So, have you watched any of the series The Bible on the History Channel? It's an attempt over 8 hours or something like that to present an historical overview of the events depicted in the Hebrew and Christian scriptures. I have only actually seen two hours worth of the production, so I can't really comment on how the entire series is presented, but what I did see was depicted with images that are very familiar to us. That is, the people, places, and things of the story are such that we western, 21st century, Christians, when we see them on the screen, are not shocked. Now, of course, this makes for a"safe" presentation by the producers and the studio - they want people to actually watch the show and boost their ratings. Particularly with material that is as psychologically sensitive as the Bible, few are willing to depict a version of the story that is different from what we conventionally see in our minds. Here's what I'm talking about...
- Eve is always thin and pretty with long blond hair (which provides an appropriate modesty)
- The tempter is always a snake
- The people on Noah's Ark never complain about the smell
- Moses is forever a clone of a young Charlton Heston
- Prophets are never young men
- People in general are tall, straight haired, and European
- Mary always wears light blue
- Jesus is good looking
Now, certainly none of us want's to watch a program with ugly actors, and who knows, maybe there is extra biblical evidence to verify that Mary did, in fact, own a light blue shawl. Still, the truth is that much of the mental picture that we carry in our heads about the world of the Bible is historically wrong. People in the Mid-East 2000 years ago were short, curly haired, and dark skinned. Streets were dirty and an odor prevailed not only on the so called Ark, but in crowed cities, too. And some of the stuff in the Bible never actually happened, but is included for figurative effect - i.e. Jonah did NOT spend 3 days in the actual belly of a fish, and Moses did not live to be 800 years old (or whatever people say). All of this, however (not to mention that a series about the Bible is aired on The History Channel), causes me to worry that we have a monocular view of our story of faith. We are conditioned to see the world as once and for all the picture that has been branded in our minds. Jesus will forever have long straight hair and the volume of his voice will never rise above 60 decibels.
Maybe many of us like it this way. The stories that we know and love are constant, predictable, and unadulterated. That helps us to believe that God is, likewise, predictable and never changing. The truth, however, is that God really is unpredictable and ready to do a "new thing" in the lives of God's people and the world. We don't know what God is planning any more than Mary did when she found herself an unwed, pregnant woman in a male dominated society (which means she had absolutely no power to justify herself). But, like Mary, we pray that we might be open to the unfolding grace of God that will take us to places we can not even imagine. The story has yet to be written - God sits before a white sheet of paper and a blank canvas.
Hearing (and viewing) the story of the Bible is a good thing...and I am glad to see that there are people out there willing to put forth the money to create these kinds of presentations. But I hope that we do not get locked into a single way of understanding and interpreting the story of faith, because there is much in these stories that continues to reveal the depth of God's love. And I hope that we will continue to see ourselves in the chapters and verses of God's story that is yet to come!
Comments
Post a Comment