the steps as the two networks set up their cameras again. Museum security kept the protestors that lingered in front of the building at bay. Once both sets of cameras were trained upon them, Andrew spoke to Joshua first. “Tell us what happened when you and the others arrived here,” he said.

“Well, it was a weekend,” Josh said, “so we were told to take a day to rest and adjust. Isabella here gave me a tour of the museum, and then we both went out to the museum’s lab where the artifacts were to be examined.” He then walked up the steps and led the cameras to the back lot, where the lab had once stood. The heaviness that had lifted from him earlier in the day returned as he saw the wreckage left by the blast, over half cleared by now, but still an ugly reminder of the power of fanaticism. As briefly as he could, he described the initial work that was done in the lab, and then the horror of that Friday morning when the terror attack had destroyed the lab and nearly killed him and Isabella.

Finally, they walked the camera crews down to the old lab facility where the artifacts were being analyzed. They exhibited and discussed all the surviving relics from the chamber, noting that the ancient bronze lamp had been recovered and brought down to the lab since that morning. Eastwood and Ginovese still peppered them with occasional questions, but both of them were more content now to let the three antiquarians tell their story without interruptions.

Last of all, they took the camera crews to the
Testimonium
itself. Josh described the moment when he first saw the Latin letters on the outside of the scroll and realized what he was holding. MacDonald described the opening of the ancient scroll and the tense moments as he and Joshua translated it together, and the decision to share its contents with the world despite the deadly jihadist attack. Last of all, the three team members discussed the implications of the scroll on modern Biblical scholarship, and its potential effect on a skeptical world.

“In the end,” Josh said, “no one should be surprised that Pilate’s testimony confirms the Gospel accounts. After all, they were composed from eyewitness testimony a very short time after the events happened. Only in recent years has it become fashionable to call every detail of the gospel narrative into question. That being said, the
Testimonium
does not ‘prove’ anything conclusively. It is simply one more piece of evidence that shows that the Gospels recorded actual events. But the substance of the Gospel claims—the divinity of Jesus Christ—is still a matter for individual faith to decide. God did not abrogate free will with the discovery of a piece of papyrus!”

“But would it not be safe to say that this does refute many of the explanations that have been offered about the events of the Passion Week?” asked Ginovese.

“On that count, I would agree,” said Josh. “Many of those explanations have been debunked by scholars years ago, but they have persisted because hostility to Christianity has become so fashionable in recent years. But I do think that many of the more persistent myths—that there was never a tomb at all, that Jesus swooned on the Cross and somehow revived, or that the disciples stole the body—can now be put to rest.”

Isabella and Father MacDonald each made their last statements, and that was the end of the shoot. Both journalists shook the hands of the team members and thanked them profusely, and then the cameras and lights were packed up. Within a half hour of the last recorded statements, the three team members had the lab to themselves again. They looked at one another, and Josh let out a long sigh.

“Well, that went well, I think!” he said.

“It did, laddie. You two are such naturals in front of the camera I felt like a stunt double!” exclaimed MacDonald.

“I don’t know, Father,” said Isabella. “I think your Scottish burr nicely rounds out my fluent Italian and Josh’s incurable Southern drawl!”

“Hey, my drawl is just fine!” said Josh with a laugh. “But right now, I am ready for some supper!”

“Come to think of it,” Isabella said, “we never did eat lunch, did we?”

Chatting among themselves, the three team members took the elevator to the first floor of the museum and caught a cab to a nearby restaurant. Their sorrows behind them for the moment, they laughed, talked, and reminisced throughout the rich supper. It was the last meal they would share together before Josh died.

<<>>

CASTOLFO: I am still concerned about the transport of the scroll tomorrow evening, Antonio.

LUCOCCINI: What worries you, Doctor?

CASTOLFO: The near certainty of a terrorist attack is a bit unsettling, to tell you the truth! If they have rocket launchers, I am afraid that even the armored travel case we will be using will not be sufficient to protect the scroll from damage.

LUCOCCINI: Do you have a better plan?

CASTOLFO: I have been thinking. The convoy is a brilliant idea, in that it is big and conspicuous and sure to draw enemy fire. I am thinking that it should set out just as we planned, with enough museum personnel on board to look convincing, carrying a duplicate of the case we are using to transport the scroll. Meanwhile, I will wait with the rest of the team—we will tell the press that they are flying to Rome the next morning, or something. Once the convoy comes under enemy fire, I will take the two of them, and the scroll, in my personal auto, and leave for Rome by an alternate route. While all the security forces in Italy descend on the jihadists, we will be safely delivering the scroll to Rome on a completely different road!”

LUCOCCINI: That is quite brilliant, Doctor! If you ever decide to leave the field of Antiquities, we could use you in the Security Department!

CASTOLFO: Then you approve my plan?

LUCOCCINI: Yes, but stay in touch via cell phone. Don’t leave the museum until we know for sure that the terrorists have attacked the convoy.”

Josh slept soundly that night and woke up at six, a few minutes before his alarm. He pulled on his trunks, brushed his teeth, and headed down to the pool, swimming his usual twenty laps. Returning to his room, he showered, shaved, and dressed, then called up his parents.

“Good morning, son!” his father boomed upon hearing his voice.

“Hey, Dad, how was Rome?” Josh replied.

His father sighed. “Crowded, smelly, loud, and breathtakingly beautiful!” he said. “I was overwhelmed by the history all around me. I’ll be honest, son, I want to go back and live there for the rest of my days, just so I can take it all in. I’ve been to the Holy Land twice, and did a tour in Vietnam when I was in the Army, but Italy is the most incredible land I have ever seen. But, since your mother spent most of our retirement savings yesterday, I imagine this visit will have to be it!”