Sign of the Cross

power to finance the

Empire

34–37 AD

•Paccius disappears; never

• Historical mystery

heard from again

•Tiberius balances the

• Proven by history books

Empire’s budget

•Tiberius becomes

• Dies in 37 AD (smothered

mentally unstable; shuns

by a Roman soldier?)

Rome for Isle of Capri;

rumors of foul play

involved in death

Boyd said, ‘If my math is correct, Tiberius wrote this scroll approximately eight months before the death of Christ. That would have given Paccius enough time to read it, return to Rome, and get to Judea to start his assignment.’

‘Whatever that assignment might’ve been.’

‘The thing that makes no sense is why Tiberius felt Judea was so important. Egypt was Italy’s most reliable source of food because of its agriculture, and Greece was a major contributor of culture. But Judea? There was nothing there but sand and an angry populace.’

Boyd considered her statement. ‘Unless that was his reason. Maybe he chose Judea because it was so darn troublesome? He figured if he could whip the Jews into shape, so to speak, then the rest of the Empire would be a snap.’

Maria frowned. ‘You mean Judea was a testing ground?’

He nodded, pleased with his theory. ‘We’ll still need to verify Paccius’s presence in Judea and what he ultimately hoped to accomplish, but I think that sounds reasonable, don’t you? Now all we have to do is fill in some of the voids on our chart.’

‘Well, we know some things, don’t we? Look here. “Let us feed their hunger with our choice of food, allowing them to feast on the coming of their savior… for we know he is merely a pawn that we have lifted to the level of Jupiter.” That means Tiberius wanted to create a fake god for Jerusalem. He actually wanted them to believe that the Messiah had surfaced.’

‘Yes, my dear, that’s quite obvious. But how does one accomplish that? If you continue to read the text, Tiberius says, “… there must be no doubt among the Jews; they must witness an act of God with their own eyes, a feat so magical, so mystifying, that future generations will sing of its splendor for eternity…” That means he planned to stage something in public, something that would eliminate skepticism from even the toughest of cynics.’

‘Like a miracle?’

‘Or, at the very least, an impressive magic trick. Keep in mind, the very definition of a miracle is an event that contradicts the laws of nature, something that’s regarded as an act of God. And I have a strange feeling that the Romans didn’t have heaven’s help on this.’

‘What do the history books tell us? If Tiberius’s ruse actually worked, there must be a record of this “miracle” somewhere in biblical folklore.’

‘I already considered that, my dear, but the accounts of Jesus’s life are so varied it would be impossible to separate fact from fiction. In the Gospels alone, there is talk of thirty-six miracles, everything from turning water into wine at Cana to walking on water at Lake Gennesaret. And in my opinion, none of those events left the kind of impression that Tiberius was hoping for.’ He shook his head in confusion. ‘Furthermore, we must remember what the New Testament is. It’s a piece of propaganda that was intended to turn people on to Christianity, not a book of facts that was written by the hand of God… Even the pope would admit to that.’

Maria knew what the Bible was and wasn’t, yet there was something about Boyd’s tone that made his explanation sound harsh, no matter how accurate it was. Take the Gospels, for example. She knew the writings of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John detailed the life of Jesus, and most Christians believed these accounts were infallible. However, what most people failed to realize is that John’s Gospel disagreed with the other gospels about several important events in Christ’s life, meaning that large portions of the Gospels had to be wrong since they contradicted each other. Furthermore, she knew that many modern scholars claimed the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke were written by men who’d never met Christ (although some early-Christian scholars would disagree) nearly forty years after his crucifixion. That meant none of their writings were first-person accounts of Jesus’s life. Instead, they were based on rumors, stories, and exaggerations that had been passed through two generations of religious turmoil.

Maria also realized the fourth Gospel, the one by John, was penned by an unknown writer with unknown credentials, although some fringe scholars have theorized that it was actually written by Lazarus, the man who Christ supposedly raised from the dead. And if that was true, his version of Christ’s life would’ve been more than a little bit biased.

Wait a second, she thought to herself. Could that be the miracle they were looking for?

She asked, ‘What about Lazarus? Jesus brought him back four days after he’d been buried.’

‘Hmmm, I admit I forgot about that one. I think that’s probably the type of event that Tiberius would’ve had in mind, something that would have been unexplainable. Unfortunately, the Lazarus miracle didn’t occur on the great stage of Jerusalem, the place where Tiberius wanted the Jews to discover their Lord. Therefore, I doubt that was the one.’

‘OK, tell me this: Which of Jesus’s miracles actually occurred in Jerusalem?’

‘Truthfully, none of his miracles seem to match the criteria. None of them possessed the pizzazz that Tiberius was striving for.’

‘Meaning?’

‘We must be overlooking something. We need to keep on digging until we find a fact, no matter how large or trivial, that supports our hypothesis.’

Frustrated, Maria sank back into her chair. ‘That sounds kind of tough, sir. I mean, there are so many places we could look. It would be so much easier if we had some idea where to begin.’

‘True, but that is not the reality of things. In this business nothing is ever handed to you, and nothing is