Telling the Greatest Story

Jesus asked His disciples, "Who do you say that I am?"  And, that's a great question for all of us.  We can ask ourselves, "Who is Jesus" and "Who is He to us?"  In Philippians 2, we read a powerful portrayal of the sacrifice He made for us. Beginning in verse 7, we can read that Jesus...
7 ...made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.
8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of
those under the earth,
11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.





I trust that you can say that He is your Lord and Savior, that you have accepted Him into your life, that you have received His free gift of salvation, purchased for you through His death and resurrection.  If not, you can pray a simple prayer - believe on Him and confess that "He is Lord."  I urge you to make that decision today.  The cross is a meaningful reminder of God's love for you and the empty tomb can communicate for us that Jesus Christ is alive, and desires to be alive in each one of us.

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We are called to testify to the power of Christ's death and resurrection, recognizing that the born-again believer has been crucified with Christ and raised with Him to new life. Paul writes in 1st Corinthians 1:
22 For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom;
23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness,
24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.




If 2014 was "The Year of the Bible" in the entertainment industry, then 2015 must be considered a logical progression.  A USA Today story published on the Religion News Service website by writer Patrick Ryan shines the spotlight on Biblically-themed entertainment and quotes a Rentrak survey that says that religion-themed films earned $400 million last year, the most since 2006.

He opens the piece by saying:

Need proof that biblical entertainment is Hollywood’s holiest trend? Then look no further than Morocco, where three TV projects — National Geographic Channel’s “Killing Jesus,” NBC’s “A.D. The Bible Continues” and CNN’s “Finding Jesus” — were filmed on neighboring sets last year.

"Killing Jesus," based on the book by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard, according to actor Stephen Moyer, who plays Pilate in the film, “...plays with the idea that Jesus’ teachings are more important than the doing of miracles, that the idea behind what he’s saying is the point and it doesn’t need to have out-of-body, magical elements happening."





Movie reviewer Phil Boatwright agrees and, in a piece on the Baptist Press website, goes a step further, writing that the movie "...does a reliable job of proving Jesus lived on earth, had a following and was crucified -- stopping short, though, of affirming His deity."  He also took the filmmakers to task for indicating that Jesus did not know who He was when John the Baptist identified him as the Savior of the world. Boatwright says:

The only figure a filmmaker can't show shortcoming in is Jesus Christ. He was unique, all man and all God. If the Gospels are actually read and adhered to by those attempting to flesh them out in cinematic form, it's impossible to come to the conclusion that Jesus didn't know who He was.

But he also says,

My take on the film should not be misinterpreted as a suggestion to avoid the presentation. It does have decent production values despite its apparent low budget; there were solid performances from the leads, and it may leave some wanting to discover the whole story.

He also recommends "The Passion of the Christ," "Jesus of Nazareth," "Cotton Patch Gospel," and "The Miracle Maker."





"Killing Jesus" delivered the largest audience in the history of the National Geographic Channel this past Sunday night, with 3.7 million viewers, according to IMDB.   "Finding Jesus," which was a series of documentaries that, according to Crosswalk.com, dealt with artifacts associated with Jesus, such as the Shroud of Turin and relics associated with the cross, but also the so-called "Gospels" of Judas and Mary Magdelene, won its cable news slot on its opening night, with an 80% larger audience than Fox News, with over 1.1. million viewers.  So says Deadline.com.  

IMDB reports that "Killing Jesus" reappears on Fox News this Friday at 7:00 and Sunday evening at 7:00.





It will be going up against "The 10 Commandments" on ABC and the premiere of Mark Burnett and Roma Downey's network TV follow-up to the successful miniseries, "The Bible," on the History Channel, which drew over 13 million viewers on Easter Sunday 2 years ago.  The new 12-part miniseries is called, "A.D.: The Bible Continues."





Burnett is quoted in the aforementioned USA Today piece as saying, "With “The Bible,” “we didn’t make Sunday-school programming. We made stuff that was accurate to the Bible, but realistic, and didn’t feel like it had been made on a shoestring budget,” adding “You have to treat every hour of television you’re given like a $100 million movie, and with ‘A.D.,’ we stepped it up even a stage further.”





At the recent National Religious Broadcasters convention, according to NRB.org, co-producer
Roma Downey, promised that the new miniseries, which gave the filmmakers the opportunity to take a "deeper dive into the book of Acts," looks to Scripture to “tell the story truthfully and accurately.” She said the opportunity to produce the miniseries as husband and wife is “such a blessing."





She added, "We felt a calling on our lives to bring the Bible to television."   "A.D." comes to NBC this Sunday evening at 8:00 Central.





It's quite a phenomenon that's taking place.  And, just yesterday, I read on Deadline.com that a biopic on the apostle Paul is in the works, starring Hugh Jackman and produced by Jackman, Matt Damon, and Ben Affleck.





By the way, "Do You Believe?" continues to be in the box office top 10, according to Box Office Mojo.  Coming up later this year, look for "War Room," from the Kendrick Brothers, "Woodlawn" from the Erwin Brothers, "Little Boy," featuring Eduardo Verastegui, and "Where Hope Grows."





This abundance of spiritual material in media, especially this time of year, can speak to all of us powerfully about the significance of this season.  I contend that during Christmas, which, despite the efforts of the secularists, is a religious holiday, is a season when spiritual sensitivity is increased. So is Easter, a time set aside by Christians to commemorate the resurrection of our Lord.  It's commonly thought that there will be an increase in church attendance this weekend.





So, as people are spiritually sensitive during the Easter season, it becomes an opportunity for Christians to share the hope of the gospel.   We can be challenged to reflect Christ during this season, allowing our lives, including the words of our mouth, to point to the hope that can be generated as we think about what Jesus did for us through His crucifixion and resurrection.  We can also pray for those who will communicate truth in our churches, that there will be a connection made and that people will be pointed to Christ and respond to His truth and His love.





It's a special season, centered around our Savior, who was a special man - God in the flesh, God with us, who lived a perfect life and became the perfect substitute for us.  We deserved to have eternal punishment, but out of His great love, Jesus gave His life so we might know Him.