Hey look at that…it’s nearly Easter
tagged BBC, Caiaphas, Christ, Christianity, Easter, James Nesbitt, Jesus, Judas Iscariot, Koran, Lent, Mass, Pontius Pilate, Ramadan, Religion, the Bible, the Gospels and The Passion
You know what that means, right, O Reader? Yup…it’s time for another movie about how the Gospels don’t tell us the truth about the life of Jesus and/or his disciples!
The BBC is to screen a new drama about the final week in the life of Jesus Christ which appears to exonerate [Judas Iscariot] and Pontius Pilate.
Producers of The Passion have portrayed the men in a sympathetic light because they believe they have been”very harshly judged” by history.
Judas is portrayed as torn between his loyalties to Jesus and Caiaphas, who organised the plot to kill Jesus.
Pilate, played by James Nesbitt, is shown struggling to manage his wife’s social aspirations and his career as he tried to”keep a lid” on tensions in Jerusalem.
Traditional Christian groups accused the BBC of rewriting the Gospel, but the makers of the series, which will be broadcast over Easter week, said they were simply trying to understand the motivations of the characters.
If the producers want to understand Judas’ motivations, and Pilate’s also, perhaps they should try the more traditional route for gaining such insight — reading the Bible, consulting reliable exegetical commentaries, and attending Mass on a consistent basis (especially during the season of Lent, which began last month and continues for another week and change). Producing glib historical fiction that seeks to portray Judas — the archetypical greedy betrayer — in a positive light is not a path that leads to understanding, but to greater confusion.
It’s so drearily predictable. Oh, one likes to pretend that all these entertainment and media organizations are just driven by profit and care only about the bottom line. And yet, almost like clockwork, something challenging Christian orthodoxy can be counted upon to emerge, from a major media organization, almost every time Easter rolls around. That’s not profit driving…that’s agenda and bias.
Don’t believe me? Let’s wait and see if some “alternative historical fiction” challenging the traditional interpretation of a Koranic story gets released during Ramadan. Then tell me there’s no bias.
