‘Frontline’ Probes Political Ramifications of Jesus’ Life

Jesus, whose life changed the course of history--and whose memory in turn was changed by history recalled--continues to fascinate and defy those who seek to put flesh on his bones.

Now comes “Frontline,” the well-regarded PBS news and investigative program, with yet another view about how this itinerant Jewish holy man and miracle worker came to be regarded by millions the world over as the son of God.

Little in the four-hour, two-day series “From Jesus to Christ” will surprise biblical scholars or even cause consternation among the faithful, save perhaps those who continue to hold to a literal and exclusively spiritual reading of holy writ. It is, as they say in a familiar Protestant hymn, “an old, old story.”

The tension between those who proclaim a resurrected Christ and those who seek a reconstituted Jesus has long been a staple of Holy Week and Easter presentations from pulpit, media and academia alike.

Still, to listen to and think about this PBS presentation is to hear again, as if for the first time, about a man whose mark on the Earth remains indelible 2,000 years after he walked the dusty roads of Galilee. The series, of course, is by no means intended to be exhaustive. It is more like holding up a rough diamond to the light and concentrating solely on one or two of its facets. This, then, is essentially a sociopolitical telling of the Jesus story.

“Frontline” has assembled 12 thoughtful biblical scholars from such august universities as Harvard, Yale, Duke, Brown, DePaul, Boston, Princeton and Texas, as well as Union Theological Seminary, to offer their insights. Their commentaries are juxtaposed with scenes of the Holy Land and close-up shots of a realistic model of ancient Jerusalem with its magnificent temple.

From the day he was born, Jesus was “a subject” of the Roman Empire. He grew up in an occupied land where political tensions ran high. But it was also a land that in some sense had become a crossroads of the world where cultures collided--Jewish, Greek and Roman.

There has long been skepticism even within churches over the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem. Many believe that he was more likely born in Nazareth in the province of Galilee. If true, this geographical happenstance leads “Frontline’s” scholars to offer some intriguing speculation that may be the only speculation in the series that is new to most viewers.

Nazareth was a bedroom community of Sepphoris, just four miles away. Relatively recent archeological digs at Sepphoris point to it as a major Greco-Roman urban center. Jesus was more likely an artisan than a carpenter, viewers are told. He undoubtedly would have gone there to work and could not but have been influenced by the intellectual ferment and multilingual setting.

“The findings are requiring us to completely rethink Jesus’ social-economic setting,” Union Theological Seminary President Holland Hendrix tells viewers. “[It] would have required a level of sophistication that one would not have thought characteristic of Jesus the humble carpenter.”

In other words, Jesus was intimately acquainted with the political and social dynamics writ large. He probably spoke three languages--Arabic, Hebrew and Greek.

Contrary to popular imaginings, the Galilee was no bucolic land of shepherds and hills but a region immersed in the political and social tension that was present throughout Judea.

Thus, when Jesus preached the coming kingdom of God, he did so knowing full well that he was making as much a political statement as a religious one. “In the first century, those were inextricably intertwined,” says John Dominic Crossan, professor emeritus of religious studies at DePaul University.

“All the time that Jesus is talking, I cannot not imagine the fact that he’s going to be put to death,” Crossan says. “Everything that he is doing is politically dangerous. If you are following Jesus’ life from day to day, you should be saying to yourself, ‘Somebody is going to kill this man.’ ”

The series moves beyond the crucifixion, making accessible to viewers how Christianity evolved from an essentially Jewish sect to separate church in the midst of the tumultuous political and religious upheaval that followed Rome’s destruction of the Jewish temple in the year 70, about 40 years after that same Roman government crucified Jesus.

Such explanations have been heard before, but they cannot be told too often. Until the last several decades, Christianity barely acknowledged its debt to Judaism. And it is always at this time of year, during the Palm Sunday and Good Friday liturgies, that the Gospel stories of Jesus’ arrest, trial and crucifixion can be subject to an anti-Semitic misreading.

The churches have made great strides in dramatically correcting that impression. “Frontline’s” scholarly political and social commentary should be welcomed.

* “From Jesus to Christ” airs on “Frontline” 9-11 p.m. tonight and Tuesday on KCET-TV (Channel 28).