Southern Cross Presbyterian Church

This is the conclusion of Melissa Gaudron in her review of the documentary The Life of Jesus (Sydney Morning Herald, ‘The Guide’, Monday 6 April, page 18).

The Life of Jesus is a documentary to be screened on Good Friday at 1pm on Channel 7.  It’s produced by Australia’s John Dickson, the director of the Centre for Public Christianity (‘which sounds a little too much like the Ponds Institute’, writes Melissa).

No prizes for guessing what the doco is about – it’s called ‘The Life of Jesus’, which says it all… or does it?

Melissa is seems to appreciate the many random facts about Jesus’ life which the show reveals (and who doesn’t like obscure details about the life of celebrities?).  Among the surprising facts about Jesus, she notes that Jesus the carpenter would have been pretty buff, and he had a tendency to hang out with ‘major sinners… a lot’… in fact, she is so surprised by what she learns about the life of Jesus that she concludes ‘if Jesus were alive today, he’d be looking to befriend some bad dudes who had a bit of money and liked physical work.  Sounds like a candidate for the NRL to me…’

‘The Life of Jesus’ really is about the life of Jesus – and Melissa finds this appealing.  Jesus was a typical bloke who walked the earth.  We can identify with him.  However, she notes that even though the documentary is ‘couched as historical biography, bits of theological statement and dogma can’t help but creep in.  But hey, it’s Easter.  Suck it up.’

It’s good to hear that at Easter (even if not the other times of the year), we are allowed to make a link between the historical details about the life of Jesus and our beliefs about him.  I suspect that this link often surprises many people – it seems a bit weird that Christianity, a religious belief, can be grounded in historical events and a real live person.

Perhaps the person who compiled the TV program on the very next page of ‘The Guide’ would question a link between history and belief.  The programme for Channel 7, at 1pm on Friday lists ‘The Life of Jesus’ with a short blurb: ‘The fictional story of Jesus Christ’s life as told in the bible’ (p19).

The life of Jesus:  Historical biography?  Theological dogma? Or Fiction?

Jesus was a typical bloke who lived and died.  However, the claim that Jesus came back to life (was resurrected) puts him in a totally different category to every other typical bloke in history.

As Melissa Gaudron wondered: what if Jesus were alive today?

The Life of Jesus screens on Channel 7 at 1pm on Good Friday

Katharine Crossle

Jobie Dajka is the sort of name that sticks in the memory (even if I did have to look up the spelling!). If you’re into track cycling you may remember Dajka as the former Commonwealth Games gold medallist and world champion. But it’s more likely that you remember Dajka as being at the centre of a drug scandal in the lead-up to the 2004 Athens Olympics for which he was banned from the sport for 3 years. Yesterday, Jobie Dajka was found dead in his Adelaide home. The cause of death hasn’t been given, however it is known that since the scandal in 2003 Dajka has struggled with both alcoholism and severe depression – the result of his dramatic fall from grace.

But Jobie Dajka wasn’t the only “disgraced” sportsman in the news yesterday. It was also revealed that swimmer Nick D’Arcy had been expelled from the Australian World Championship team for assaulting a fellow swimmer last year. I wonder how he will respond to having his hopes and dreams dashed. Will he simply “move on” with life, or will he be so devastated that he will question whether his life still has any meaning? I don’t know the bloke, but I prayed for Nick D’Arcy this morning – that this situation will indeed force him to question the meaning of life and that somehow, in God’s grace, he will find it in Jesus.

It seems to me that if you place your hopes and dreams anywhere other than in Jesus, life is inevitably very disappointing. Completely meaningless. Nothing truly satisfies. In a few weeks we begin our ‘Got Questions’ series at SCPC and we’ll be kicking off with the very fundamental question: “what is the meaning of life?” If you have ever asked this question and really struggled to find a satisfying answer, why don’t you come along. Or if you know someone who seems less than satisfied with the way their life is turning out – please invite them. It could be the most loving thing you ever do for them.

Hi all

This Sunday at both 9:30am and 6pm church we’ll be revealing Lismore’s top ten questions about God, life and the Bible to be addressed in our Got Questions series starting 3rd May. We’ll also post them on the site early next week so stay tuned.

Thanks to everyone who submitted questions over the past couple of months. We haven’t been able to work in absolutely every question asked (e.g. “why is it so hard to get out of bed in the morning?”), but it’s amazing how many of them are covered by  one of the ten in the final list… there’ll definitely be at least one or two to interest everyone.