Monday, March 30, 2026

It is the 30th of March 2026. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

 

Happy Monday, if it is indeed Monday for you- all the days blend together for me, but this one is the worst. It’s cliché, I know… who am I, Garfield? Kathy?

But it must be that time of year because I am getting a slew of similar-sounding questions about the season- and I love it- I’m your random church and Christian history answer guy- it’s what I do- Cliff Gardner and Glass Tubes and all that…

This Thursday and Friday, I’ll be answering specific questions about those days, and feel free to shoot me any other questions- there might be an Easter mailbag this weekend if I get a few more questions that let me expand a bit.

And we’ve got another perennial-ish question- and it comes from Lindsay in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Real quick: “Santa Fe” or “Saint Fe”? That’s “Saint Faith”- or rather “Holy Faith” and the full title is the “Holy Faith of St Francis Assisi”- Lindsay knows that, but for the rest of us.

Lindsay has a question about the Chosen- this is the television phenomenon of sorts, created by Dallas Jenkins, the son of Jerry Jenkins, part of the team that brought us the “Left Behind” Series. I get a “what do you think about the Chosen” question every couple of months- and as they have recently (last year) gotten to Holy Week, I’m sure it will be watched by many this week.

There are two major “baskets” in which we can put many of the questions and conversations- the theological and the artistic- though they aren’t unrelated.

Should we be depicting Bible stories- and Jesus in particular- in images? Does the 2nd Commandment, or a subset of the 1st (depending on how you number them), give you a simple “no, don’t do that”? For some, it does. These are the questions that surround the fancy word “Iconoclasm” or the destruction of images, which has a long thread in the history of the church.

I’m in the camp that sees the prohibition on images as relating to pagan gods and worshipping those- not a general prohibition on images- the reason God didn’t want “icons” in the Old Testament is that the story of the New Testament is him making his own “icon” or “image”- that being Jesus.

So my questions are going to be artistic. Is it good “art”? Ooh boy- I’ll invite you to listen to the Aesthetics History Almanac for those questions. I think it is good in a way that The Last Temptation of Christ is, possibly, “bad”. That is, the goal of the project is to invite us to know Jesus and his context- it is an “evangelical” endeavor. Jenkins himself is an evangelical, and there is an advisory board with a Catholic, a Messianic Jew, and an evangelical New Testament professor. I appreciate the handout to the other traditions- but this is, at its core, an American evangelical take on a Gospel Harmony.

I’m in that broad camp of “American Evangelicals” (somewhere on that map), and so I’m perfectly happy with some of the interpretive moves, but understand some of the arguments that it is too centered on the individual and their own conscience and personal faith. As for the “Gospel Harmony” part, this is probably my biggest concern. I’ve never loved “Gospel Harmonies”- that is, fitting all four gospels together to form one single narrative. The Chosen doesn’t follow Matthew or Luke, etc, but makes a harmony. I like 4- I like the little differences and distinctions.

Taking liberties and playing with what we know about the context of Second Temple Judaism and the Ancient Near East is fine- if it’s clear that this is what we are doing. Was Matthew neurodivergent? Maybe. I don’t love the invention of Ramah- if you know, you know. Creating a single character out of a composite of the women following Jesus is fine- having Jesus save her and making that the basis of Thomas’s doubt starts to stretch just past where I’d be comfortable. BUT- to be the utilitarian I can be sometimes- if it gets people to think about the Gospels and want to talk theology and art… maybe I could say the Chosen is like Wikipedia- not a bad place to start- but always just a place to start! Lindsay- thanks for the question- send me your easter and holy week questions in the next day or two, and I’m feeling like a fun time Easter mail bag might await us this weekend.

 

 

 

The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary and from the reading for Monday of Holy Week from John 12:

Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. 3 Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

4 But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, 5 “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” 6 He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.

7 “Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. 8 You will always have the poor among you, p but you will not always have me.”

9 Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 10 So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, 11 for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and believing in him.

 

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 30th of March 2026, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man embarking on the busiest week of the year- keep him in your prayers this week- he is the rev. Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who had a very obscure Punky Brewster reference that had to be cut… ask me about it sometime… Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.