I have been watching "The Bible" miniseries, and I have been enjoying it overall. I'm sure you have your list of pros and cons. Here is my list of pros and cons.
Here are the cons:
I did not enjoy the extreme violence of the Old Testament episodes. Even though I am well aware life at that time was dicey, to say the least, I think the stories could have been told more eloquently with slightly less violence. I particularly loved the portrayal of the story of Moses and leading the Israelites out of Egypt, but as soon as the Israelites were delivered, the violence escalated to a level that I was very uncomfortable watching. I would not want my children to see those parts. They are not child-friendly; at least not for the under thirteen crowd. There were also some uncomfortably inappropriate mature scenes regarding David and Bathsheba, as well as Samson and Delilah. Again, not appropriate for the under thirteen crowd.
The most troubling spot in the movie for me was that the portrayal of Jesus' impending birth was inaccurate in spots and missing rather important information. For example, when the angel Gabriel visits Mary, he does not address her as, "Hail, full of grace", which is extremely important to identifying Mary's true identity as "full of grace" - as in sinless. The movie also portrayed Joseph as a young man, similar looking age to Mary, which is obviously inaccurate. Joseph is shown seeing Gabriel immediately after the Visitation, however, he does not see the glorious angel in a dream as stated in Scriptures, but in the middle of a town road amongst many townspeople. It was an odd portrayal. Then Joseph runs to find Mary who is being cornered by townspeople who are yelling obscenities at her for being pregnant (which is not in Scripture anywhere), and Joseph cries out, "I'll marry her!" At this point, I just wanted to scream. So many Christians do not understand betrothal and this was the producers's chance to explain it. Joseph and Mary were already married. They had just not begun to live together as husband and wife.
You can read about betrothal here: definition of betrothal from Jewish Encylclopedia
This is a crucial and distinctive point to make as Mary asks Gabriel how can this be since she had not had relations with any man. She knew she was married but had not had relations. It was an impossibility for her. Her trusting in the Lord's decision and in Gabriel's message was paramount for Mary's depiction as sinless. The movie, in turn, does not go on to show Mary visiting her cousin Elizabeth (who is pregnant with John the Baptist). Again, a grossly missed opportunity. That visitation is the basis of Mary as the "ark of the new covenant". When Elizabeth greets Mary, the child in her womb (John) lept for joy - just as David of the Old Testament had lept and danced before the Ark of the Covenant. Elizabeth then cried out (recalling her Levite ancestry as they cried out before the Ark), "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!" For me, these accounts are paramount for describing exactly who Jesus is (the Messiah and New Covenant) and exactly who Mary is (a virgin who is sinless and "full of grace"). None of this was portrayed.
There were other sticking points for me, but the last one I will point out here was when Jesus seeks out his disciples and meets Peter for the first time, he calls him not Simon, but "Peter"right away. (sidebar: the depiction of meeting Andrew, Simon's brother, is not shown either) Jesus changing Simon's name to Peter is so important for a couple of reasons. The first is that there are not many times when God changed the names of man - for example, Abram to Abraham or Jacob to Israel. This is significant. Jesus is God incarnate on earth and He changes the name of the apostle whom He chooses to lead His future church. Simon's name changes to the Aramaic, "kepha", which meant "rock". Jesus tells Peter, "on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Here, Jesus is consecrating Peter as the authority of His Church. Peter is entrusted with the keys - not Andrew, not John, not James, not anyone else. This is of course the beginning of the Papacy and his authority to hand it on to his successor.
Alright...I know it is a mini-series and only capable of fitting so much into a certain amount of time, but perhaps if they spent less time showing the slashing of throats and the gouging of eyes, they would have had more time to spend on accurately depicting Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and Peter.
The pros:
I am loving the fact that it is a highly rated show, which means large amounts of Americans are interested in the stories of the Bible, and most importantly the story of Jesus and our salvation. This is wonderful news as it would seem that I am a dying breed these days. It is hopeful for our future as a nation. This movie is evangelizing to millions of people - which is always a good thing! I think the sets are realistic and beautiful. The acting is superb!!! One of the greatest things about this movie is that all the actors are "unknowns"...and they outshine many famous actors who grace that red carpet once a year. These actors are phenomenal - from the least peasant to the main characters - everyone!!! I also love their choice for Jesus. He is as mesmerizing as Jim Caviezel was in "The Passion of the Christ". He is strong and bold, yet gentle and loving. The movie is doing a fantastic job of drawing the audience in to the love His followers had for Him. I want to jump off my sofa and yell, "Yes, I'll follow you too to the ends of the earth! I will lay down my life for you!"
So, I am writing this blog a bit prematurely as the last episode has yet to be aired, but I thought I'd give my two cents as it has been on my mind. It was a monumental and brave undertaking by seasoned Hollywood producer, Mark Burnett. He has done a wonderful job overall - fitting the entire Bible in a five part miniseries. It will be used in the future as a teaching tool for generations to come. He should be proud of his success here.
P.S.
I will leave you with one last thought. As I was watching last night the scene of Jesus walking on water, it occurred to me the parallels between it and the story of Noah. Didn't Noah gather up the future of the world into one boat and endure a storm at sea with complete faith in God? God's future for the world was all contained within that one boat. Noah's faith is what saved him. Jesus sends his apostles ahead of him in a boat and they faithfully abide by his wishes. They too endure a storm at sea. The future of God's kingdom was also contained within a boat - the twelve apostles - and Jesus saves them. Just something that occurred to me - any thoughts? I would love to hear your thoughts on this miniseries so far. God bless!!!
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