The resurrection of Jesus was portrayed in a surprisingly literal way. At first I was concerned that the risen Jesus seemed to be an Anglo-Saxon blond, whereas the earthly Jewish had looked more Jewish. However, once the disciples had recognised that Jesus was alive he reverted to his original appearance.
I felt the way the resurrection was depicted could have been more daring. The risen Jesus might have been played by a different actor each time he appeared, or the appearances might have been more enigmatic.
In St Luke’s account of the Emmaus story he is careful not to close down the possibility that the disciples have encountered an ‘ordinary’ stranger who simply understands the truth about Jesus far better than they do, and so opens their eyes to the truth, but ‘The Passion’ left no room for different layers of meaning or possibility. In that sense, although it strove to be entirely orthodox, I felt the narrative was slightly dissatisfying.
Most surprisingly of all, the risen Jesus made no attempt to show his friends the marks of his passion, and he did not appear to them only when they were alone together, away from the crowds. Both of these things are necessary features of the Easter story because resurrection always has to be about faith rather than certainty.
