Jesus' House at Nazareth!?

[MadHermit]

A case can now be made that Joseph and Mary's house in Nazareth has recently been discovered.  For more details google "The House of joseph,  the Just in Nazareth" and read the zenit article.  Ancient church tradition has long identified this house as Jesus' home, but until recently scholars dismissed this tradition as a legend.  Now scientific dating techniques have dated the house  back to the early first century.  The house was carved out of the rock of a hill.  Remnants of a loom have been discovered inside, which Mary may have used to make Jesus' clothes.  A large empty space has been detected by sonar inside one of the house's walls.  The friend whom I encouraged to join the Bethsaida dig was invited to explore ways to penetrate this hidden space without excessive damage to the house and its walls.  So far he hasn't accepted that offer, preferring to continue with the Bethsaida dig.  

Was this large hidden space a hideout during the failed Jewish revolt against Rome led by Judas the Galilean in 7 AD at nearby Sepphoris, just 3 miles away with a population in Jesus' day of about 25,000?  The scholarly consensus is that Joseph died before Jesus began His public ministry.  Joseph figures in no story of Jesus' ministry and Jesus entrusts the care of His mother to the Beloved Disciple from the cross, something He would never have done if Joseph was alive to care for his wife.  Judas the Galilean recruited Jewish fighters for his revolt from nearby villages like Nazareth. When the Romans crushed this revolt, those captured were crucified and Joseph may have been among them.  Is this the original reason why Jesus used the image of cross-bearing as an image of discipleship?  These  questions are among the most compelling questions to be posed by those want to investigate "the missing years' of Jesus' life.

[Guest shiloh357]

13 hours ago, MadHermit said:

A case can now be made that Joseph and Mary's house in Nazareth has recently been discovered.  For more details google "The House of joseph,  the Just in Nazareth" and read the zenit article.  

Nothing but conjecture. There is no way to know who lived there.   And we will never know who lived there.  And it is not really important.

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Is this the original reason why Jesus used the image of cross-bearing as an image of discipleship? 

No.   Jesus used the image of cross-bearing to denote the kind of price that one would pay for following him.   It had nothing do with some elaborate fiction about Joseph being some anti-Roman zealot.   

Jesus use the cross to symbolize the loss of everything, potentially the loss of family, friends, reputation, even the loss of one's own life in some cases, as the price for following Him in this world. 

[MadHermit]

I never said that the case for Jesus' house was conclusive.  But the case is far superior, for example, than the case for the authenticity of the Barden Tomb, which evangelicals routinely visit and falsely believe to be the site of Jesus' burial.  If the ancient tradition about Jesus' house were a legend created centuries later, then we would not expect scientific evidence that it was only occupied around the time of Jesus.  I have toured Israel, but persuaded our group to skip Nazareth in favor of nearby Sepphoris, where Josephus and Jesus likely sold their carpentry goods.  I think the others in our group were glad we did because the ancient ruins of Sepphoris were awesome.  It was only later that the first century dating of this Nazareth house was determined and I wish I had known that at the time.