Vidal Sassoon Jesus

Recently, the television screens across the world were enamored with the recent creation of Roma Downey and Mark Burnett--the Bible. This series featured 10 1-hour episodes which took the viewer consecutively from Genesis through to Revelation. The series was praised for its cinematic finesse and alluring imagery, which it produced using it's $22 million budget. All-in-all, it is said that over 100 million cumulative viewers watched the series.

This series provided Bible-believers with many question marks as to the liberties taken in its production, both with leaving out crucial elements and even adding or altering others. While this is not the purpose of this blog, I will focus on their portrayal of Jesus.

The Jesus that Roma and Mark created was a modern-day hippie. He has a soft-complexion, a very finely groomed beard, and luscious brown locks that flow down past his shoulders. Chris Rosebrough, the host of "Fighting for the Faith" on Pirate Christian Radio, described him as "Vidal Sassoon Jesus." He has a gentle smile, and seems to be more enamored with the attention he is getting than anything else. He was drooled over by women from around the world, and even received the unofficial title of "Hot Jesus." He's quite the attractive man, and his soft-spoken, gentle composure had female viewers dreaming of cuddling with this Portuguese star. Diogo Morgado, the man selected to play Jesus in this series, has a history of modelling of starring in soap-operas in his native country of Portugal. What does this mean? He has a history of seducing via media. Perhaps one of the most obvious historical issues with him though, is that he is quite clearly European, whereas Jesus was middle-eastern.

Why do I point out all of this? Well it's quite self-explanatory when I consult Isiah 53. Looking at verse 2 in the New American Standard Bible, we read:

For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot,
And like a root out of parched ground;
He has no stately form or majesty
That we should look upon Him,
Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. (emphasis added)

I find it quite ironic that in a messianic prophecy such as this one, we should read that the Messiah will not have anything in His appearance to make us attracted to Him, yet the Bible miniseries decided to use a Portuguese model and actor. The Hebrew word translated here as "attracted" also implies desire and coveting. Have Roma Downey and Mark Burnett accomplished Isaiah's description of Jesus? I'd like to argue that they've done the complete opposite.

Now, how do we redeem such a mess of a Jesus? Well, we must begin by offering a proper, biblical understanding of Jesus' appearance and composure. The happy-go-lucky, nonchalant Jesus of Roma and Mark's imagination is simply not the one you draw out from Scripture. The series is a good primer for the unbeliever, as it introduces them to the biblical narrative, but there is much that needs to be corrected. We can use the knowledge gained from the guide the unbeliever into deeper and more accurate truth about Jesus, as well as allow the series to stir up any thoughts or questions they might have and use it as a jumping pad. We must get it out of their head that Jesus is a Portuguese model, and understand that He was a first-century builder (either carpentry or masonry) of Palestinian Jewish descent. He did not use shampoo, nor was it likely that he had long hair--but that will be an issue taken up later on.