Those of us who have been forever contaminated
by close contact to Monty Python’s movie “Life of Brian” are no longer able to
listen to or read these verses without thinking of the line “blessed are the
cheese makers.” I’ll risk an explanation for those of you who are still pure of
heart as long as you agree to never ever watch the movie. In the movie those who
are on the edge of the large crowd are having trouble hearing Jesus so one of
them asks, “What was that?” The response is, “I think it was blessed are the
cheese makers” which in turn prompts the response, “What’s so special about the
cheese makers?” I don’t think many outside the church are offended by Life of
Brian and probably laugh during it unless they find British humor too British.
But I bet a good number of Christians think a movie that makes fun of the
sacred story nothing short of blasphemy. So is it? I don’t think so and here’s
the point. Satire cannot exist in a vacuum. The reason Monty Python is able to
play games with these powerful words of Jesus is because those who follow Jesus
have failed to live them. The movie is not a satire of Jesus but of us. To
quote another British comedic saying, “It’s a fair cop.”
No comments:
Post a Comment