NBC's "AD: The Bible Continues"--Episode 2 ~ Bread for Beggars

A car passing through the north/south intersection is t-boned by another passing through east to west. Traffic is snarled. Police arrive to try to sort it all out. What happened? Who was at fault?

To try to get at the truth, the police will interview witnesses. Each witness is going to describe the events from his-or-her perspective. The teen spinning the sign on the NE corner saw things from a different angle than the man standing on the SW corner. Multiple accounts from multiple perspectives will give a clear picture.

That’s what A.D. did in this second episode, it addressed an issue from multiple perspectives: What happened in those early morning hours of Easter?

You can read NBC’s Episode Summary HERE!

Three Witnesses

Witness #1—Caiaphas. He’s convinced that somehow the disciples stole the body. He’s angry that Jesus even received a burial, wanted the body kept out to decay in full view of everyone. Have the disciples joined with one of the more radical “anti-Rome” groups out there? How did they overpower the guards? Closing his mind to the possibility that Jesus is who He has said He is, Caiaphas has to explain the empty tomb in some other way. I thought A.D. developed this perspective wonderfully! What’d you think?

Witness #2—Pilate. By now he is beyond annoyed with this Jewish religious argument; he is livid. Who would risk their lives by tampering with the Roman seal? How did his soldiers fail? Why were none of them killed in a pre-dawn raid on the tomb? Have they been paid off to tell some supernatural story? From Pilate’s perspective, this “cult” will become a magnet for every loony out there. He’s got to get to the bottom of this so that the Nazarene’s death remains his final word on the issue. Did you like the perspective A.D. provided for Pilate?
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Witness #3—Peter, Thomas, et al. Too scared to try their luck at tomb raiding. Too poor to buy silence from enemy soldiers. What happened? How do they explain the empty tomb? Is it a trap to draw them to their own tombs? A heartless trick meant only hurt those who mourn? What other possible explanation could there be? Did you like how this episode of A.D. depicted the disciples wrestling with God’s promises against their own understanding of what is—and isn’t possible? How do you trip over God’s promises for forgiveness and resurrection when confronted with your own sin and mortality?

While I could probably find a hundred things to complain about, I’m going to work hard to keep that list short. Here are two things:

First: The appearances of Jesus seemed to leave room for hallucination (albeit “mass hallucination”). I realize He was instantly gone with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus; still my concern is that some people who get their information from this series alone will come away thinking that they only thought they saw Jesus. If that were the case, it would open the door for the Christian faith to become just another way of viewing life: Some people see the glass half full and some people have Jesus as their imaginary friend.

Second: Don’t we baptize anymore? Just before Jesus ascended (or walked/hiked) into Heaven, He spoke what is commonly called “The Great Commission”.

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18–20 (ESV)

My complaint is that the phrase about baptizing was left out. Roma Downey’s Son of God did something similar, leaving out references to Baptism in the John 3 material and the Matthew 28 material. Son of God also omitted “for the forgiveness of sins” from the Lord’s Supper material. Call me a conspiracy theorist but two different movies omitting the same “core” material is troubling. What I’m afraid of is an attack on grace itself. Something has to fill the void and I’m afraid “personal decision” is going to be that something. People will come to faith because the disciples were such convincing or powerful speakers, because they had the more logical argument. Jesus’ original command was to baptize and teach.