The Miracles of Jesus

Cast
Jesus. . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . .George Calil
Peter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Youness Megri
Judas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hitcham Bahloul
James. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jirari Bonhaissa
Thomas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . .Aziz El Hatab
Mary Magdalene. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . Afaf Chayab
Mary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Fatima Harakat
Moses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mohammed Attifi
Elijah. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Mahmoud Megri
Joshua. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Salah Meszi
Andrew. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Aziz Slimani
John. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jamal El Harak
Philip. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . .Ihdina Dadik and Joseph Udoh
Thaddeus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Medhi El Harak and Marc Spiteri
Bartholomew. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Hicham Goutou and John Montanaro
Zebedee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tariq Hmamduch
Matthew. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Aznkd Najib
Simon the Zealot. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Aziz Nmila
Satan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Mohamed Ayad
John the Baptist. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Mahmood Mahmoudi
Mark. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mohammed Taleb
Joseph of Arimathea. . . . . . . . . .. .Ahmed Lahlil
Production Credits
Produced and Directed by. . . . . . . . . . . . . Jean-Claude Bragard
Executive Producer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ruth Pitt

?...goes beyond 'Did they actually happen?' and asks ?Do they show us a humble, holy man or a revolutionary? ... Omaar tells his story while wandering around a rather beautiful Sea of Galilee, with the help of some passionately acted, extras-filled reconstruction (it's not a Hollywood Biblical epic, but it's not bad for a doc.)? -Matthew Rake, Sunday Telegraph
?...rather than retreading the well-worn ground of proving or disproving their occurrence, Omaar focuses on establishing what Jesus and his miracles mean to his contemporary followers. The subject's credibility still relies on personal religious proclivity, but it is certainly a visually stunning and engaging documentary - even if the Matrix-style photography occasionally gilds the lily. But regardless of individual faith, as Omaar discusses Jesus's mission of peace by the Sea of Galilee, bordered by Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine and Jordan, the film acquires its own very timely poignancy.?- Mary Evans, Daily Telegraph
?...this is a fascinating programme about Jesus Christ as a political figure, one whose miracles knowingly referenced Jewish historical figures and spoke to a profoundly oppressed people of a golden age of the rule of God ... The dramatic sequences of Jesus and his disciples are stylishly filmed (as long as you accept Jesus as a careworn, floppy-haired heart-throb) and the crowded miracle scenes are rendered with sufficient directorial imagination that only the most blasphemous will find even rare cause to quote Monty Python.? -Helen Stewart, Sunday Times
?Religious programming is often an awkward matter of finding the perfect balance between belief and rationality, and so it's a neat trick to have Omaar, a Muslim, surveying the miracles of the Gospel - we know immediately that this isn't aimed solely at church-going Christians ... The sense of the miracles as a kind of language to be interpreted by the Jews does place the familiar stories in an interesting new light.? -Mail On Sunday
?Rageh Omaar ... was an engaging and passionate presenter who was keen to reiterate that whether we believe in miracles or not, the stories of the miracles can tell us a great deal about life in First Century Roman-occupied Palestine, and about the Middle East in general. Miracles such as the raising of the widow's son and the feeding of the 5,000 would have been interpreted as defiant political acts against the occupation, and would have marked Jesus as a revolutionary. It was a compelling argument, not least because it treated the viewer with respect ... It was poignant too. The programme concluded in Cana (present day Qana in south Lebanon), where Jesus turned the water into wine, and also the site of last week's airstrike that killed more than 60 civilians. As Rageh wandered around this beautiful spot (filmed before the current conflict) one was reminded of that most challenging of Jesus' promises: Blessed are the peacemakers.? -Marcus Dunk, Daily Star
?Whether you believe in miracles or not, dramatic re-creations of event ssuch as the feeding of the multitude help to illustrate their impact.?- Daily Mail
?Rageh Omaar takes it as read that we'll never know how or whether the miracles took place. After that, he moves on to something far more fruitful: what the belief in them might have meant to people at the time ... For any scripture scholars watching, last night's approach may still have been too literal. (And that's leaving aside the unashamedly corny re-enactments of the miracles, complete with slow-mo effects and gasping extras.) Certainly, Omaar never considers the possibility that it was the gospel-writers, rather than Jesus himself, who provided these stories and connections. He also treats the four gospels, and all first-century Jews, as entirely homogenous. Nonetheless, the answer to such objections is straightforward enough: The Miracles of Jesus isn't an Open University programme, but a BBC1 series on at Sunday teatime. In that context, it seems to me a pretty creditable stab at making genuinely theological ideas palatable for a mass family audience.?- James Walton, Daily Telegraph

Episode 1 - In first-century Galilee, what did miracles mean?

Even if you don't believe in miracles, Jesus had a great reputation as a miracle worker amongst friend and foe alike, something also acknowledged by contemporary historians and rival faiths. That indisputable fact prompts the question - what do the miracles reveal about who the people at the time believed Jesus was?

Thanks to archaeological finds like the Dead Sea Scrolls we can better understand the mindset of first-century Jews, and it reveals that the miracles of Jesus were more than amazing stories - they were also an ancient language full of hidden meanings that are largely lost on us but that would have been understood by the Jews of antiquity.

This programme looks closely at four famous miracles - the feeding of the five thousand, the raising of the widow's son, the walking on water and the changing of water into wine at the marriage of Cana - and finds that each miracle provoked a radically different perception of Jesus. Looking for clues in the sites around the Sea of Galilee associated with the miracles, the film pieces together a surprising first-century portrait of Jesus.

Episode 2 - Did Jesus really believe he was the son of God?

2000 years ago, Jesus was renowned for being able to perform incredible deeds. He was said to be able to heal the sick; exorcise demons and even silence the strongest forces of nature.

For centuries, the Christian church has taught that these spectacular acts were signs that Jesus was God's only son: he was divine. But was this just wishful thinking, or was it what Jesus himself really believed?

This film explores some of Jesus' more controversial miracles - an exorcism of a violent man possessed by many demons; the healing of the blind; and a stilling of an unexpected storm - and makes its way across Israel, attempting to find out whether these miracles can tell us who Jesus was. Travelling to the places Jesus lived, the programme examines the Bible accounts of the miracles Jesus is said to have performed, to try to get inside his mind. In a world where a claim of divinity was blasphemous - a crime punishable by death - could Jesus really have believed he was the Son of God?

Episode 3 - The most astonishing miracle of all...

The Resurrection is perhaps the greatest miracle told in the Bible. Jesus has been dead for two days but early on the third day, two women make their way to his tomb. When they get there they find the body of Jesus has gone. A voice speaks to them; it says Jesus is risen.

Hailed as the miracle of miracles, the Resurrection became a pillar of the Christian faith. But why? Travelling from Jerusalem to Rome, this programme finds out what exactly the Resurrection meant to those first followers of Jesus.

The claim that a man could be raised from the dead was as outlandish in the First Century as it is today. And yet the rumour spread like wildfire. Drama and special photography helps to illustrate how the miracles of Jesus were believed to have continued after his death. The empty tomb, the appearances of Jesus after his death, the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and a blinding vision of Jesus on the road to Damascus were life-changing experiences that transformed his early followers.

First to embrace the miracle of the Resurrection were disciples like Peter and Mary Magdalene. It was then championed by a strict Jew called Saul of Tarsus. He claimed he had met the risen Christ and it changed his life. We know him as St Paul. Through Paul and the disciples, belief in the Resurrection spread beyond the Middle East. As it spread, the idea seemed to strike a deep chord, and nowhere more so than in Rome, the capital of the Empire. It transformed an obscure Jewish sect into a world religion.

This is the story of Jesus' life, told chronologically through the deeds for which he is best remembered. The virgin birth, feeding the 5000 with a few loaves and fishes, walking on water, healing the sick and the Resurrection are among the famous Biblical events brought to life through drama and stylish computer graphics. Meanwhile, science and psychology shed light on Jesus' unique personality and gifts.

Join the amazing Christian illusionist Brock Gill as he follows the stories of the single most influential person to have ever lived by examining the deeds for which he is best remembered - his miracles. The virgin birth, feeding the 5000 faithful with a few loaves and fishes, walking on water, healing the sick and the Resurrection are among the famous Biblical events brought to life through drama and stylish computer graphics - while science and psychology are used to shed light on the nature of each miraculous accomplishment.