Jesus Mortal |
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The Passion of the Christ For fun, imagine that Mel Gibson had based his movie, Passion of the Christ, on the gospel of Luke. In Luke, Jesus is a superior spiritual being, above the passions of the flesh. He doesn’t suffer. Plus, Luke’s Romans have been whitewashed. Serene Jesus and nice Romans make for a tepid combination. Here’s how it would go. In Gethsemane, Jesus kneels meekly in prayer, as if demonstrating for Sunday school kids how to do it. His face is serene, his outfit is clean. His prayer to be delivered from crucifixion is perfunctory, not impassioned, because he is not afraid. When the guards come to arrest him, Jesus breaks up the fight scene just when it’s getting good. He even puts the slave’s ear back on. He is serene throughout, above it all. The chief priests, Pilate, and little Herod all question him, but he never makes any claims for himself. The chief priests and little Herod mock Jesus, and he ignores it. The Jews loudly call for Jesus’ death, against Pilate’s judgment. Gibson would probably like that part. Luke wanted everyone to know that Jesus got along pretty well with the Romans, so no flogging. Pilate finds him to have done nothing wrong, tries to release him, and only reluctantly agrees to execute him. Mark’s account of the mean Romans is stripped out. No crown of thorns, no striking him on the head with a reed, no spitting. In the film, the Roman soldiers would be effective and disciplined, not brutal and sadistic. They’d be like modern soldiers—professional. They’re so considerate that they get someone else to carry his cross for him. On the way to the Skull, Jesus is still serene. His countenance seems to glow. At one point he loses his cool a little, but not about his passion. He gets a little worked up predicting imminent suffering for the great multitude of women who are wasting their time grieving after him. When the dutiful Roman soldiers nail the lord to the cross, he calmly calls on his father to forgive them. No twisting in pain or crying out. They Romans still have to dice for his clothes because that’s from Psalms, but that’s as mean as they get. Once hoisted up, Jesus gets mocked by one of the criminals, but the other defends him. Jesus assures him that they’ll be together in paradise that very day. Heartwarming, really. You can see the good criminal smiling a beatific smile in anticipation of his heavenly reward. But then it gets dark for three hours, and Jesus hangs out until the temple veil is torn in two. At that point, on his own cue, he dies. When he calls out to commend his spirit to the father, his voice is still loud, clear, and even. He dies without complaint, certainly without uttering the words of despair found in Mark. Luke’s passion narrative, if you can even call it that, wouldn’t make for blockbuster cinema. It wouldn’t serve Gibson’s religious angle, either. Audiences would probably come away thinking, “Yeah, the Jews did kill Jesus, but so what? He didn’t seem to mind.”
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contents table of contents you're already looking at it introduction for the inquisitive reader biographical overview who he was and wasn't
afterlife not Jesus' concern animal sacrifice bloodless religion apocalypse did Jesus preach hellfire? baptism sin wash for Jesus and others beatitudes Jesus' words and others' words beloved disciple witness for the un-gospel bible scripture old and new bishop the unjesus body focus on the physical Buddha Jesus' close kin charity key Christian virtue and legacy of Jesus The Da Vinci Code secret (and false) messages divorce women's status dreams convenient literary device Elijah Jewish prophet with his own second coming equality ancient source of modern egalitarianism exorcist Jesus and demons failure reinterpreting Jesus as a failure faith from trust to blind belief father Jesus on titles of honor Francis of Assisi the most Christlike Christian Gandhi the 20th century's most Christly holy man Galilee Jesus' inauspicious homeland gentiles Jesus' inadvertent audience god how Jesus became god golden rule key to Jesus' success gospels competing accounts heaven from sky to spiritual home hell revenge fantasy humanism Jesus' legacy inerrant Christian treatment of scripture Thomas Jefferson ethics of Jesus Jewish guilt Christian libel John's gospel the un-gospel John the baptist, see John the washer John the washer Jesus' apocalyptic mentor Judaism libeled religion of Jesus kingdom of god what Jesus promised Lao Tzu poet of the cosmic way logos jesus as the word of god C. S. Lewis famous, flawed trilemma little drummer boy Luke beats Matthew logos Jesus as the divine word LORD Yahweh transitioning to the one god of all Luke's gospel the all-around best gospel Mark's gospel the gospel that lost its point Mary of Magdala women, visions, and sex massacre of the innocents bloodshed starts early Matthew's gospel best gospel for church reading Mormon, see Joseph Smith Moses Jewish lawgiver Muhammad a prophet who got it right mystery Orpheus and transubstantiation oppression origin of Jesus' compassion The Passion of the Christ Luke as buzzkill Paul revealer of the revealer private and public public Jesus and secret Christ relativism the secret power of the golden rule sacrifice Jesus' death and Christian sacrament Albert Schweitzer Jesus as a failure sheol dark pit of death show Jesus' deeds as put-ons slavery abolished by Jesus' efforts Joseph Smith flesh-and-blood Jesus Socrates secular Jesus son of god on close terms with the man upstairs soul, see body synoptics three gospels that agree temple center of Jewish religion trinity unifying and divisive doctrinre vision, see dreams Yahweh, see LORD Zoroaster Persian dualistic holy man
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