As the sun is setting on Easter Sunday, I find myself saturated with the story of Easter. In an effort to sharpen my focus on the real meaning of Passover and Easter I watched a number of movies and documentaries on the life and death of Jesus, his resurrection and ascension, and the aftermath for those who followed him.

It occurs to me that if I depended on Hollywood, television, or the entertainment industry, in general, for my understanding of Jesus and Easter, I would be totally confused. I wouldn’t be sure whether Jesus spoke with a rough middle-eastern accent or a highly-educated British accent. I would wonder if Jesus ascended to heaven after his resurrection or stuck around planet earth, married the girl of his dreams, and had kids. I might wonder if Jesus walked through life without emotion, seemingly untouched by events around him or whether he laughed and danced with those who just received new legs. I might wonder if 1^st Century Jews were actually blond with blue eyes or not. A few movies and documentaries seemed to make a real effort to tell the story with biblical accuracy while most movies or documentaries got part of the Biblical accounts right but used “artistic license” generously, very generously with the rest of the story. Some of the movies or documentaries left me wondering if they had read the biblical accounts at all.

On the one hand, I was glad that they were presenting the story at all. For the most part they presented Jesus as a man who actually lived, who was crucified unjustly, who rose on the third day and who ascended to heaven. All of that is a plus. But I find myself being troubled by the apparent paradigm that biblical truth and facts can be changed, modified or ignored at will for the sake of a more interesting story line that fits into a one or two hour format made for television.

I remember a time (old school) when Christians would demand that someone depicting biblical events would at least make an attempt to be “biblically accurate” because the text was sacred and should be handled with care. Now, it seems we operate on the cultural assumption that all truth is relative and personal. Objective truth doesn’t seem to matter anymore so we can take a “sacred text” and do what we please with it.

In my spirit, however, I sense that treating God’s word with a cavalier attitude is sort of like playing fast and loose with the Ark of the Covenant. Eventually, treating the sacred as something ordinary or insignificant will bite us and bite us hard. The Holy Spirit is very intentional and, through inspiration, directed the writers of the New Testament to record only part of what Jesus said and did (Jn.21:25). The part chosen by the Spirit to be recorded must be very significant – every word. Since the gospels were written especially to reveal Jesus, when we altar the text or when we change the story we alter the revelation. If we alter the revelation our understanding of Jesus will be incomplete or misguided. That concerns me. It also concerns me that even church-going believers may get much of their theology from television, movies, or books about the Bible rather than the Bible itself.

Here is the thing – Biblical accuracy matters. I do appreciate Hollywood making an attempt to communicate the Passion of Jesus. I love that Jesus is seen on numerous networks throughout the Easter season. It does give us an opportunity to reflect on Jesus and start conversations about him. But, for those who watch an array of shows or documentaries – or the wrong ones – it provides a real opportunity for confusion and a nebulous Jesus who is hard to get hold of.

Ultimately, we need to make sure that the church is communicating the sacred story of Jesus – not Hollywood or the History Channel. And, of course we are the church. Our first obligation is to make sure that we know the story accurately. Our second obligation is to tell the story – accurately and often. And it is a great story – a story with everything – love, suspense, intrigue, betrayal, devastation that rises to victory, a single man standing against the power of Rome, violence, death, life, the supernatural…and fishing tips. What else do you need? After all, Easter really is the greatest story ever told with a story line that needs no alterations.