More than any Lenten season in my limited memory, there have been so many ways to make parallels between our times and the time of Jesus' Crucifixion and Resurrection. The rise of hopes, followed by unthinkable persecutions, the angry mobs shouting for Barabbas...
I've been watching The Greatest Story Ever Told, The Passion of the Christ, and The Robe in preparation for Holy Week with my son. But who would we cast as our Barabbas today?
1. It could be Trayvon Martin, who by all accounts was a young man who did some seriously bad things on his way to an adulthood of worse things. One report stated that his body lay unclaimed for three days. How sad that this 17-year-old could go missing for that long without a family member making calls. Did nobody miss him? Was it usual for him to disappear for days at a time? What did he usually do when he was gone for days? All of these are reasonable questions, but we want Barabbas, so we are turning this troubled boy into a martyr for the cause of race. In this case, Barabbas wheres a hoodie.
2. We could cast George Zimmerman as Barabbas. He fits nicely if you think that Trayvon is the young innocent portrayed by the Congressional Black Caucus. In this case the angry mob is comprised of angry white-Hispanic neighborhood watch members patrolling with guns to protect their communities.
If we try to cast characters beyond Barabbas, who is Pilot? My vote goes for President Obama who coldly sells out the United States on an open microphone to the Russian President. But that doesn't really work, because Pilot never said Jesus or Barabbas could be his son. The parallels don't work Obama would have to be more like Caiaphas, or Judas.
The entirety of the USCCB could be cast in the role of Peter. Out of fear, Peter denied Jesus three times. Out of a desire to preserve the work of the Roman Catholic Church, the USCCB played ball with Democrats for years, only to here the cock crow with the contraception mandate.
I would cast Timothy Cardinal Dolan in the role of Joseph of Arimethea. He may have believed he could trust the political machinations of the Obama administration at one point, but he has since pulled that plank out of his eye.
I think Mitt Romney would make a good Centurion. Like Richard Burton's character in the Robe, he sees himself as above it all. Only after extreme pain and humiliation does he come to know the love of Jesus and become a martyr for the cause. He, in Massachusetts, put the nails in the cross. We are now seeing him try to pull them out, but it's a little late.
There are many more casting decisions to be made. Please, make some in the comments section. I'm just a little blog with a desire to be bigger... (I was linked by the New York Times once, although that is not necessarily any kind of honor...) Let me know what you think.
I've been watching The Greatest Story Ever Told, The Passion of the Christ, and The Robe in preparation for Holy Week with my son. But who would we cast as our Barabbas today?
1. It could be Trayvon Martin, who by all accounts was a young man who did some seriously bad things on his way to an adulthood of worse things. One report stated that his body lay unclaimed for three days. How sad that this 17-year-old could go missing for that long without a family member making calls. Did nobody miss him? Was it usual for him to disappear for days at a time? What did he usually do when he was gone for days? All of these are reasonable questions, but we want Barabbas, so we are turning this troubled boy into a martyr for the cause of race. In this case, Barabbas wheres a hoodie.
2. We could cast George Zimmerman as Barabbas. He fits nicely if you think that Trayvon is the young innocent portrayed by the Congressional Black Caucus. In this case the angry mob is comprised of angry white-Hispanic neighborhood watch members patrolling with guns to protect their communities.
If we try to cast characters beyond Barabbas, who is Pilot? My vote goes for President Obama who coldly sells out the United States on an open microphone to the Russian President. But that doesn't really work, because Pilot never said Jesus or Barabbas could be his son. The parallels don't work Obama would have to be more like Caiaphas, or Judas.
The entirety of the USCCB could be cast in the role of Peter. Out of fear, Peter denied Jesus three times. Out of a desire to preserve the work of the Roman Catholic Church, the USCCB played ball with Democrats for years, only to here the cock crow with the contraception mandate.
I would cast Timothy Cardinal Dolan in the role of Joseph of Arimethea. He may have believed he could trust the political machinations of the Obama administration at one point, but he has since pulled that plank out of his eye.
I think Mitt Romney would make a good Centurion. Like Richard Burton's character in the Robe, he sees himself as above it all. Only after extreme pain and humiliation does he come to know the love of Jesus and become a martyr for the cause. He, in Massachusetts, put the nails in the cross. We are now seeing him try to pull them out, but it's a little late.
There are many more casting decisions to be made. Please, make some in the comments section. I'm just a little blog with a desire to be bigger... (I was linked by the New York Times once, although that is not necessarily any kind of honor...) Let me know what you think.
1 comment:
So could we place Rick Santorum beneath the Cross in the place of Saint John boldly brave enough to stand firm in the face of tyranny from the dealers handing out the thirty pieces of silver..read HHS Mandate
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