The Unauthorized Homily

By Bill Dunn

A commentary on the Scripture readings from the Sunday Lectionary

(Scripture readings for Easter Sunday, April 8th: Acts 10:34, 37-43; Colossians 3:1-4; John 20: 1-9)

MEDIA MOCKERS CAN’T CHANGE REALITY

This Sunday is Easter, and Christians worldwide celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Easter marks the official end of the season of Lent. In the past, Lent was primarily a 40-day period when Christians engaged in fasting and penance, prayer and reflection. But in recent years another activity has become a Lenten tradition, and now is as certain to occur during Lent as ashes on foreheads, purple vestments on priests, and tuna casserole on Fridays. This new Lenten tradition is the obligatory media attack on core Christian doctrines.

This year the big media hullabaloo centered around a documentary produced by Hollywood heavyweight James Cameron, titled, “The Lost Tomb of Jesus.” In partnership with director Simcha Jacobovici, Cameron’s film claims that the discovery of ten stone coffins near Jerusalem is actually the family crypt of Jesus of Nazareth. Not only was the very un-resurrected Jesus laid to permanent rest in one of these ossuaries, but his wife, Mary Magdalene, and their son, Judah, were also buried in the stone coffins. (Sounds like “The Da Vinci Code,” doesn’t it?)

The story of the Jesus coffin was front page news during Lent. Less than a week after Ash Wednesday the co-host of NBC’s “Today” show, Matt Lauer, greeted viewers with this breathless proclamation: “A shocking new claim that an ancient burial place may have housed the bones of Christ and a son. This morning a Today exclusive that could rock Christianity to its core.”

Co-host Meredith Viera was no less giddy at the thought of traditional Christianity being rocked to its core. Concluding an interview with Cameron, Viera noted the documentary’s claim about Jesus is “the biggest story or one of the biggest stories of our lifetime if you are correct.”

Within moments of Lauer’s and Viera’s embarrassing infomercial masquerading as journalism, experts stepped forward to refute the claims made by Cameron’s documentary. Professor Amos Kloner oversaw the original archaeological dig of the ossuaries when the tomb was first discovered in 1980. Kloner said, “It makes a great story for a TV film….But it’s completely impossible. It’s nonsense.”

Joe Zias was the curator for anthropology and archeology at the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem from 1972 to 1997, and like Kloner, was involved in the original dig. He said, “Simcha [Jacobovici] has no credibility whatsoever….He’s pimping off the Bible….Projects like these make a mockery of the archeological profession.”

William Donohue, director of the Catholic League, pointed out: “Not a Lenten season goes by without some author or TV program seeking to cast doubt on the divinity of Jesus and/or the Resurrection. Last April, NBC’s ‘Dateline’ featured the wholly discredited and downright laughable claims of Michael Baigent, and two years ago ABC treated us to a special that questioned every aspect of the Resurrection. Now we have the Cameron-Jacobovici thesis.”

In fact, the list is even longer. Since 1996, during Lenten seasons, the ABC network has aired three shows that raised questions about the divinity of Jesus. Time, Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report, the Discovery Channel, and NPR each offered two stories or shows on the same topic. And PBS brings up the rear, having aired just one attack on Christian doctrines during Lent. (The folks at PBS must be embarrassed by their feeble efforts to denigrate Christianity.)

And the formula these media outlets use to present their case is usually the same: Take a drop of information, add an ocean of speculation, and then spew a tidal wave of exaggeration masquerading as education.

The blatant animosity by the mainstream media toward traditional Christian beliefs can be extremely frustrating. But each time I observe another unfair media hit piece—following either of the primary templates: “the doctrines are superstition” or “the believers are buffoons”—I remind myself of two important facts.

First, it is not a new phenomenon. Unbelievers have been attacking Christian doctrines since, well, since the very beginning. In the book of Acts, chapter 5, we read about St. Peter, mere weeks after the Resurrection. He was thrown in jail for preaching that Jesus had risen from the dead. Peter was brought before the Temple leaders, who said, “We gave you strict orders not to teach in [Jesus’] name. Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching.” If they had cable TV at the time, surely the Temple leaders would have sponsored a show that mocked Peter’s message.

However, Peter offered the ultimate reply. He said, “We must obey God rather than men!” Here in the 21st century we should keep this awesome statement in mind. After all, on our death beds, I’m pretty sure at that moment we will be more concerned with whether we lived our lives according to God’s standards rather than Matt Lauer’s standards.

Then a couple of decades later, in the 26th chapter of Acts, St. Paul was arrested and brought before the Procurator of Judea, Porcius Festus. While defending himself, Paul also explained the Good News of the risen Christ, using his own conversion experience as a powerful witness. As he spoke, Festus interrupted, saying, “You are out of your mind, Paul! Your great learning is driving you insane.”

Ah ha, another typical technique: discredit the message by discrediting the messenger. If Festus had some buddies over at JNN (Jerusalem News Network), he surely would have produced a report that portrayed Christians as mentally unbalanced.

So, unfair attacks against Christians and Christian doctrines are nothing new; we should expect them and not get too bent out of shape when they regularly appear in the mainstream media during Lent.

The second important thing I like to keep in mind whenever I see the media impugn traditional Christian doctrines is the simple fact that the reality of Christ’s Resurrection is not based on opinion polls. If it did not happen, then even if 100-percent of the population sincerely believes it did happen, it still did not happen. And if it did happen, then even if 100-percent of the population sincerely believes it did not happen, He is still risen.

The truth of the divine miracle of the Easter Resurrection is not contingent on the views of Matt Lauer, James Cameron, Rosie O’Donnell, Bill Maher, Ted Turner or any of the other media folks who constantly mock Christian beliefs and Christian believers.

So on this holy day, don’t worry about what the scoffers and mockers have to say. Focus on the reality of the risen Christ, the divine Savior who loves us so much that He died for our sins, and then conquered death once and for all by bursting out of that tomb. Hallelujah!! He is risen!

©2007