No Bones about It

Bones pretty much always gets her man – or woman – as the case may be. Dr. Temperance Brennan, a forensic anthropologist on the Fox TV network crime drama “Bones”, and her cohorts at the Jeffersonian, find answers to the mysteries behind discovered human remains. Using their higher-than-the-average levels of intelligence and the latest and greatest in technological equipment, they sleuth their way into discovering the name of the deceased, what he or she looked like, cause of demise and just exactly “who done it” - often from just a pile of bones, and sometimes not all of them at that.

Officials in real-life Washington D.C. recently announced that they were able to reconstruct faces of two drowned sailors from the Civil War era ironclad gunship, the USS Monitor. The Monitor was involved in a battle with the Confederate warship known as the Merrimack in March of 1862; later that year it sank in a New Year’s Eve storm off the North Carolina coast, killing 16 people. When the ship was recovered from the ocean floor in 2002, skeletal remains of two sailors were found in the gun turret. Recovered DNA from the remains was sent to the POW-MIA Accounting Command in Hawaii but a descendant match has yet to be made. Scientists believe one sailor was between the ages of 17 and 24 stood about 5’ 7” tall and had decent oral hygiene; the other, a pipe smoker, appeared to be older – about 30-40 years old and a bit shorter at 5’6” tall. Photographs of reconstructed clay facial models (done by the Louisiana State University’s Forensic Anthropology and Computer Enhancement Services Lab) of the two gentlemen have been released in the hope that someone might recognize a face as resembling one in an old family album somewhere.

As much as believers in Christ might be curious to know how tall He was or what His face looked like we will never really know the true shape of His eyes, the set of His cheekbones or the fullness of His mouth until the day we meet Him – in heaven or in the air at the rapture. While we can reasonably suppose He physically resembled other Jewish men of the day, no reconstruction techniques exist to obtain results from recovered bones. It’s an impossibility. There aren’t any.

The Bible tells us that at age 33, Jesus was executed on a cross, buried and bodily rose again three days later, leaving no physical trace of him - not one single bone - in the tomb. Those who arrived on Easter morning to anoint His body found nothing of Him, save His burial wrappings. No body snatching here, either – He was seen by many in the days that followed.

We don’t know what He looked like, but we do know for sure Who He was. And is. The Bible describes Jesus as our Advocate (1 John 2:1), the Bread of life (John 6:48,51) the Brightness of the Father’s glory (Heb 1:3), the Counselor (Isa. 9:6) the Creator (Isa. 43:15), our Deliverer (Rom 11:26), the Friend of Sinners (Matt 11:19), the Image of God (Heb. 1:3), our Salvation (Luke 2:30) and so much more. Those who have accepted Jesus’ finished work on the cross and who daily walk with Him clearly recognize Him and know Him better than if they carried a photo of Him in their wallets or possessed an old picture of Him in a family heirloom album: they carry an imprint of Him on their hearts.

Absolutely, positively – and no bones about it.