What a controversial comedy sketch can teach us about mercy

We've heard the Resurrection story so many times, that there're no surprises in it.

The thing with familiar stories is that you can take it for granted that there was only one way for things to happen. Jesus comes back, hangs out with his buddies, then ascends to heaven after a month and half. A few years ago SNL made a very controversial sketch about a different way things could have gone down post-resurrection.




DJesus Uncrossed upset a lot of people. But not me. It's important to realize that the sketch is making fun of Quentin Tarantino's love for bloody revenge stories; the joke is that he'd take Jesus, the epitome of peace and mercy, and recast him as a vengeful warrior.

The post-resurrection story we see in DJesus Uncrossed is very different from the one we know. But it makes a certain amount of sense from a basic human perspective. Jesus was tortured to death (unjustly). He gets a second chance at life and decided to avenge himself. We love that kind of story. How many people cheered on Tony Stark when he told Loki "We may not be able to protect the earth, but you can be damn sure we'll avenge it"? How much money has Tarantino made off of revenge fantasies like Django Unchained, Inglorious Bastards, or Kill Bill? We like revenge.

It's easy to think that even if Jesus came back on Easter Sunday ready to turn the disciples into an army they would have talked him down and brought him back to the core message they'd been hearing from him for the last 3 years. After all the apostles were peace-loving guys who would never hurt anyone...

"Then Simon Peter having a sword drew it, and smote the high priest's servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus." -Jn 18:10

Oh right. Just two days before the Resurrection Peter, the future pope, was brandishing a sword and cutting off ears like muggle version of Severus Snape. Peter would probably be all ready to play the role that Brad Pitt gives him in this sketch.

But none of that happened. Jesus didn't come back for Roman blood. Peter became the first pope and instead of leading a violent revolution against Rome, spread a gospel of peace and mercy. Djesus Uncrossed shows just how remarkable Jesus and his crew were - they were stronger than hate, tougher than any Tartantino hero on the vengence warpath. They were loving, merciful, which was a bold and difficult choice considering all that happened to them.

In this, the Year of Mercy, let us pray to be even a fraction as merciful toward our enemies as Jesus was to his.


*Except for Thomas, who was out doing....what?