Merry #ChristmasEveEve! And since Jesus is (part of) the reason for the season, here now a thread about the man and his time. Also check out our podcast about Jesus (spotify: spoti.fi/34Nuj2j, apple: apple.co/2MqzVt8) 1/5
The story takes place in a time where the rapid and brutal expansion of the Romans, and their transition from republican rule to that by god-emperors, feeds resistance and messianic longing - as shown in Monty Python's The Life Of Brian imdb.com/title/tt007947… 2/5 
But the exigencies of empire are unpredictable: the niche cult of the defeated becomes its ideology, and those underdogs now have to be blamed for the deicide. The slander, dressed up in prosthetic noses, still breaks the box office 2,000 years later. imdb.com/title/tt033534… 3/5
The "betrayal" is symbolized in European art by an increasingly light-skinned Jesus receiving the Judas kiss from an increasingly swarthy individual. But what did Judas do but fulfill God's plan? A point explored in a gnostic gospel and by Scorcese imdb.com/title/tt009549… 4/5
Yet cut through the layers of evolving and mutating discourse and it's a story about peace and love and simplicity. Not unlike the Buddha's - but combined with sacred trees 🌲, winter❄️ solstice, and lavish presents 🎁 because the world is weird like that. Enjoy! 5/5
@threadreaderapp please unroll
