If, because of the one man’s trespass, death exercised dominion through that one, much more surely will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness exercise dominion in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
(Romans 5.17
NRSV)
Local officials are calling the vandalism a "malicious prank," and police are pursuing it as a case of property damage. The local tradition about Jesus springs from an ancient scroll said to have been found in a temple in the 1930s. Believers say Jesus wrote it after he arrived in Japan following a life of adventure. The text recounts how Christ avoided crucifixion and ended up on Japanese shores. According to the legend, he married a woman named Miyuko and had three daughters.
Some 100,000 tourists visit the graves each year, leaving change or fruit because the ground is believed to have magical healing powers. Village authorities have turned the grave site into a park with an enormous billboard that says "Shingo: Hometown of Christ." Until recently, Shingo residents painted crosses on the foreheads of newborn babies in the hope that it would bring good luck from Christ.
Just when you think you've heard everything, a report surfaces like this one. To set the record straight, the hometown of Jesus was not Shingo, Japan but Nazareth in Galilee. His birthplace was Bethlehem, as foretold by the prophet Micah.
More importantly, Jesus died on a cross to set us free!
Loving God, may Christ become more alive and real in me with each day. Amen.