Jesus

In Denys Arcand's Jesus of Montreal, Jesus may have moved from Nazareth, but He still confronts the temptations proffered by Satan and takes on the Pharisees. In Arcand's arch and eclectic satire, the seductive devil these days is - what else? - a lawyer. And the Pharisees are sleazy advertising men who worship mammon in a television studio instead of a temple, and whose goal in life is to peddle a new beer by selling sex with the suds. The last major director to consider the life of Jesus was Martin Scorsese, whose superb, courageous and deeply spiritual The Last Temptation of Christ was venomously attacked by clergy representing a wide range of denominations.

MAKE NO mistake, Kittredge Cherry did not set out to write "Jesus in Love" to advance the cause of lesbian and gay rights. In fact, engaging in that long-term battle on the religious front made her "sick to death," she writes in the introduction to her novel, an account of a Jesus with both heterosexual and gay desires. "I was working as the ecumenical officer for the Metropolitan Community Church, and in this role, I was advocating for equal rights for gay and lesbian people in the church," Cherry said in a recent telephone interview.

Drive, He said . . . Thanks to gas-frugal Rev. Jim Ball, the topic of which vehicle the Son of God might drive has captured the nation's attention. Now that the Rev. Ball has already gone there (in an apparently Jesus- approved Toyota Prius, no less), there's no putting a lid on the speculation. Why stop at what Jesus would drive? How about prophet-approved tires, gasoline, and roadside assistance plans? Surely He has a soft spot for Manny, Moe and Jack? And then there's the troubling question of air fresheners.

Last week, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals launched a new ad campaign that features an image of the Shroud of Turin and the slogan "Make a Lasting Impression - Go Vegetarian. " PETA explained in a statement that it "chose Jesus as its new 'poster boy' because he is widely believed to have been a member of the Essenes, a Jewish religious sect that followed a vegetarian diet and rejected animal sacrifices. " Jesus a weed-eater? It's not a new claim, but a new spin on an old one. Vegetarianism's true believers have long held that the Garden of Eden was a meatless paradise ("And God said, Behold, I have given you . . . the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat," Genesis 1:29)

EASTER Sunday is the holiest day in the world. Our Savior rose from the dead, sacrificing his body and blood to save us. Jerusalem is the most holy city in the world, where Jesus was laid to rest. There is so much turmoil there between the Arabs and Jews, but it's sacred ground that should be worshipped with no spilling of blood. Our Lord preached there, and miracles were performed there. I wish for peace in the whole area. Leave the land pristine for the Savior to come back.

ROME - Is a scrap of papyrus suggesting that Jesus had a wife authentic? Scholars on Wednesday questioned the much-publicized discovery by a Harvard scholar that a fourth-century fragment of papyrus provided the first evidence that some early Christians believed Jesus was married. Experts in the illicit antiquities trade also wondered about the motive of the fragment's anonymous owner, noting that the document's value has likely increased amid the publicity of the still-unproven find.

It is only one of the ironies surrounding "The Last Temptation of Christ" that the publicity and resentment generated by fundamentalist groups bitterly protesting the movie's release have turned it into a box-office smash. Here is another irony: No one is better able to appreciate this movie than the devout Christians who are protesting it. If you have a deep interest in Jesus, you may find the movie infuriating, but you will probably also find it consistently engaging and at times inspiring.

"Let's all go on down to Gainesville" urges the opening song of Cotton Patch Gospel, for in that Georgia town something big has happened - a boy named Jesus has been born to a virgin named Mary. No, this isn't the second coming of Christ; it is the story of the first retold in a grits-and-cornpone context with a Jesus who calls his Heavenly Father "Daddy" and whose chief disciple is a fellow named Rock, who is recruited while bass fishing. Those big doings in Georgia translate into a small, somewhat fatuous but likable musical, and in the Walnut Street Theater Company's zesty, very well- performed production, which opened last night, it can be liked a great deal indeed.

BOISE, Idaho - An Idaho man accused of firing an assault rifle at the White House believed he was Jesus and thought President Obama was the Antichrist, according to court documents and those who knew him. At one point, he even suggested to an acquaintance that Obama was planning to implant computer tracking chips into children. Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez, 21, of Idaho Falls, was charged yesterday with attempting to assassinate the president or his staff. He is accused of firing nine rounds at the White House Friday night - one cracking a window of the first family's living quarters - while Obama and the first lady were away.

Many see this holy day as the day that Jesus died for our sins. I think not. I think Jesus died with our sins. There is a big difference. In the first formulation, Jesus is not really human but instead God, the pure and holy. In the other, Jesus is really human and has his own faults, which he takes to his death. The first formulation, we have "atonement": Everybody is a bad guy, Jesus overdoing his virtue and humanity underdoing its. The second formulation is "At-one-ment": There is room for that great character, the shadow, who is often eliminated from both Christian and American plays.

Geza Vermes, 88, a translator of the Dead Sea Scrolls and renowned for books exploring the Jewish background of Jesus, died Wednesday, David Ariel, president of the Oxford Center for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, said Saturday. Mr. Vermes had an early interest in the Dead Sea Scrolls, a cache of documents written between 200 B.C. and A.D. 200 which were discovered in caves at Qumran, near Jericho, between 1947 and 1956. Mr. Vermes published the first English translation of the scrolls in 1962.

YOU KNOW John, that friendly man who sits a few rows behind you at church? Nice guy, a little plain, loves the Lord, but can't find a good woman? Finally, there's a dating show for him. While NBC's "Ready for Love" has chosen to find romantic partners for handsome, wealthy dudes (because rich, successful guys always need help with the ladies), the GSN television network is looking to build on the success of "The American Bible Challenge" (and perhaps Sean Lowe , the virgin "Bachelor")

JERUSALEM - Hundreds of Christians streamed through the cobblestone alleyways of Jerusalem's Old City on Friday, hoisting wooden crosses and chanting prayers to mark the crucifixion of Jesus. Throngs of pilgrims walked a traditional Good Friday procession that retraces Jesus' steps along the Via Dolorosa, Latin for the "Way of Suffering. " They followed his 14 stations, saying a prayer at each and ending at the ancient Holy Sepulcher church. Along the route, Franciscan friars in brown robes chanted prayers in Latin and explained the different stations to crowds through a megaphone.

They have been coming by bus or car from as far away as Florida - nearly 27,000 of them - every year for the last 31. Most are believers. Others are looking for something to believe in and are praying they will find it as they watch He Is Alive , about the last seven days of Jesus' life, unfolding on the stage of the sanctuary of the Fountain of Life Center in Burlington Township. For nearly two hours Saturday afternoon, 400 members of the Assemblies of God congregation took the stage, re-creating every event - from Christ's entry into Jerusalem to the Last Supper, his arrest and trial, the Crucifixion, and the Resurrection.

By Xavier Suarez I may be the only lay person to have roomed an entire summer with Cardinal Sean O'Malley. For sure, I am the only politician to have lived under one (rather small) roof with the Capuchin friar. It was in the early 1970s, and the location was a little, sparsely furnished apartment in an area of Washington, D.C., that was populated by the working poor and illegal immigrants. Some of the latter survived from the wages paid to their daughters and wives by diplomats who could risk violating U.S. minimum-wage laws because they could invoke diplomatic immunity.

'In the beginning was the Word," begins an ancient Middle Eastern text, "and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. " In time its anonymous author would be assigned the name John, and his mystical story of the life and death of Jesus - whom he presents as having existed before all time - would join 26 other texts in a book that has shaped Western civilization like no other. The New Testament is, for many millions of Christians, the inspired Word of God, sacred and immutable: the perfect account of Jesus, the perfect human.

Baseball's back - with pitches tossed, fungoes tapped, sunflower seeds spit, and denials of performance-enhancing-drug use. Washington Nationals righthander Gio Gonzalez arrived in Venice, Fla., dropped his bags, and said he was not on PEDs, despite his name's allegedly appearing on a list at a now-closed anti-aging clinic in Coral Gables. "I think that at the end of the day I've never taken performance-enhancing drugs, and I never will," the 27-year-old said. In Peoria, Ariz., Seattle Mariners catcher Jesus Montero, whose name reportedly appeared in the clinic records, also denied involvement.

The Testament of Mary By Colm Tóibín Scribner. 96 pp. $19.99. Reviewed by Helen W. Mallon   After the silent night came a cataclysm. Colm Tóibín's novella The Testament of Mary highlights the microscopic, personal aspect of Christianity's earthshaking beginnings. In this daring interpretation, he takes a behind-the-icon approach to Mary, the Catholic embodiment of perfection. This book is one in which the name Jesus does not appear.

BETHLEHEM, West Bank - Christians from the world over packed Manger Square in Bethlehem on Monday to celebrate the birth of Jesus in the ancient West Bank town where he was born. For their Palestinian hosts, this holiday season was an especially joyous one, with the hardships of the Israeli occupation that so often clouded previous celebrations eased by the United Nations' recent recognition of an independent state of Palestine. In his annual pre-Christmas homily, the top Roman Catholic cleric in the Holy Land, Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal, said the road to actual freedom was still long, but this year's festivities were doubly joyful, celebrating "the birth of Christ our Lord and the birth of the state of Palestine.