Those of you who
read my post last week will know that I have high expectations for Jesus. Of
course, it’s not fair to give The Bible’s
producers a break because of the intense levels of scrutiny—they knew they had
to get Jesus just right, if they got anything right. So most of my criticism is
focused on Diogo Morgado’s portrayal of the Son of Man. To be fair, nobody will
ever be able to play Jesus correctly (whether they should even try is another subject), but regardless, there are
some things one should remember if you want to do things by the Book:
- Jesus was fully man – this means that, even
if there were times that he was otherworldly, there were other moments
that he was just an ordinary guy. Ordinary does not mean “sinner”,
ordinary means “has a sense of humor” or rather: “doesn’t treat
himself—and everything—with deadly seriousness.”
- Jesus was fully God – this means that,
despite his ordinariness, he had a few
raging-holy-God-of-wrath-and-judgment moments. Usually he used this rage
against the self-righteous, and his deep, reckless love, for the poor.
- Jesus was not, in fact, an enlightened hippie
– he was from a Podunk country town (almost certainly with
an accent.)
- We have no reliable information that Jesus
was drop-dead gorgeous or had cute hair or a perfect nose. It’s rather possible he looked,
y’know, like someone from Fiddler on the Roof, and ordinary, albeit Jewish-looking ordinary guy.
