Continuing to examine CNN’s attempt to report on early Christianity through their series Finding Jesus, we find ourselves looking at episode two, John the Baptist. I’d like to say oat the start that I certainly mean no disrespect to the prophet by using only a head shot for the articles title slide. While I’m sure John did not know how or when he would die, I believe he suspected it would be pretty horrible. After all, God’s prophet’s rarely dies of natural causes. But I digress, let us discuss CNN’s special.

As is becoming the pattern for these shows, there is a mixture of dramatization telling the historic account of the episodes focus broken up by two segments, one of commentary and the other of a scientific endeavor to prove or disprove some theory or other. In this episode the dramatic sequences were on the life of John as portrayed in the Bible, and the scientific endeavor was of a project to determine which of the hundreds of bone relics reportedly from John and scattered about the world might actually be bones from Jesus’ cousin.

From the start CNN reveals that there are far more relics of John’s bones in the world than could possibly have belonged to him, so a study is being headed by Professor Tom Higham of Oxford University to collect samples from these relics and see which one’s match up both in the correct time frame and DNA comparison. This segment was interesting but I felt it’s inclusion a bit premature. The team had only examined two bone fragments, the first of which dates back to 30 AD and is that of a Mediterranean male. The other, well, I won’t spoil it for you, watch to see if it’s a match. The study is interesting and will become more interesting with the more data they collect.

The way they portray John in the dramatizations is almost right on the mark. They cover his life history, from the womb of Mary’s cousin to his eventual death in Herod’s prison. The political games played in Herod’s household are also likely true, though not sourced primarily from the Bible. In fact the only error I found in the commentary about John’s life was about his time in prison. They state he was in isolation, but his disciples came and tended to him regularly, providing food, water and blankets when needed. Because of this contact he is able to send them to find Jesus and ask him to verify that he is the Messiah. And that’s where the story gets really interesting if you are a close reader.

Jesus answer’s John’s disciples, “Go tell John what you have seen and heard: The blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news proclaimed to them. Blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.” The commentator of the series remarks, “As he languishes in his prison cell Jesus’ words are like a comforting balm to John the Baptist.” Nothing could have been further from the truth.

Jesus was quoting from Isaiah who described the time of the Messiah as “Blind eyes will open, deaf ears will hear. The lame will leap like deer, the mute tongue will shout for joy; for water will flow in the desert and streams in the wilderness. Your dead will come back to life, your corpses will rise up. Wake up and shout joyfully you who live in the ground! … He has commissioned me to encourage the poor, to help the broken hearted, to decree the release of captives, and the freeing of prisoners.”

John would have understood the message. He would have understood that Jesus was indeed the Messiah -- for all the acts of the Messiah were present, except for one. The one miracle Jesus left out was the release of captives and freeing of prisoners. In the moment the words were spoken to him he knew he wasn’t getting out of prison alive.

Again, one could learn more about John from reading the Bible than from watching this report on CNN, but the producer’s goal of bringing present day science into the Bible’s history is a worthy one and is accomplished exceptionally well.

Next: Episode 3